31st May: Today In History

Today is Wednesday, May 31, the 151st day of 2017. There are 214 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1977:  The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making despite objections from environmentalists and Alaska Natives, was completed. (The first oil began flowing through the pipeline 20 days later; today the pipeline carries an average of 1.8 million barrels of oil a day, according to the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers website.)

1790:  President George Washington signed into law the first U.S. copyright act.

1889:  Some 2,200 people in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, perished when the South Fork Dam collapsed, sending 20 million tons of water rushing through the town.

1910:  The Union of South Africa was founded.

1916:  During World War I, British and German fleets fought the naval Battle of Jutland off Denmark; there was no clear-cut victor, although the British suffered heavier losses.

1935:  Movie studio 20th Century Fox was created through a merger of the Fox Film Corp. and Twentieth Century Pictures.

1949:  Former State Department official and accused spy Alger Hiss went on trial in New York, charged with perjury (the jury deadlocked, but Hiss was convicted in a second trial).

1961:  South Africa became an independent republic as it withdrew from the British Commonwealth.

1962:  Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel a few minutes before midnight for his role in the Holocaust.

1970:  A magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Peru claimed an estimated 67,000 lives.

1985:  88 people were killed, more than 1,000 injured, when 41 tornadoes swept through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada, during an 8-hour period.

1994:  The United States announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

2005:  Breaking a silence of 30 years, former FBI official W. Mark Felt stepped forward as “Deep Throat,” the secret Washington Post source during the Watergate scandal.

Birthdays:

Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 87.

Singer Peter Yarrow is 79.

Former Humanitarian Terry Waite is 78.

Singer-musician Augie Meyers is 77.

Actress Sharon Gless is 74.

Football Hall-of-Famer Joe Namath is 74.

Broadcast journalist/commentator Bernard Goldberg is 72.

Actor Tom Berenger is 67. 

Quotes Of The Day:

At The End Of The Day, You Won't Be Happy Until You Love Yourself... 

Be A Pineapple, Stand Tall, Wear A Crown And Be Sweet On The Inside...