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May 21: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – May 21 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 21st May 1216: After having been invited by the barons at war with King John, French Crown Prince Louis enters England.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day May 21st – The 1900s
2. 21st May 1904: The “Federation Internationale de Football Association” (FIFA) was formed today in Paris.
3. 21st May 1904: As a protest to the Pope’s attempts to discipline two French Bishops, France today recalled its Ambassador to the Vatican.
4. 21st May 1906: An agreement for the distribution of waters of Rio Grande was signed today by Mexico and the US.
5. 21st May 1906: Louis H Perlman patented the demountable tire carrying rim for cars today.
6. 21st May 1908: The movie “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide” premiered in Chicago today. This was the first horror movie.
7. 21st May 1911: French troops today entered Fez in Morocco on a mission to quell anti-European agitation.
8. 21st May 1914: Greyhound Bus Company begins its operations in Minnesota.
9. 21st May 1918: An amendment allowing women to vote was today passed by the US House of Representatives.
10. 21st May 1920: After fleeing an armed rebellion, Mexican President Venustiano Carranza was executed by army generals.
11. 21st May 1922: Pulitzer Prize was awarded to the cartoon “On the Road to Moscow”. This was the first cartoon to win the Pulitzer Prize.
12. 21st May 1924: Bobby Franks was kidnapped and killed by Leopold and Loeb to demonstrate their supposed intellectual capability by committing a “perfect crime”.
13. 21st May 1925: Canadians were allowed to sell beer.
14. 21st May 1925: Baron Lloyd, George Lloyd was today appointed as the British High Commissioner to Egypt.
15. 21st May 1929: An electrically operated automatic stock quotation board was installed in New York City today.
16. 21st May 1931: The Jasper-led government in Belgium fell today.
17. 21st May 1932: Aviator Amelia Earhart landed in Ireland today after completing the first transatlantic solo flight, which was the first such flight by a woman.
18. 21st May 1933: US President Roosevelt today lit the Mount Davidson Cross, in San Francisco via telegraph.
19. 21st May 1934: Oskaloosa in Iowa fingerprinted all its citizens. It became the first city in the US to do so.
20. 21st May 1936: Sada Abe, who was wandering to streets of Tokyo with her dead lover’s severed genitals in her hand, was arrested today. This became the most notorious scandal in Japan.
21. 21st May 1940: All Jewish employees of AVRO were today fired by its chairman William Vogt.
22. 21st May 1940: Allied forces launched a counterattack at Utrecht in northern France.
23. 21st May 1940: A new French government was formed today by Reynaud.
24. 21st May 1941: Maleme airport at Crete was today occupied by the German air force.
25. 21st May 1941: A German U-boat sank the US ship SS Robin Moor.
26. 21st May 1942: Convoy PQ 16 departed from Great Britain to Russia today.
27. 21st May 1945: The first Victory test which was played at Lords was won by Australian Services. They won by 6 wickets.
28. 21st May 1945: Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi SS-Reich fuehrer was captured today.
29. 21st May 1946: While preparing for a plutonium core experiment at the Los Alamos Lab, physicist Louis Slotin was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and died 9 days later.
30. 21st May 1950: Ho Chi-Minh’s Vietnamese troops attacked Cambodia today.
31. 21st May 1952: The Amsterdam-Rhine Canal was opened today by Dutch Queen Juliana.
32. 21st May 1953: The Mayer-led French government resigned today.
33. 21st May 1954: An amendment for giving voting rights to 18-year-olds was defeated today.
34. 21st May 1955: The first transcontinental solo round trip was completed today.
35. 21st May 1956: A new government headed by Said el-Mufti formed in Jordan today.
36. 21st May 1956: The US today exploded its first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll.
37. 21st May 1957: The French government headed by Mollet tendered its resignation today.
38. 21st May 1958: The US today performed an atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Islands.
39. 21st May 1958: Morotai Island was re-conquered by Indonesian paratroopers.
40. 21st May 1961: Marshall Law was declared in Montgomery, Alabama, by Governor Patterson today.
41. 21st May 1964: The first nuclear-powered lighthouse operated today at the Chesapeake Bay.
42. 21st May 1964: US today began intelligence flights over Laos.
43. 21st May 1966: Boxing champion Mohammad Ali won the heavyweight boxing championship today by knocking out Henry Cooper.
44. 21st May 1966: At Stanford University in California, the $114 million Stanford Linear Acceleration Centre began smashing atoms.
45. 21st May 1966: In Northern Ireland, a loyalist group calling itself “Ulster Volunteer Force” stated that they had declared war against the Irish Republican Army and its splinter groups.
46. 21st May 1968: The USSR today performed an underground nuclear test.
47. 21st May 1968: A nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion with 99 persons was reported missing. It was later found at the bottom of the Ocean off Azores.
48. 21st May 1969: Sirhan Sirhan, who killed Robert Kennedy was today sentenced to death. This was later commuted to life imprisonment.
49. 21st May 1970: To quell the disturbances at the Ohio State University, the National Guard was called into service today.
50. 21st May 1975: In Stuttgart, the trial against the Baader-Meinhof gang began today.
51. 21st May 1977: A hotel fire at the Duc de Brabant in Brussels killed about 19 people.
52. 21st May 1978: In England, 118 couples were wed today at the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon.
53. 21st May 1979: A parliament (people’s council), National Volksraad was installed in Namibia today.
54. 21st May 1979: Montreal Canadians beat NY Rangers by 4 games to 1 in Stanley Cup.s
55. 21st May 1980: Ensign Jean Mary Butler graduated from the U.S. Service Academy and accepted her degree and commission from the Coast Guard Academy in New London. She was the first woman to graduate from the above academy.
56. 21st May 1981: In France, Francois Mitterrand started serving as President of France. He was the first socialist president.
57. 21st May 1982: The British amphibious forces today landed on the beach at San Carlos Bay during the Falklands War.
58. 21st May 1985: Israel, in return for three Israeli soldiers today exchanged 1,150 prisoners with the PLFP-GC.
59. 21st May 1986: The US today performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site.
60. 21st May 1987: In Fiji, there was a military coup under Lt Col Sitivani Rabuka.
61. 21st May 1988: The US today, performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site.
62. 21st May 1989: In a show of support for a pro-democracy demonstration in Beijing, thousands of native Chinese marched into Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and several other cities across the world.
63. 21st May 1990: In the wake of violence sparked by the slaying of seven Palestinians by an Israeli civilian a day earlier, Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians.
64. 21st May 1991: In Ethiopia, Marxist president Mengistu Haile Mariam, resigned and fled into exile.
65. 21st May 1992: The New Jersey Senate today overrode Governor Florio’s veto and lowered sales tax to 6%.
66. 21st May 1992: China today performed a nuclear test at Lop Nor in the People’s Republic of China.
67. 21st May 1993: In East Timor, the leader of the opposition Xanana Gusmo was sentenced to life today.
68. 21st May 1993: President Carlos Andres Perez was fired in Venezuela today.
69. 21st May 1993: President Bill Clinton after he met Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev at the Whitehouse was pessimistic about the resolution of the ethnic conflict in Balkans. He pledged not to send American soldiers to the “shooting gallery”.
70. 21st May 1994: South Yemen seceded from Yemen today.
71. 21st May 1994: Mustafa Dirani a Shiite Muslim guerrilla leader of the Believer’s Resistance was today abducted from Lebanon’s eastern mountains by Israeli commandos.
72. 21st May 1996: The red-legged frog was today listed as an endangered species by the US Congress.
73. 21st May 1996: In Zambia the government today adopted a resolution to the constitution which required a candidate running for president to be at least 2nd generation Zambians. This amendment was to prevent Kenneth Kaunda son of immigrants from Malawi from running for president.
74. 21st May 1996: The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas were executed today.
75. 21st May 1997: An agreement for equitable use of waters that flow through more than one country was today approved by the United Nations. Only China and Turkey refused to sign the key UN convention on transnational rivers.
76. 21st May 1997: In Mexico today, about half a ton of cocaine was stolen from a police station in Sonora. Later some seven government employees were charged with theft.
77. 21st May 1998: President Suharto, the second president of Indonesia resigned today after being in power for 31 years.
78. 21st May 1998: Rains caused floods and left at least 10 people dead in northwest Turkey today.
79. 21st May 1998: A butyric acid attacker attacked five abortion clinics in Miami, Florida, today.
80. 21st May 1999: “Sun Vista”, a luxury liner sank off the western coast of Malaysia. About 1,100 passengers and crew members escaped safely.
81. 21st May 1999: After being nominated 19 times, the longest unsuccessful nomination in television history, “All My Children” star Susan Lucci finally won the Daytime Emmy award.
21st Century – May 21 This Day In History – The 2000s
82. 21st May 2001: It was officially recognized by the French Taubira law officials that the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
83. 21st May 2001: President Ricardo Lagos made a state-of-the-nation address in Chile and raised the government’s job creation pledge to 150,000 to counter the unemployment situation in the country.
84. 21st May 2001: The Dabhol Power Company, Enron Company’s power generation venture in India, served a formal notice today that it will terminate its power supply contract and pull out.
85. 21`st May 2002: The Bush administration announced the resumption of economic aid to Yugoslavia as the country had met the requirements to cooperate with the war crimes tribunal at Hague.
86. 21st May 2002: In Kashmir, fighting between Indian security forces and Pakistani soldiers resulted in the death of 9 civilians, and 9 others were wounded.
87. 21st May 2003: More than 2000 people were killed in Northern Algeria which was struck by a massive earthquake.
88. 21st May 2004: Sherpa Pemba Dorgjie created a new record by climbing Mount Everest in 8 hours and 10 minutes. He broke the previous year’s record held by Sherpa Lakpa Gelu.
89. 21st May 2004: The World Citizen Award was awarded to Stanislav Petrov for averting a potential nuclear war in 1983 when he correctly guessed Russia’s early warning system was at fault.
90. 21st May 2005: Helena Paparizou sang “My Number One” and won the 50th Eurovision Song Contest for Greece in Kyiv today.
91. 21st May 2006: The Swedish Ice hockey team “Tre Kronor” won the gold medal in the world championship. Sweden became the first nation to hold Olympic and World titles separately in the same year.
92. 21st May 2006: In a referendum held in the Republic of Montenegro, the people of Montenegro chose independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro with a majority of 55%.
93. 21st May 2007: A fire in Greenwich in England badly damaged the last surviving tea clipper “ Cutty Sark”.
94. 21st May 2008: Manchester United beat Chelsea by 6-5 in a penalty shootout after being tied at 1-1 at Moscow in the 16th UEFA championship league final.
95. 21st May 2012: A suicide bomb in Sana Yemen killed 120 people and 350 others were injured.
96. 21st May 2012: In Albania, a bus fell off an 80 m cliff killing 13 people and injuring 22 others.
97. 21st May 2014: President Vladimir Putin of Russia today signed several trade and infrastructure agreements in Beijing in China today.
98. 21st May 2014: Marshall Law declared by the Thai army. They closed down several stations.
99. 21st May 2015: TV star and Rapper Flavor Flav was today arrested near Las Vegas for speeding, driving under the influence, etc.
100. 21st May 2016: In a US drone attack in Pakistan, the Leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour is reported to have been killed.
See Also:
- Famous People Born Today – May 21
- Famous People Who Died On May 21
- May 21 Famous Birthdays
- May 21 Birthday Personality Traits
- May Birthday Astrology