14th May: Today In History

Today is Sunday, May 14th, the 134th day of 2017. There are 231 days left in the year. This is Mother’s Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1787:  Delegates began gathering at the State House in Philadelphia to draw up the United States Constitution. However, only delegates from Virginia and Pennsylvania had arrived by this time, and the convention did not achieve a quorum of seven states until May 25.

1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age four upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

1804:  The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near present-day Hartford, Illinois.

1900:  The Olympic games opened in Paris as part of the 1900 World’s Fair.

1925:  The Virginia Woolf novel “Mrs Dalloway” was first published in England and the United States.

1942:  Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” was first performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

1948:  According to the current-era calendar, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv.

1955:  Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in 1991.)

1961:  Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama.

1973:  The United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. (Skylab 1 remained in orbit for six years before burning up during re-entry in 1979.) The National Right to Life Committee was incorporated.

1987:  Actress Rita Hayworth died in New York at age 68.

1998:  Singer/actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. The hit sitcom “Seinfeld” aired its final episode after nine years on NBC.

Birthdays:

Photo-realist artist Richard Estes is 85.

Actress Sian Phillips is 84. 

Former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is 75.

Movie producer George Lucas is 73.

Actress Meg Foster is 69.

Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 66.

Rock singer David Byrne is 65. 

Actor Tim Roth is 56.

Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 55.

Rock musician C.C. (aka Cecil) DeVille is 55.

Quotes Of The Day:

"Even if I go through something very difficult, as more time passes, the happier I become"

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it.