Today in History: May 1

On May 1, 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect. An aerial view from Calton Hill in Edinburgh. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/Jui-Chi Chan)

New York City, Empire State Building, 5th Avenue — In 1931, New York’s 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. Singer Kate Smith made her debut on CBS Radio on her 24th birthday. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/Daniel Caja)

1941: Orson Welles takes the lead role in his film 'Citizen Kane', directed by himself for RKO. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) — In 1941, the Orson Welles motion picture “Citizen Kane” premiered in New York. Orson Welles takes the lead role in his film ‘Citizen Kane’, directed by himself for RKO. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.) Singer Elvis Presley and his bride, the former Priscilla Beaulieu, are shown at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., after their wedding on May 1, 1967. Presley, 32, and Beaulieu, 21, both from Memphis, Tenn., met while he was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. (AP Photo)

In 1975, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Brewers broke baseball’s all-time RBI record previously held by Babe Ruth during a game against the Detroit Tigers (Milwaukee won, 17-3). Homerun king, Henry Aaron grins as a near record crowd gives him a standing ovation during opening day ceremonies before American League game against the Cleveland Indians at Milwaukee Stadium, Friday, April 11, 1975. More than 48,000 persons turned out to see Aaron and the Brewers at the season opener. (AP Photo/Paul Shane)

FILE - This May 1, 1992 file photo shows Rodney King, right, speaking during a news conference in Los Angeles along with his attorney, Steven Lerman, left. King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation's history, has died, his publicist said Sunday, June 17, 2012. He was 47. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, file) — In 1992, on the third day of the Los Angeles riots, a visibly shaken Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, pleading, “Can we all get along?” This May 1, 1992 file photo shows Rodney King, right, speaking during a news conference in Los Angeles along with his attorney, Steven Lerman, left. King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race riots in the nation’s history, died Sunday, June 17, 2012. He was 47. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, file)

In 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation (because of the time difference, it was early May 2 in Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader met his end). President Barack Obama reads his statement to photographers after making a televised statement on the death of Osama bin Laden from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(1/7)

Share This Gallery:

Today is Wednesday, May 1, the 121st day of 2019. There are 244 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 1, 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.

On this date:

In 1786, Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered in Vienna.

In 1931, New York’s 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. Singer Kate Smith made her debut on CBS Radio on her 24th birthday.

In 1941, the Orson Welles motion picture “Citizen Kane” premiered in New York.

In 1945, a day after Adolf Hitler took his own life, Admiral Karl Doenitz effectively became sole leader of the Third Reich with the suicide of Hitler’s propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels.

In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

In 1964, the computer programming language BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was created by Dartmouth College professors John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz.

In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.) Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.

In 1971, the intercity passenger rail service Amtrak went into operation.

In 1975, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Brewers broke baseball’s all-time RBI record previously held by Babe Ruth during a game against the Detroit Tigers (Milwaukee won, 17-3).

In 1982, the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, was opened by President Ronald Reagan.

In 1992, on the third day of the Los Angeles riots, a visibly shaken Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, pleading, “Can we all get along?”

In 2011, President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation (because of the time difference, it was early May 2 in Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader met his end).

Ten years ago: Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced his retirement effective at the end of the court’s term in late June. (President Barack Obama chose federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to succeed him.) Singer-actor-impressionist Danny Gans, one of Las Vegas’ most popular entertainers, died at age 52.

Five years ago: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called a 50-percent jump in reports by members of the military of sexual assaults the previous year a “clear threat” to both male and female service members’ lives and well-being, and said he’d ordered Pentagon officials to increase efforts to get male victims to report abuse.

One year ago: Entering the State Department headquarters for the first time as America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed to reinvigorate American diplomacy and help the United States get “back our swagger.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lashed out at Republican allies of President Donald Trump who had drafted articles of impeachment against Rosenstein, saying the Justice Department would not give in to threats.