Volume 13 , Issue 19

This Day In History (May 9)

On May 9, 1874, Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered the Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamen, was born, Followin his death on March 2, 1939, his Obituary appeared in The Times.

1502 - Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

1913 - The 17th amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was ratified.

1926 - Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett made what they claimed was the first airplane flight over the North Pole. (Evidence suggests they may have missed their target by 150 miles.)

1936 - Italy annexed Ethiopia.

1961 - Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned TV programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.

1974 - The House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

1974 - A concert in Cambridge, Mass., prompted rock critic Jon Landau to write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen."

1978 - The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome.

On May 9, 1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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