On May 13, 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car was attacked and nearly overturned by an angry crowd shouting anti-American slogans as Nixon traveled through Caracas, Venezuela, during a goodwill trip through Latin America. None of the car’s passengers were injured and the driver was able to speed away to safety.
On May 14, 1904, the first Olympic Games to be held in the U.S. opened in St. Louis, Missouri. The Games had initially been awarded to Chicago, but were later given to St. Louis to be staged in connection with the St. Louis World Exposition. Unfortunately, the Games were poorly organized and overshadowed by the fair.
On May 15, 2009, General Electric, one of America’s most prestigious corporations, finally began its government-mandated efforts to clean up New York’s Hudson River, after decades of environmental damage and legal wrangling. The company had dumped harmful chemicals into the river for years and spent a fortune trying to avoid a cleanup.
On May 16, 1975, Norma Armistead checked into a Los Angeles hospital with a newborn infant she claimed to have given birth to at home. But when it became clear she hadn’t, and another woman turned up dead nearby with the baby she was carrying cut from her body, Armistead was arrested for murder and sentenced to life in prison.
On May 17, 1885, Apache leader and medicine man Geronimo escaped from an Arizona reservation. After a year and a half of running, he and his 38 remaining followers surrendered the following September. Geronimo was relocated to Florida before finally being freed two years later.
On May 18, 1593, an arrest warrant was issued for Christopher Marlowe after fellow playwright Thomas Kyd claimed that “heretical” documents found in his room were actually written by Marlowe. Arrested two days later, Marlowe bailed out but died in a bar brawl on May 30.
On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt set a date of May 1, 1944, for the cross-Channel landing that would become D-Day. Due to bad weather, it was rescheduled for June 6 instead.
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