1753 May 9, King Louis XV disbanded the French parliament.
1865 May 9, William Smith (1797-1887) was forced out of office as governor of Virginia following the Confederate surrender.
1945 May 9, Norwegian Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling was arrested.
1946 May 9, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicated and was replaced by his son, Umberto II. He served until a June referendum abolished the monarchy.
1957 May 9, Ezio F. Pinza, Italian bass (La Scala of Milan, NY Met Opera, Broadway musicals), died.
1967 May 9, Marine Sgt. James Neil Tycz (22) and three other US servicemen were killed on Hill 665 near Khe Sanh, Vietnam, close to the Laos border. In 2005 three of the men were buried at Arlington National Cemetery on the 38th anniversary of their deaths.
1976 May 9, Ulrike Meinhof (b.1934), co-leader of the Baader-Meinhof gang, committed suicide in German prison.
1985 May 9, Laurent Fabius, head of the French Socialist government, blocked the sale of an AIDS virus detection test made by Abbott Laboratories. Fabius and others were later charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter in the deaths of hundreds who died from transfusions of tainted blood. In 1999 Fabius and Georgina Dufoix were cleared of the charges. Edmond Herve, the health minister under Dufoix, was convicted of negligence in 2 cases.
1988 May 9, Education Secretary William J. Bennett announced he would leave his position in mid-September.
1991 May 9, President Bush met at the White House with UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, who relayed Iraq’s rejection of a US-backed proposal for a UN civilian force in northern Iraq.
1993 May 9, Pope John Paul II made an anti-Mafia speech in Agrigento, Sicily
1995 May 9, President Clinton arrived in Moscow for a summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin
1997 May 9, In Russia Pres. Yeltsin approved a new security doctrine that stipulated that right to use nuclear weapons if it was attacked.
2000 May 9, Senator John McCain endorsed Texas Governor George W. Bush for president.
2004 May 9, Brenda Fassie (39), South Africa’s first black pop star, who gave a voice to disenfranchised blacks at the height of apartheid, died of complications from an asthma attack
2005 May 9, World leaders joined Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin on Red Square for a lavish military parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.
2006 May 9, In Egypt Nasser Khamis el-Mallahi, the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group wanted for last month’s bombings in Dahab, was killed in a gunbattle in the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula.
2007 May 9, East Timor voted for a new president, choosing between a Nobel Prize winner and an ex-freedom fighter in polls critical to maintaining peace a year after the nation was pushed to the brink of civil war
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in 2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was “Yes.”
2008 May 9, South African President Thabo Mbeki held intensive talks with veteran counterpart Robert Mugabe over Zimbabwe’s post-election crisis as doctors reported a dramatic rise in violence.
2009 May 9, PM Nouri al-Maliki said Iraq should launch an anti-corruption campaign that would match the fight it has waged against insurgents and militias, amid increasing complaints over criminality in the government.
2009 May 9, In South Africa Jacob Zuma became president, vowing to work to fulfill the dreams of all South Africans after he overcame corruption and sex scandals to reach the nation’s highest office.
2010 May 9, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad opened what is being dubbed as the Middle East’s biggest car plant set up by Iranian state-run automobile company Saipa.
2011 May 9, Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver announced their separation, cleaving a sometimes-turbulent 25-year relationship. On May 17 Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he had fathered a child with a member of his household staff over a decade ago.
2011 May 9, A Philippine anti-graft court approved a much-criticized plea bargain deal between prosecutors and former Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who was accused of plunder. Garcia had pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of direct bribery and facilitating money laundering. He was released on bail in December pending sentencing on the lesser charges.
2012 May 9, President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage and boosted the hopes of gay rights groups around the world. Opponents denounced his switch as a shameless appeal for votes.
2013 May 9, Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi warned that the al-Qaida branch in the country was expanding and using assassinations and abductions of foreigners as a way to challenge the central authority.
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