Historical Events
Event of Interest
May 2 In Germany, Adolf Hitler bans trade unions
- May 3 Nellie T Ross the 1st female director of the US Mint takes office
Pulitzer Prize to Macleish
May 4 Pulitzer Prize for poetry awarded to Archibald Macleish for "Conquistador"
- May 6 59th Kentucky Derby: Don Meade aboard Brokers Tip wins in 2:06.8
- May 6 Italy & USSR sign trade agreement
Gandhi Begins Fast
May 8 Mahatma Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India
- May 9 Spanish anarchists call for general strike
- May 10 Deutsche Arbeitsfront (DAF) forms
- May 10 Nazis stage public book burnings in Germany
- May 10 Paraguay declares war on Bolivia
- May 10 Suriname worker's union leader A de Come banished to Netherlands
- May 12 Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers
- May 13 58th Preakness: Charley Kurtsinger aboard Head Play wins in 2:02
- May 15 1st voice amplification system to be used in US Senate
- May 16 Cecil Travis becomes 1st player to get 5 hits in his 1st game
Nasjonal Samling
May 17 Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling, the national-socialist party of Norway
- May 18 Around 5,000 forced deportees in the Soviet Union arrive on Nazino Island; within thirteen weeks most of them will be dead due to disease, cannibalism and violence
- May 18 First MLB All-Star Game announced for July 6 at Comiskey Park; to be played as part of the Chicago World's Fair; fans to pick players
Shostakovich's Preludes
May 24 Dmitri Shostakovich's Preludes premieres in Moscow
Klein Hits for Cycle
May 26 Phillies Chuck Klein hits for cycle vs St Louis Cards
- May 27 Austrian communist party banned
- May 27 Century of Progress Exposition opens in Chicago
- May 27 Federal Securities Act signed
Heidegger's Address
May 27 Martin Heidegger gives his inaugural rectoral address on “The Self-Assertion of the German University”, taken by some take as supporting the Nazi regime
- May 27 Trailing 11-3, Yanks score 12 runs in 8th & beat White Sox 15-11
- May 27 Walt Disney's short film "3 Little Pigs" released (Academy Award Best Animated film 1934)
- May 30 Indianapolis 500: Louis Meyer wins accompanied by riding mechanic Lawson Harris; Mark Billman killed in a crash on lap 79; Lester Spangler and riding mechanic "Monk" Jordan die in a crash on lap 132
- May 30 Patent on invisible glass installation
Famous Birthdays
James Brown (1933-2006)
May 3 American R&B, gospel, soul and funk singer-songwriter known as 'The Godfather of Soul' ("Sex Machine"; "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"; "Hot Pants"), born in Barnwell, South Carolina
Johnny Unitas (1933-2002)
May 7 American NFL quarterback (Baltimore Colts, San Diego Chargers); one of the greats, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Louis Farrakhan (90 years old)
May 11 American religious leader (Nation of Islam, Million Man March), born in New York City
- May 12 (Antoni) "Ton" Hartsuiker, Dutch pianist, composer, broadcaster, and educator, born in Zwolle, Netherlands (d. 2015)
- May 12 Andrey Voznesensky, Russian poet, born in Moscow, Soviet Union (d. 2010)
- May 13 Alden Ashforth, American composer and professor of ethno-musicology, born in New York City (d. 2016)
- May 13 Sid Morrison, American politician (Rep-R-WA, 1981-93), born in Yakima, Washington
- May 13 Stig Gustav Schonberg, Swedish composer and organist, born in Västra Husby, Sweden
- May 14 Frank Harte, Irish traditional singer and song collector, born in Chapelizod, County Dublin, Ireland (d. 2005)
- May 14 John Mortimore, cricketer (England off-spinner 1959-64)
- May 14 Lajos Kovacs, Hungarian actor (Wings of Desire)
- May 14 Michael Chevalier, German voice actor
- May 18 Bernadette Chirac, French politician and wife of President Jacques Chirac, born in Paris, France
- May 18 H. D. [Haradanahalli Doddegowda] Deve Gowda, Indian politician, Prime Minister of India (1996-97), born in Haradanahalli, Kingdom of Mysore
- May 20 Constance Towers, American actress (Capitol, Shock Corridor, Naked Kiss), born in Whitefish, Montana
- May 21 Gene “Joe” Byrd, American jazz bassist (Charlie Byrd Trio), born in Chuckatuck, Virginia (d. 2012)
- May 21 Maurice André, French classical trumpeter and baroque revivalist, born in Alès, France (d. 2012)
- May 21 Umberto Colombo, Italian soccer midfielder (3 caps; Juventus, Atalanta), born in Como, Italy (d. 2021)
- May 22 Don Estelle [Ronald Edwards], British actor and singer (It Ain't Half Hot Mum), born in Crumpsall, Lancashire (d. 2003)
- May 23 Bruce A Peterson, US test pilot (M2, HL-10)
- May 23 Gary Burden, American artist and pioneer of album cover art (Neil Young; Graham Nash; The Doors), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2018)
Joan Collins (90 years old)
May 23 English actress (Alexis in "Dynasty", "Bitch"), born in London, England
- May 23 John Browning, American pianist (Leventritt Award, 1956), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 2003)
- May 24 Aharon Lichtenstein, Orthodox Jewish rabbi, born in Paris (d. 2015)
- May 24 Bal Dani, Indian cricket all-rounder (1 Test, 1 wicket; Maharashtra, Services), born in Dudhani, India (d. 1999)
- May 24 Christopher Staughton, British Lord Justice of Appeal (d. 2014)
- May 24 Jane Byrne, American politician and 50th Mayor of Chicago, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2014)
- May 24 Joaquín Vaquero Turcios, Spanish painter, born in Madrid (d. 2010)
- May 24 Tony Mullett, dir-general (National Criminal Intelligence Service)
- May 25 Roger Bowen, American actor (M*A*S*H (film); The Main Event: What About Bob?: Petulia), born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1996)
- May 27 (Edward) "Ted" Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur (Rogers Communications), MLB team owner (Toronto Blue Jays), and philanthropist, born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2008)
- May 28 John Karlen, American actor (Harvey Lacey-Cagney & Lacey), born in Brooklyn, New York
- May 28 Philip Otton, high court judge
- May 29 Helmuth Rilling, German conductor (founder of the Gächinger Kantorei), born in Stuttgart, Germany
- May 29 Tarquinio Provini, Italian motorcycle road racer (2-time world champion 1957-58), born in Roveleto di Cadeo, Emilia-Romagna (d. 2005)
- May 29 William Yorzyk Jr., American swimmer (Olympic gold 200m butterfly, WR 2:19.3, 1956), born in Northampton, Massachusetts (d. 2020)
- May 30 Sid Mark [Fliegelman], American disc jockey and 'Frank-ophile' (The Sounds of Sinatra, 1960-2022), born in Camden, New Jersey (d. 2022)
Famous Deaths
- May 9 John Arthur Jarvis, English swimmer (Olympic gold 1,000m, 4,000m, water polo 1900), dies at 61
- May 13 Paul Ernst, German writer, dies at 67
- May 15 Ernest Torrence, Scottish actor (I Cover the Waterfront, Hunchback of Notre Dame), dies from complications following surgery for gall stones at 54
- May 21 John Henry Mackay, Scottish German author (Der Schwimmer), dies at 69
- May 25 James E. Kelly, American sculptor "Sculptor of American History", dies at 77
- May 26 Horatio Bottomley, British financier and politician (b. 1860)
Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933)
May 26 American country singer and singing brakeman, dies of a pulmonary hemorrhage at 35
