May 21
427BC Birth: Plato (Aristocles), philosopher, writer, in Athens. "The most famous of Socrates's pupils was an aristocratic young man named Plato. After the death of Socrates, Plato carried on much of his former teacher's work and eventually founded his own school, the Academy, in 385. The Academy would become in its time the most famous school in the classical world, and its most famous pupil was Aristotle. We know much about Plato's teachings, because he wrote dialogues between Socrates and others that would explore philosophical issues. These dialogues would be used in his school as starting points for discussion; these discussions and Plato's final word on the dialogues have all been lost to us. The Platonic dialogues consist of Socrates asking questions of another and proving, through these questions, that the other person has the wrong idea on the subject. Initially, Plato seems to have carried on the philosophy of Socrates, concentrating on the dialectical examination of basic ethical issues: what is friendship? what is virtue? can virtue be taught? In these early Platonic dialogues, Socrates questions another person and proves, through these questions, that the other person has the wrong idea on the subject. These dialogues never answer the questions they begin with..."
1471 Wars of the Roses: King Henry VI of England is murdered in the Tower of London; Edward IV takes the throne.
1471 Birth: Albrecht Durer, in Nörnberg, Germany, German Renaissance painter, print maker.
1502 The Portuguese explorer Joao de Nova discovers the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic.
1527 Birth: King Philip II of Spain, king of Spain (1556-98) and Portugal (1580-98); will launch the Spanish Armada.
1688 Birth: Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist.
1819 The first bicycles in the United States, called swift walkers, are seen for the first time on the streets of New York City.
1840 Captain William Hobson claims British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand, even though negotiations have not been completed and it will not become a British colony until 1841.
1878 Birth: Glenn Hammond Curtiss, inventor, aviator.
1881 In Washington, DC, humanitarians Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons found the American National Red Cross, an organization established to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross. Barton, born in Massachusetts in 1821, worked with the sick and wounded during the American Civil War and became known as the 'Angel of the Battlefield' for her tireless dedication. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln commissioned her to search for lost prisoners of war, and with the extensive records she had compiled during the war she succeeded in identifying thousands of the Union dead at the Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp. She was in Europe in 1870 when the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and she went behind the German lines to work for the International Red Cross. In 1873, she returned to the United States, and four years later she organized an American branch of the International Red Cross.
1898 Birth: Armand Hammer, fellow traveler, US industrialist. "Armand Hammer was one of the odder, more odious characters of American business and politics, "famous" chiefly because he was rich enough to promote his mammoth ego...a man who deceived, even betrayed, his country, his family and the hired toadies who posed as his friends. The public persona that Hammer polished, at great expense, was that of a renegade oilman who made billions from Libyan oil, chummed around with politicians up to White House level and adorned acres of galleries with paintings, some priceless, others fake. Hammer's lawyers bedeviled honest journalists who tried to write otherwise while he was alive, and they mostly succeeded. Steve Weinberg, author of an earlier critical biography, estimated to me that his British publisher spent $2 million defending a libel suit; it died when Hammer did, at age 92, in 1990. But now that the wretch is dead, let's get on with the deferred fun..."
1902 Birth: Marcel Breuer, architect.
1917 WW1: May 21-June 24 Dispatch Runner Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler lives life in the trenches with 3 Company, 16 Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment at Artois. (Maser)
1921 Birth: Andrei Sakharov, physicist; will support nuclear disarmament and in 1975, will win the Nobel Peace Prize, but won't be allowed to leave Russia to claim it. In 1980, he will be sent into exile in the city Gorky, but in 1986, will be permitted to return to Moscow. Until his death in 1989, he will continue his work for human rights.
1922 The cartoon, On the Road to Moscow, by Rollin Kirby wins a Pulitzer Prize; the first cartoon awarded the Pulitzer.
1927 Charles A. Lindbergh lands at 10.21pm at Le Bourget air field outside Paris, France in his monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis to win the $25,000 prize for the first solo Atlantic flight.
1932 Five years to do the day after Lindbergh's historic flight, Amelia Earhart becomes the first pilot to repeat the feat of flying solo nonstop across the Atlantic; from Newfoundland to Ireland.
1935 Holocaust: The "Army Law" is passed and "Aryan descent" becomes a prerequisite for active service in the German army. (Days)
1935 Hitler once again declares himself a man of peace and disavows any imperialist designs during a speech to the Reichstag. "I frequently hear from Anglo-Saxon tribe's expressions of regret that Germany has departed from those principles of democracy, which in those countries are held particularly sacred. This opinion is entirely erroneous. Germany, too, has a democratic Constitution..."
1936 Britain warns Italy not to meddle in the affairs of Palestine and Egypt.
1936 Kurt von Schuschnigg is elected leader of the Austrian Fatherland Front.
1940 WW2: The first German troops reach the Atlantic coast at the port of Abbeville. France is now count in two, with a large portion of its army and the BEF, which is actually almost the entire British army, cut off and surrounded.
1940 WW2: RAF Command; 77 aircraft from 92 despatched (32 Wellingtons, 24 Whitleys and 18 Blenheims) continue the RAF's attempt to halt the German advance in northern France. 57 out of 58 Blenheims attack German troops looking to reach French coast. 57 aircraft find targets, but some do not attack due to presence of civilians. 3 Blenheims lost on reconnaissance patrols.
1940 WW2: Admiral Raeder mentions to Hitler for the first time that it may be necessary to invade Britain. Hitler shows so little interest that the subject is not addressed at their next meeting on June 4. (Duffy)
1941 President Roosevelt proclaims 'an unlimited state of national emergency', seven months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
1942 Holocaust: 4,300 local Jews from Chelm are deported and gassed at Sobibor. (Atlas)
1944 Holocaust: The Gestapo imprisons all 260 Jews of the city of Canea, Crete, and 5 families from Rethymnon. (Atlas)
1944 Birth: Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, UN rights commissioner.
1945 The AK frees 1,400 Polish prisoners from NKVD prison in Rembertow.
1945 Diary of Leon Gladun: May 21-June 14 "Our course is in Fragneto Monforte about 20 kms from Benevento. We lived quite comfortably in a little palace that even had a swimming pool--admittedly small but you could go for a swim. Every Saturday and Sunday we visited Sorrento, Naples and Capri. At the course I met Jurek and Miet and so we always had a great time. An unforgettable memory remains with me of the road to Sorrento: beautiful scenery on the road winding along a mountainside--then a panoramic view of Golfo di Napoli. Returning from the course I stopped over at Rome for 8 days. I finally find where Anna was living: Marshalu 8-16. Anna looks pretty damn good--she's lost some weight!
1945 Syria and Lebanon break off negotiations with France and demand full independence.
1961 A military cabinet in South Korea is formed under army chief of staff Lt. General Chang Do Yung.
1968 France is at a virtual standstill and every sector of the economy is affected as up to 10 million workers - half the workforce - join a strike started by students. After the worst street fighting since the liberation in 1944, President de Gaulle refuses to resign.
1969 Sirhan B. Sirhan is sentenced to death for the murder of Robert Kennedy in 1968. The sentence will later be commuted to life imprisonment.
1972 Hungarian Lazlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's centuries-old sculpture Pieta, while screaming 'I am Jesus Christ!' The statue is badly damaged.
1979 Former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
1981 In France, Francois Mitterrand is installed as president and set up a caretaker government under prime minister Pierre Mauroy.
1982 Falklands War: British troops establish a bridgehead at Port San Carlos.
1989 A million people, a sixth of the population of Hong Kong, demonstrate in support of rebellious students in Peking.
1991 Ethiopia's military strongman Mengitsu Haile Mariam steps down and goes into exile in Zimbabwe after 14 years of brutal rule.
1991 South Korea's Prime Minister Ro Ja Bong resigns after four weeks of student protests demanding his resignation.
1991 The prime minister of India from 1984 until 1989, Rajiv Gandhi is in the midst of a campaign rally for reelection when a bomb explodes in his hand. Like his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated. The bomb is hidden in a bouquet of flowers handed to Rajiv by a so-called admirer.
1993 The Venezuelan Senate authorizes the country's Supreme Court to try President Carlos Andres Perez on corruption charges. Perez is then suspended from office. Octavio Lepage is sworn in as the new acting leader.
1994 Israeli commandos sweep into Lebanon's eastern mountains and abduct Mustafa Dirani, a Shiite Muslim guerrilla leader.
1996 Remarks by Secretary of Defense William J. Perry at the Memorial Services for Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, a recent suicide, at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC. "...It has been said several times today, but is worth saying again, that Mike was a sailor's sailor. The first seaman recruit to become the Chief of Naval Operations. A Navy man who at every stage of his career put the interest of sailors and their families first. A Navy leader who helped make America's Navy the best that the world has ever seen. And a family man who deeply loved his wife Bettie and their children. As Secretary of Defense I relied on Mike's advice. Indeed we first met during a security crisis when the Bosnian Serbs began shelling Sarajevo in defiance of a NATO ultimatum. As we weighed the allied response, Mike's advice -- respond with force -- carried the day. And it was Mike's combat leadership that directed the air strikes that stopped the killing and started Bosnia on the path to peace. Under his wise stewardship of the Navy, Mike carried on the legacy of his predecessor and role model, the late Admiral Arleigh Burke. Like any great leader Mike's heart was with his people. He was a seaman who became an admiral, but an admiral who never forgot his seamen..."
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
Visit:
Visit:
Click Here to email the History: One Day At a Time webmaster.