Historica Events On May 19

Today is Monday, May 19, the 139th day of 2014. There are 226 days left in the year. May 19, 1964 Samuel Sochukwuma Okwaraji, Nigeria's professional footballer, was born in Orlu, Imo State.
 In 1864, American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, 59, died in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was beheaded after being convicted of adultery.

In 1780, a mysterious darkness enveloped much of New England and part of Canada in the early afternoon.
In 1913, California Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Webb-Hartley Law prohibiting "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from owning farm land, a measure targeting Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese.

In 1943, in his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledged his country's full support in the fight against Japan. That same day, top U.S. and British officials meeting in Washington reached agreement on May 1, 1944 as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (the operation ended up being launched more than a month later).

In 1954, American composer Charles Ives, 79, died in New York.

In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday to You" to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser at New York's Madison Square Garden.
In 1964, the State Department disclosed that 40 hidden microphones had been found in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

In 1981, five British soldiers were killed by an Irish Republican Army landmine in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
In 1994, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died in New York at age 64.

In 2004, Frustrated relatives of World Trade Center victims heckled former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani during his appearance before the September 11 commission. Two men hurled purple cornstarch at British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons. Manmohan Singh was named India's new prime minister. Millionaire philanthropist Jack Eckerd, founder of the drugstore chain that bore his name, died in Clearwater, Florida, at age 91.


In 2009, President Barack Obama asked consumers to back his plan for higher efficiency standards for cars and trucks, saying drivers would make up the higher cost of cleaner vehicles at the gas pump.

In 2013, President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, told graduates of historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people's lives.