This Day in History: May 1
1999...The body of British mountaineer George Mallory was discovered on Mount Everest, some 75 years after he and Andrew Irvine disappeared while attempting to become the first people to summit the peak.
1991...American baseball player Rickey Henderson stole the 939th base of his career, surpassing Lou Brock's MLB record.
1971...Amtrak—the federally supported corporation that operates nearly all intercity passenger trains in the United States—began service.
1961... The first major airplane hijacking within the United States occurred when a man forced a commercial airliner en route from Miami to Key West, Florida, to detour to Cuba.
1960... While on a reconnaissance flight deep inside the Soviet Union, a U.S. U-2 plane was shot down and its pilot—Francis Gary Powers, who worked for the CIA—was taken prisoner; the resulting confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union became known as the U-2 Incident.
1941... Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, considered by many critics to be the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York City.
1931... The Empire State Building in New York City officially opened; for four decades it was the tallest building in the world, and it is considered a U.S. landmark.
1924... Iodized salt first went on sale in the United States, available at grocery stores in Michigan; the state was then part of a region known as “the goitre belt,” which refers to enlargement of the thyroid gland due to iodine deficiency.
1991...American baseball player Rickey Henderson stole the 939th base of his career, surpassing Lou Brock's MLB record.
1971...Amtrak—the federally supported corporation that operates nearly all intercity passenger trains in the United States—began service.
1961... The first major airplane hijacking within the United States occurred when a man forced a commercial airliner en route from Miami to Key West, Florida, to detour to Cuba.
1960... While on a reconnaissance flight deep inside the Soviet Union, a U.S. U-2 plane was shot down and its pilot—Francis Gary Powers, who worked for the CIA—was taken prisoner; the resulting confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union became known as the U-2 Incident.
1941... Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, considered by many critics to be the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York City.
1931... The Empire State Building in New York City officially opened; for four decades it was the tallest building in the world, and it is considered a U.S. landmark.
1924... Iodized salt first went on sale in the United States, available at grocery stores in Michigan; the state was then part of a region known as “the goitre belt,” which refers to enlargement of the thyroid gland due to iodine deficiency.
