May 20 Events |
Read about how to open files in Open File Database. |
| May 20th, 2008 (May 20 2008) | Event | United States Senator Ted Kennedy is diagnosed with a brain tumor. | |
| May 20th, 2008 (May 20 2008) | Event | Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). | |
| May 20th, 2002 (May 20 2002) | Event | The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself was the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976). | |
| May 20th, 1996 (May 20 1996) | Event | Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians. | Evans Quotes |
| May 20th, 1995 (May 20 1995) | Event | In a second referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada. | |
| May 20th, 1990 (May 20 1990) | Event | The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania. | |
| May 20th, 1989 (May 20 1989) | Event | The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre. | Martial Quotes |
| May 20th, 1985 (May 20 1985) | Event | Radio Marti, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba. | |
| May 20th, 1984 (May 20 1984) | Event | The first line of the Miami Metrorail in Miami, Florida opens. | |
| May 20th, 1983 (May 20 1983) | Event | First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually. | |
| May 20th, 1980 (May 20 1980) | Event | In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada. | |
| May 20th, 1969 (May 20 1969) | Event | The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends. | |
| May 20th, 1965 (May 20 1965) | Event | PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 040 B crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 119 of the 125 passengers and crew. | |
| May 20th, 1956 (May 20 1956) | Event | In Operation Redwing, (shot Cherokee), the first US airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean; | |
| May 20th, 1954 (May 20 1954) | Event | Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly. | |
| May 20th, 1949 (May 20 1949) | Event | In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established. | |
| May 20th, 1949 (May 20 1949) | Event | The Kuomintang regime declares Taiwan is under martial law. | Martial Quotes |
| May 20th, 1941 (May 20 1941) | Event | World War II: Battle of Crete - German paratroops invade Crete. | |
| May 20th, 1940 (May 20 1940) | Event | Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz. | |
| May 20th, 1932 (May 20 1932) | Event | Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day. | |
| May 20th, 1927 (May 20 1927) | Event | By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. | |
| May 20th, 1927 (May 20 1927) | Event | At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day. | |
| May 20th, 1920 (May 20 1920) | Event | The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany s Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved. | |
| May 20th, 1920 (May 20 1920) | Event | Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America. | |
| May 20th, 1916 (May 20 1916) | Event | The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage"). | |
| May 20th, 1916 (May 20 1916) | Event | The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date. | |
| May 20th, 1908 (May 20 1908) | Event | Establishment of Boedi Oetoemo. Indonesians mark it as the National Awakening Day. | |
| May 20th, 1902 (May 20 1902) | Event | Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomas Estrada Palma becomes the first President of Cuba. | |
| May 20th, 1896 (May 20 1896) | Event | The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others. | |
| May 20th, 1891 (May 20 1891) | Event | History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison s prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison s Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women s Clubs). | |
| May 20th, 1883 (May 20 1883) | Event | Krakatoa begins to erupt. The volcano s final and most notable explosion occurs on August 26. | |
| May 20th, 1882 (May 20 1882) | Event | The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed. | |
| May 20th, 1873 (May 20 1873) | Event | Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. | |
| May 20th, 1864 (May 20 1864) | Event | American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Churchin the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. | |
| May 20th, 1862 (May 20 1862) | Event | U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law. | Abraham Lincoln Quotes |
| May 20th, 1861 (May 20 1861) | Event | American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. | |
| May 20th, 1845 (May 20 1845) | Event | HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost. | |
| May 20th, 1840 (May 20 1840) | Event | York Minster was badly damaged by fire | |
| May 20th, 1835 (May 20 1835) | Event | Otto is named the first modern king of Greece. | |
| May 20th, 1813 (May 20 1813) | Event | Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory. | Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes |
| May 20th, 1690 (May 20 1690) | Event | England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Roman Catholic James II. | |
| May 20th, 1631 (May 20 1631) | Event | The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years War. | |
| May 20th, 1609 (May 20 1609) | Event | Shakespeare s Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. | |
| May 20th, 1570 (May 20 1570) | Event | Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas. | Abraham Quotes |
| May 20th, 1521 (May 20 1521) | Event | Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola is seriously wounded. | |
| May 20th, 1498 (May 20 1498) | Event | Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India. | |
| May 20th, 1497 (May 20 1497) | Event | John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date). | |
| May 20th, 1293 (May 20 1293) | Event | King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcala. | |
| May 20th, 1217 (May 20 1217) | Event | The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. | |
| May 20th, 0685 (May 20 0685) | Event | The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated. | |
| May 20th, 0526 (May 20 0526) | Event | An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia. | |
| May 20th, 0325 (May 20 0325) | Event | The First Council of Nicaea - the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held. | |
