1302        May 18, The weaver Peter de Coningk led a massacre of the Flemish oligarchs at the French garrison (Brugse Metten).

1587        May 18, Felix van Cantalice, Italian saint, died.

1653        May 18, Carel Reyniersz (48), Governor-General of Netherlands and East Indies, died.

1692        May 18, Elias Ashmole, antiquary, died.

1829        May 18, Bernardo Bittoni, composer, died

1949        May 18, James T. Adams, US historian (Pulitzer 1921), died.

1952        May 18, Professor WF Libby said Stonehenge dated back to 1848 BC. 

1965        May 18, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially announced the Head Start program in the White House Rose Garden. The program was soon launched with Dr. Julius Richmond (1916-2008), former US surgeon general under pres. Carter, as the first director.

1971        May 18, President Nixon rejected the 60 demands of the Congressional Black Caucus.

1982        May 18, The Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012), South Korean founder of the Unification Church, was convicted of tax evasion. Moon had moved to America in 1971. He claimed to be the second coming of Jesus Christ and that his purpose was “to unite Christianity and bring families back to God.” “Moonies in America” [by Shupe et al] is a book critical of the Unification Church. Moon served 13 months in prison.

1987        May 18, Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois entered the Democratic presidential race.

1993        May 18, Pamela M. Cunnington (67), English architect, writer, died.

1996        May 18, President Clinton, seeking to deflect Republican criticism that he was weak on welfare reform, endorsed Wisconsin’s welfare-to-work plan in his Saturday radio address.

1997        May 18, President Clinton announced creation of a research center at the National Institutes of Health devoted to the goal of developing an AIDS vaccine within the next decade, but offered no new federal spending.

1997        May 18, In Mongolia Natsagiin Bagabandi of the (MPRP) People’s Revolutionary Party, the former Communist Party, won elections with 60% support.

1999        May 18, Pres. Zedillo of Mexico planned a 3-day visit to California.

2002        May 18, John Dempsey (83), cartoonist, died. His work lampooned contemporary America on the pages of Playboy magazine since 1954.

2004        May 18, Pres. Bush formally nominate Alan Greenspan for a 5th 4-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

2004        May 18, Nigeria’s Pres. Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in a troubled central state on, invoking sweeping powers in a bid to halt religious and ethnic bloodletting. Obasanjo sacked Gov. Joshua Dariye and dissolved the legislature in the central state of Plateau.

2007        May 18, Roy De Forest (77), prominent SF Bay Area painter, died.

2007        May 18, French President Nicolas Sarkozy named his first Cabinet, radically revamping the government, which included seven women among its 15 members. Bernard Kouchner, former UN administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, was named foreign minister.

2007        May 18, Kazakhstan’s veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was in effect declared president-for-life in a move condemned by the nation’s opposition as undemocratic.

2008        May 18, Lawrence Roman (b.1921), screenwriter, died in Woodland Hills, Ca. His work included the 1960 Broadway play “Under the Yum-Yum Tree,” which he also adopted to film in 1963. During his career he wrote more than 20 films and teleplays.

2008        May 18, In Colombia Eldaneyis Mosquera, also known as “Karina,” a wanted leader of Latin America’s largest guerrilla army, handed herself over to Colombian authorities.

2009        May 18, British PM Gordon Brown called for “root and branch” reform to defuse an expenses scandal that has damaged the main political parties and put pressure on parliament’s most senior figure to quit. A group of MPs launched a rare bid to oust the Speaker of the House of Commons, over the expenses scandal.

2010        May 18, In Colombia Rogelio Martinez (51) gunmen intercepted a mototaxi and shot him at least three times near his residence in San Onofre, Sucre province. Martinez lived with 52 displaced families locked in a dispute with a paramilitary group over a 556-hectare (1,374-acre) farm called “La Alemania.”

2010        May 18, Haitian President Rene Preval pledged to step down as scheduled next year, rebuking critics who say he is using the post-earthquake emergency to hold onto power.

2012        May 18, Pres. Obama pledged that the United States will keep providing emergency aid to feed the world’s hungry and said that firms had committed $3 billion to improve agriculture.

2012        May 18, French Pres. Francois Hollande, on his first visit to the Oval Office, told Pres. Obama that he will withdraw all French troops from Afghanistan by year’s end.

2013        May 18, French President Francois Hollande signed a law authorizing gay marriage and adoption by same-sex couples. This means the first gay marriages may be celebrated in France within about 10 days.

2014        May 18, In Libya forces loyal to rogue Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter attacked the parliament in Tripoli, forcing lawmakers to flee an assault that targeted Islamists there who protect the extremist militias now plaguing the nation. Two people were reportedly killed and more than 50 wounded.