May 1

This Day in History: May 1 — Infoplease.com

1707

The Act of Union joined England and Scotland to form Great Britain.

1931

The Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 102 stories, it would be the world's tallest building for the next 41 years. Click to see the current tallest.

1941

Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, considered by many the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York.

1948

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established with Kim Il Sung as president.

1960

The Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Soviet territory.

1967

Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu. (They divorced in 1973.)

1991

44-year-old Texas fireballer Nolan Ryan hurled his seventh and final no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. That same day, Oakland's Rickey Henderson broke Lou Brock’s stolen base record.

2003

President Bush made a speech aboard an aircraft carrier proclaiming “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS

Arthur Wellesley
1769–1852, British soldier and statesman.

Also Born on May 1

• Joseph Addison
  writer (1672)
• Mary Harris Jones
  labor agitator (1830)
• Calamity Jane
  frontier character (1852)
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
  philosopher (1881)
• Joseph Heller
  writer (1923)

It's also the birthday of Charlene Gonzales Muhlach.  And my friend, Georlyn Supleo Atun.