Today in History

On This Day in:

585 B.C. – The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.

1085 – Alfonso VI took Toledo, Spain from the Moslems.

1787 – The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding.

1810 – Argentina declared independence from Napoleonic Spain.

1844 – The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.

1844 – The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore 'Patriot.'

1895 – Oscar Wilde, a playwright, poet and novelist, was convicted of a morals charge and sentenced to prison in London.

1895 – James P. Lee first published 'Gold in America — A Practical Manual.'

1911 – President of Mexico, Porfolio Diaz, resigned his office.

1925 – John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in school.

1927 – Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.

1927 – The 'Movietone News' was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.

1935 – Babe Ruth hit his final homerun, his 714th, and set a record that would stand for 39 years.

1935 – Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100-yard dash.

He ran it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.

1946 – Jordan gained independence from Britain.

1953 – In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.

1961 – America was asked by U.S. President Kennedy to work toward putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

1963 – The Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1968 – The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.

1970 – Boeing Computer Services was founded.

1977 – 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope' opened and became the largest grossing film to date. Today in Star Wars History

1977 – An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in 'The Washington Post.' The article called for a national memorial to 'remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons' that had served in the Vietnam War.

1979 – An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed.

1981 – Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago's Sears Tower, while wearing a 'Spiderman' costume, in 7 1/2 hours.

1983 – 'The Return of the Jedi' opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.

1985 – Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people. 1986 – Approximately 7 million Americans participated in 'Hands Across America.'

1989 – The Calgary Flames won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens.

1992 – Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's 'Tonight Show.'

1996 – In Nimes, France, Christina Sanchez became the first woman to achieve the rank of matadore in Europe.

1997 – In Sierra Leone a military coup overthrew the popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He was replaced with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.

1997 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).

1997 – Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.

1999 – A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China concluded that China had 'stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons' and that China's penetration of U.S.

weapons laboratories 'spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today.'

2000 – The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a longterm deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner. Time Warner had blacked out Disney programs for a 39 hour period the previous month due to the lack of an agreement.

2001 – Erik Weihenmayer, 32, of Golden, CO, became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2001 – Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2006 – In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.

2008 – NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.

2009 – North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemned the reported test.

Born on May 25:

Ralph W. Emerson 1803 – Essayist, philosopher, poet Luther 'Bill' Robinson (Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson) 1878 – Tap dancer, actor Philip Murray 1886 – Steelworker, labor leader Igor Sikorsky 1889 – Pioneer in aviation with helicopters and fixedwing aircraft Claude Akins 1926 – Actor Lindsey Nelson 1919 – Sportscaster Tom T. Hall 1936 – Country singer, songwriter Dixie Carter 1939 – Actress ('Designing Women,' 'Desperate Housewives') Ian McKellen 1939 – Actor (“Lord of the Rings, “X-Men”)

BIBLE VERSE

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”