YEAR

DAY

EVENT

1278

May 10

Jews of England were imprisoned on charges of coining.

1427

May 10

Jews were expelled from Berne, Switzerland.

1534

May 10

Jacques Cartier reached Newfoundland.

1652

May 10

John Johnson, a free black, was granted 550 acres in Northampton, Va.

1655

May 10

Jamaica was captured by English.

1752

May 10

Benjamin Franklin 1st tested his lightning rod.

1796

May 10

Napoleon Bonaparte won a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in Italy.

1797

May 10

The 1st American Navy ship, the “United States,” was launched.

1829

May 10

Thomas Young, physicist, decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics, died.

1859

May 10

French emperor Napoleon III left Paris to join his troops preparing to battle the Austrian army in Northern Italy.

1864

May 10

Battles at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia.

1865

May 10

Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops in Irwinville, Georgia.

1876

May 10

Centennial Fair opened in Philadelphia. Centennial Hall was built in Philadelphia, Pa., to commemorate the country’s 100th birthday. The US Centennial Exhibition was a world’s fair celebrating the founding of the US and drew over 9.9 million people. The US population at this time was 46 million.

1906

May 10

Russia’s Duma (Parliament) met for the 1st time.

1907

May 10

Paul Dukas’ opera “Ariane et Barbe Bleue,” premiered in Paris.

1910

May 10

The 1st aircraft air display was held at Hendon, England.

1924

May 10

J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at age 29.

1930

May 10

The 1st US planetarium opened in Chicago.

1932

May 10

Government of Netherland declared “Wilhelmus” the national anthem.

1933

May 10

Paraguay declared war on Bolivia.

1941

May 10

England’s House of Commons was destroyed by a German air raid.

1943

May 10

Donovan Leitch, guitarist, folk singer (Mellow Yellow), was born in Scotland.

1945

May 10

Allies captured Rangoon from the Japanese.

1956

May 10

A UN sponsored plebiscite in the British trust territory of Togoland revealed that the voters wished to join the soon-to-be-established state of Ghana.

1957

May 10

Sid Vicious, [John Simon Ritchie], bassist (Sex Pistols), was born in England.

1959

May 10

Soviet forces arrived in Afghanistan.

1960

May 10

John F. Kennedy won the primary in West Virginia.

1968

May 10

Preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.

1969

May 10

In Louisiana the 2nd Lake Pontchartrain causeway opened. The 1st span was completed in 1956.

1977

May 10

Actress Joan Crawford (69) died in New York of liver cancer.

1978

May 10

Britain’s Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.

1982

May 10

Peter Weiss (b.1916), German playwright (Marat-Sade), died.

1983

May 10

The last episode of the TV sitcom “Laverne & Shirley”, subtitled “Hear Today Hair Tomorrow,” aired on ABC-TV.

1984

May 10

The International Court of Justice said the U.S. should halt any actions to blockade Nicaragua’s ports. The U.S. had already said it would not recognize World Court jurisdiction on this issue.

1987

May 10

President Reagan visited Tuskegee University, one of the nation’s oldest black educational institutions, where he told graduating seniors his administration “won’t be satisfied until every American who wants a job has a job and is earning a decent living.”

1991

May 10

Alexander Bessmertnykh became the first Soviet foreign minister to visit Israel as he met with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister David Levy.

1992

May 10

Astronaut Pierre Thuot tried but failed to snag a wayward satellite during a spacewalk outside the shuttle Endeavour. A trio of astronauts succeeded in capturing the Intelsat-Six three days later.

1993

May 10

A Paul Cezanne still life, Les Grosses Pommes, sold for $28,602,500 in NYC.

1995

May 10

Terry Nichols was charged in the Oklahoma City bombing.

1996

May 10

Two US Marine helicopters collided and killed 14 servicemen in a piney swamp at Camp LeJeune, N.C. during a U.S.-British training exercise. An AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter collided with a CH-46 Sea Knight troop copter.

1997

May 10

President Clinton signed modest drug-fighting and trade agreements with Caribbean leaders in Barbados.

1998

May 10

Tax freedom day, the day the average American taxpayer will have earned enough to pay his annual taxes.

1999

May 10

The US approved the export of 2 Motorola Iridium satellites to China

2000

May 10

Pres. Clinton issued an executive order to make drugs for AIDS less expensive in Africa.

2001

May 10

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to withhold some back U.N. dues until the United States was reinstated on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

2002

May 10

NBA owners approved the Hornets’ move to New Orleans, ending the team’s 14-year era in Charlotte, NC.

2003

May 10

The New York Times announced on its Web site that one of its reporters, Jayson Blair, had “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud,” according to an investigation conducted by the paper.

2004

May 10

President Bush reacted with “deep disgust and disbelief” during a Pentagon visit as he examined new photos and video clips of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.

2005

May 10

A federal bankruptcy judge freed United Airlines from responsibility for pensions covering 120,000 employees.

2006

May 10

Daniel Biechele, a former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people, was sentenced to four years in prison.

2007

May 10

The Democratic-controlled House, by a vote of 255-171, defeated legislation to require the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq within nine months.

2008

May 10

A tornado rumbled through Picher, Okla., killing at least 7 people. The same storm system then moved into southwest Missouri, where tornadoes killed at least 15 others. The storms moved eastward and killed at least one person the next day in Georgia.

2009

May 10

Floodwaters receded some in inundated towns across northern Brazil, but the number of homeless rose above 300,000 and two people were missing after an overloaded canoe overturned in swift waters.

2009

May 10

In Sri Lanka a government doctor said an all-night artillery barrage in the war zone killed at least 378 civilians and forced thousands to flee to makeshift shelters. Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels accused the government of killing more than 2,000 civilians in 24 hours of artillery attacks, but the military vehemently denied the allegations.

2011

May 10

Microsoft announced an $8.5 billion deal to acquire Skype, an Internet voice and video communications company.

2011

May 10

Iran said it has accepted the European Union’s proposal for more talks about the country’s controversial nuclear program.

2012

May 10

In Afghanistan 6 suicide attackers wearing police uniforms killed five people when they were caught trying to sneak through a checkpoint in Paktika province’s Yayakhil district. 4 attackers detonated their explosives-rigged suicide vests and 2 were shot and killed.

2013

May 10

In Connecticut a task force unanimously recommended razing and rebuilding Sandy Hook Elementary School, the site of the Dec 24, 2012, shooting that left 27 people dead.

2014

May 10

In northern Arizona a small plane carrying French tourists crashed while landing in windy conditions, killing one person and leaving another hospitalized.