2nd May: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, May 2nd, the 122nd day of 2017. There are 243 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight In History:

Events:

1927:  The U.S. Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, upheld 8-1 a Virginia law allowing the forced sterilization of people to promote the “health of the patient and the welfare of society.”

2002:  Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner apologized for the state’s thousands of forced sterilizations from 1924 to 1979, calling the practice “a shameful effort.”)

1863:  During the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Virginia; he died eight days later.

1890:  The Oklahoma Territory was organized.

1908:  The original version of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with music by Albert Von Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was published by Von Tilzer’s York Music Co.

1936:  “Peter and the Wolf,” a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.

1946:  Violence erupted during a foiled escape attempt at the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay; the “Battle of Alcatraz” claimed the lives of three inmates and two correctional officers before it was put down two days later.

1952:  Commercial jet service began as a BOAC de Havilland Comet carrying 36 passengers and seven crew members took off from London on a flight to Johannesburg with five stopovers along the way.

1957:  Crime boss Frank Costello narrowly survived an attempt on his life in New York; the alleged gunman, Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, was acquitted at trial after Costello refused to identify him as the shooter. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

1965:  Intelsat 1, also known as the Early Bird satellite, was first used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.

1970:  Jockey Diane Crump became the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby; she finished in 15th place aboard Fathom. (The winning horse was Dust Commander.)

1982:  The Weather Channel made its debut.

1997:   Anew national memorial honoring President Franklin D. Roosevelt was officially opened in Washington, D.C. Tony Blair, whose new Labour Party crushed John Major’s long-reigning Conservatives in a national election, became at age 43 Britain’s youngest prime minister in 185 years.

2011:  Osama bin Laden was killed by elite American forces at his Pakistan compound, then quickly buried at sea after a decade on the run. Because of the time difference, bin Laden’s death came May 1, U.S. time.

Birthdays:

Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 81.

Former International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge is 75.

Actress-activist Bianca Jagger is 72.

Country singer R.C. Bannon is 72.

Actor David Suchet (SOO’-shay) is 71.

Singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin is 69.

Rock singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 67.

Actress Christine Baranski is 65.

Thought For Today: “We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.” — Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman (1813-1887).

Sometimes you gotta shut down all the fun, get your money right, and get yourself together.