May 1
New York City’s Empire State Building officially opens. Construction involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, and hundreds of Mohawk Native American iron workers. Five workers die during construction. – 1931.
A record-breaking wave of tornadoes begins across the southern and midwestern United States on this day in 2003. By the time the wave is over, more than 500 tornadoes are recorded for the month to shatter the previous record by more than 100. – 2003.
May 2
General Motors Corporation (GM), which will become the world’s largest automotive firm, acquires Chevrolet Motor Company. – 1918.
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. – 2011.
May 3
Four striking workers are killed, at least 200 wounded, when police attack a demonstration on Chicago’s South Side at the McCormick Harvesting Machine plant. The Haymarket Massacre is to take place the following day – 1886.
Thirteen-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, Calif., is struck by an out-of-control car, which kills her. Cari’s tragic death compelled her mother, Candy Lightner, to found the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). -1980.
May 4
Haymarket massacre. A bomb is thrown when Chicago police start to break up a rally for strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. A riot erupts, and 11 police and strikers die, mostly from gunfire, and scores more are injured. – 1886.
In Kent, Ohio, 28 National Guardsmen fire their weapons at a group of antiwar demonstrators on the Kent State University campus and kill four students, wound eight, and permanently paralyze another. – 1970.
British journalist David Frost conducts live television interviews of former U.S. president Richard Nixon regarding the Watergate scandal and his resignation. – 1977.
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat reach agreement in Cairo on the first stage of Palestinian self-rule. – 1994.
May 5
Lumber strike begins in Pacific Northwest, will involve 40,000 workers by the time victory is achieved after 13 weeks: Union recognition, a 50¢ per hour minimum wage and an eight-hour day. – 1937.
In Lakeview, Ore., Mrs. Elsie Mitchell and five neighborhood children are killed while attempting to drag a Japanese balloon out of the woods. Unbeknownst to Mitchell and the children, the balloon was armed, and it exploded soon after they began tampering with it. They were the only known American civilians to be killed in the continental United States during World War II. – 1945.
Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, to become the first American astronaut go into space. – 1961.
The U.S. unemployment rate drops to a 30-year low of 3.9%; the rate for blacks and Hispanics is the lowest ever since the government started tracking such data. – 2000.
May 6
The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, N.J. and kills 36 passengers and crew members. – 1937.
Works Projects Administration (WPA) established, provides work opportunities for millions during the Great Depression. – 1935.
Nearly 400 black women working as tobacco stemmers walk off the job in a spontaneous revolt against poor working conditions and a $3. weekly wage at the Vaughan Co. in Richmond, Va.. – 1937.
U.S. Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright surrenders all U.S. troops in the Philippines to the Japanese. – 1942.
In a ceremony presided over by England’s Queen Elizabeth II and French president Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English Channel officially opens to connect Britain and the European mainland for the first time since the Ice Age. – 1994.
May 7
Martinique’s Mount Pele, near the city of Saint Pierre, begins the deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century. The city of Saint Pierre was buried within minutes and virtually everyone died instantly. – 1902.
Two die, 20 are injured in “Bloody Tuesday” when strikebreakers attempt to run San Francisco streetcars during a strike by operators. The strike was declared lost in 1908 after many more deaths, including several in scab-operated streetcar accidents. – 1907.
The German High Command, in the person of General Alfred Jodl, signs the unconditional surrender of all German forces, East and West, at Reims, in northwestern France. – 1945.