May 15, 2008 3:00 am US/Eastern
Today In History - May 15, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Today is Thursday, May 15, the 136th day of 2008. There are 230 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On May 15, 1918, U.S. airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
On this date:
In 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil
Co., ruling it was a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
In 1930, registered nurse Ellen Church, the first airline
stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland, Calif.-to-Chicago flight
operated by Boeing Air Transport, a forerunner of United Airlines.
In 1942, wartime gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 eastern
states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for nonessential
vehicles.
In 1948, hours after declaring its independence, the new state of
Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon received a hero's welcome on his return from a violence-marred tour of Latin America.
In 1958, the MGM movie musical "Gigi," starring Leslie Caron as a young French courtesan-in-training, was released.
In 1963, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.
In 1972, George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left
paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Md., for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
In 1975, U.S. forces invaded the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and
recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. (All 40 crew members
had already been released safely by Cambodia; some 40 U.S. servicemen
were killed in the operation.)
In 1988, the Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its
troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces had
entered the country.
Ten years ago: Trapped in blazing shopping malls, hundreds of
looters burned to death in rioting that laid smoking waste to
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. Leaders of eight countries, including the
U.S., opened a three-day summit in Birmingham, England.
Five years ago: Emergency officials rushed to a series of mock
catastrophes in the Chicago area on the busiest day of a national
weeklong exercise. Runaway Texas Democrats boarded two buses and
returned home after a self-imposed weeklong exile in Oklahoma that
succeeded in killing a redistricting bill they opposed. The three-year
championship reign of the Los Angeles Lakers came to a decisive end as
the San Antonio Spurs overpowered the Lakers 110-82 to win the Western
Conference semifinal series 4-to-2. Country music star June Carter Cash
died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 73.
One year ago: The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who built the Christian right
into a political force, died in Lynchburg, Va., at age 73. Yolanda
King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott
King, died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 51. President Bush chose Lt.
Gen. Douglas Lute to oversee the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as a
war czar. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern became the first Irish leader to
address the joint houses of the British Parliament. Kenny Chesney
collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy from the
Academy of Country Music.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Eddy Arnold is 90. Actor Joseph Wiseman is
90. Playwright Sir Peter Shaffer ("Amadeus") is 82. Actress-singer Anna
Maria Alberghetti is 72. Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 72. Former
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is 71. Singer Trini Lopez is 71.
Singer Lenny Welch is 70. Actress-singer Lainie Kazan is 68.
Actor-director Paul Rudd ("Knots Landing") is 68. Country singer K.T.
Oslin is 66. Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 60. Actor Nicholas Hammond
("The Sound of Music") is 58. Actor Chazz Palminteri is 56. Baseball
Hall-of-Famer George Brett is 55. Musician-composer Mike Oldfield
("Tubular Bells") is 55. Actor Lee Horsley is 53. TV personality
Giselle Fernandez is 47. Singer-rapper Prince Be (PM Dawn) is 38. Actor
Brad Rowe is 38. Actor David Charvet is 36. Rock musician Ahmet Zappa
is 34. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Amy Chow is 30. Actor David Krumholtz
("Numb3rs") is 30. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler is 27.
Thought for Today: "People love to talk but hate to listen." — Alice Duer Miller, American author (1874-1942).
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
