1830
Congress passes The Indian Removal Act
1924
Congress sets first immigration quotas
1972
US and USSR sign ABM treaty
1983
Earthquake, tsunami kills 104 in Japan
2006
Earthquake kills over 5,700 in Java
1521
Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms (vohrms) because of his religious beliefs and writings.
1650
English Gen. John Churchill, ancestor of statesman Sir Winston Churchill. born
1805
Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned king of Italy.
1865
Arrangements were made in New Orleans for the surrender of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi.
1868
President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives for "high crimes and misdemeanors." He won acquittal in the Senate by one vote.
1870
Giuseppe Verdi wrote that he liked an idea put forth for a new grand opera. "I have the read the Egyptian story. It is well-conceived," Verdi wrote, and proceeded to compose "Aida."
1886
Singer Al Jolson. born
1893
The conductor who commissioned Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Eugene Goosens, was born. (Goosens' father and grandfather were also conductors)
1907
Actor John Wayne born
1908
Actor Robert Morley born
1913
Actors' Equity Association was organized.
1913
Actor Peter Cushing born
1920
Singer Peggy Lee born
1923
Actor James Arness. born
1924
The composer Victor Herbert, in his sixties and weighing about 260 pounds, died of a heart attack while climbing the stairs to his doctor's office in New York.
1925
Actor Alec McCowen born
1939
Sportscaster Brent Musberger born
1939
Opera singer Teresa Stratas born
1940
The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, during World War Two began.
1942
Rock singer-musician Levon Helm (The Band) born
1948
Singer Stevie Nicks born
1949
Actor Philip Michael Thomas born
1949
Actress Pam Grier born
1949
Singer Hank Williams Jr. born
1951
Sally Ride, first American woman in space born
1954
More than 100 crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Bennington died in an explosion off Rhode Island.
1957
Actress Margaret Colin born
1958
Country singer-songwriter Dave Robbins (BlackHawk) born
1962
Actress Genie Francis ("`General Hospital'') born
1962
Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait born
1964
Singer Lenny Kravitz born
1966
Actress Helena Bonham Carter born
1968
Rock musician Phillip Rhodes (Gin Blossoms, The Pharoahs) born
1969
The "Apollo Ten" astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1971
Rhythm-and-blues singer Joey Kibble (Take 6) born
1971
Actor-producer-writer Matt Stone born
1972
At the Moscow summit, President Nixon and Soviet Communist Party leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a pact limiting nuclear weapons.
1977
George H. Willig scaled the outside of the South Tower of New York's World Trade Center; he was arrested at the top of the 110-story building.
1981
Fourteen people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS "Nimitz" off Florida.
1987
Former PTL leader Jim Bakker told ABC's "Nightline" he had made a "terrible mistake" in turning control of the ministry over to the Reverend Jerry Falwell, and accused Falwell of misleading him.
1989
Reports began circulating that House Majority Whip Tony Coelho would resign to spare himself and the Democratic Party the ordeal of an investigation into his ethics.
1990
Soviet maverick politician Boris N. Yeltsin failed in a second round of voting to win the presidency of the Russian Federation. (He succeeded in a third round of balloting three days later.)
1991
A Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard; crash investigators blamed an engine thrust reverser that had inexplicably deployed shortly after takeoff.
1991
Rick Mears became the third driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times.
1992
The White House announced that the Coast Guard was returning a group of Haitian refugees picked up at sea to their homeland under a new executive order signed by President Bush.
1992
President Bush and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton won primaries in Kentucky, Arkansas and Idaho.
1994
President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced his administration would no longer link China's trade status with its human rights record.
1994
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. (The marriage, however, did not last.)
1995
In the tobacco industry's largest recall ever, Philip Morris USA halted sales of several cigarette brands, including some versions of top-selling Marlboro, because some filters were contaminated.
1996
Buddy Lazier won the Indianapolis 500.
1996
A police sergeant searching the murky waters where ValuJet Flight 592 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people aboard, found the crucial cockpit voice recorder.
1996
Albania's opposition parties pulled out of the election on polling day because of "terror'' and manipulation of the poll by the ruling Democratic Party.
1997
Australian Prime Minister John Howard made an unexpected personal apology to tens of thousands of Aborigines forcibly taken from their parents under a past government policy of assimilation.
1998
The Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island, historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in New Jersey, not New York.
1998
The Supreme Court made it far more difficult for police to be sued by people hurt during high-speed chases.
1999
House Republicans pushed through legislation that would put new obstacles in the way of spending government surpluses that came from Social Security taxes.
1999
Indian aircraft fired on separatist guerrillas in the Kashmir province and Pakistan threatened retaliation; it was the first use of air power in years in the long-running conflict over the Himalayan border region.
2000
Barry Grunow, 35, an English teacher at Lake Worth Community Middle School in Florida, was shot to death by Nathaniel Brazill, a seventh grader who'd been sent home for throwing water balloons on the last day of classes.
2005
Power crisis in Moscow and central Russia largest ever recorded
2005
Liverpool beats Milan on penalties in Champions League final
2005
Researchers at UC Berkeley strike against "bad faith bargaining"
2005
Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reported "wounded"
2006
Hundred million dollar New Zealand drug bust
2006
Melbourne - Adelaide train services disrupted into next week following fatal crash
2006
U.S. Senate passes immigration reform bill
2006
Science minister visits Australia's newest nuclear reactor, receives nuclear power report
2006
Sculptor to teach animation maquettes at VAB Creative Studio
2006
Symantec AntiVirus vulnerability found
2006
US marines may face death penalty for "massacre" of civilians in Iraq
2006
Shots fired on Capitol Hill
2006
In depth: Buffalo, N.Y. hotel proposal controversy
2006
Amnesty Report 2006: disadvantaged pay price of war on terror
2006
Australian troops land in East Timor
2006
Indian Communists protest US involvement in country's internal affairs
2006
BitTorrent index sues MPAA
2007
Hamilton to appear at Goodwood
2007
White House discussing troop withdrawals of up to 50% in Iraq
2007
Khamenei visits head of Islamic Iraqi Council
2007
Ivory Coast militia destroys weapons
2007
McLaren Mercedes drivers will start from top of Monaco Grand Prix
2007
New Zealand newspaper poll projects majority for National Party
2007
Roadside bomb kills Canadian soldier, injures two others
2007
U.S. minimum wage increase passed by Congress
2007
New South Wales government turns out the light on Blue Mountains Freeway
2007
Controversial medical center demolished in Buffalo, New York
2007
Monster Pig killed by eleven-year old boy
2008
Nine killed as Russian cargo plane crashes in Siberia
2008
Seven civilians killed in Iraq
2008
YODEX Review: Varied competitions, Vast creations
2008
Squash lines up for the 2016 Olympics
2008
Lebanon elects army chief as new president
2008
Fire and explosions kill at least 30 at Iranian chemical factory
2008
Author Robert Asprin dead at 61
2008
Australian art gallery raided by police; photographer faces possible indecency charge
2008
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands safely on Mars
2008
Film director Sydney Pollack dies at age 73
2009
Minnesota boy with cancer and mother return to abide by court rulings
2009
Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor to U.S. Supreme Court
2010
Attack occurs in Stavropol, Russia; at least six dead
2010
Oil spill in Alaska closes 800 miles of pipeline
2010
UK police announce arrest of suspected serial killer
2010
Irish Senator Kieran Phelan dies at age 60
2010
Plane crashes into Toronto office building
2010
Iraqi Airways drops flights to United Kingdom and Sweden
2010
Mexican cartoonist Gabriel Vargas dies at 95
2010
Jamaica: Violence kills at least 30
2010
Rollover on Illinois Route 59 in Naperville injures one
2010
Turkish shopkeeper saves falling toddler
2011
The end of an era for Winfrey
2011
Employees killed in Foxconn manufacturing factory
2011
'George Davis is innocent - OK': UK court partially vindicates campaign after 36 years
2012
News briefs: May 26, 2012
2013
Two rockets hit southern Beirut
2013
Kamchatka deep-focus underwater earthquake reaches Moscow
In the early days of Unix, a date-tagged list of historical events was used by system administrators to add some interest to the system's Message of the Day. Whenever users logged in they would be presented with the latest system notices, perhaps some mildly amusing quotes and one or two lines of historical events, based on the current date.
Today in History (UNIX calendar) uses some of the entries from the original library but is updated with current events as well. Instead of plain text, each entry is now formatted in HTML and each day may include one or more icons of historical figures or celebrities.
Other things unique to the UNIX calendar are references to dates found in fictional literature such as Lord of the Rings, perhaps undue emphasis on people and events that were part of popular culture in the 70's and technical minutiae about computers and operating systems that might not be found in other places.
In association with Amazon, this symbol is a link to related products at amazon.com. Any proceeds resulting from the sales of these products are used to defray the cost of maintaining the Today in History site and editorial efforts.