Tuesday, May 11th
The 131st day of 2010.
There are 234 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
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On May 11, 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct. (Go to article.)
On May 11, 1894, Martha Graham, the American dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer of modern dance, was born. Following her death on April 1, 1991, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On May 11, 1867, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the British Reform Act of 1867. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1647 Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor.
1858 Minnesota became the 32nd state.
1894 Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Co. in Illinois went on strike. The job action spread and crippled railroad service nationwide before the federal government intervened to end the strike in July.
1888 Songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia.
1910 Glacier National Park in Montana was established.
1944 Allied forces launched a major offensive in central Italy.
1946 The first CARE packages for Europe arrived at Le Havre, France.
1947 The B.F. Goodrich Co. of Akron, Ohio, announced the development of a tubeless tire.
1949 Israel was admitted to the United Nations.
1949 Siam changed its named to Thailand.
1973 Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case were dismissed by a judge who cited government misconduct.
1981 Reggae musician Bob Marley died of cancer at age 36.
1996 An Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board
1997 The Deep Blue IBM computer defeated Garry Kasparov to win a six-game chess match between man and machine in New York.
1998 India set off three underground atomic blasts, its first nuclear tests in 24 years.
1998 A French mint produced the first coins of Europe's single currency, the euro.
2004 A video on an al-Qaida-linked Web site showed the beheading of American hostage Nicholas Berg, who had been kidnapped in Iraq.
Current Birthdays
Cory Monteith turns 28 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg Actor Cory Monteith ("Glee") turns 28 years old today.
83 Mort Sahl
Comedian
76 James Jeffords
Former U.S. senator, I-Vt.
69 Eric Burdon
Rock singer (The Animals)
58 Shohreh Aghdashloo
Actress
58 Frances Fisher
Actress
57 Boyd Gaines
Actor
51 Martha Quinn
Former MTV VJ
27 Matt Leinart
Football player
Historic Birthdays
Martha Graham
5/11/1894 - 4/1/1991
American dancer, teacher and choreographer
(Go to obit.)
76 Baron Munchhausen
5/11/1720 - 2/22/1797
German story-teller; his tales became "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen"
91 Fanny Cerrito
5/11/1817 - 5/6/1909
Russian-born American composer for stage and screen musicals
66 Charles Warren Fairbanks
5/11/1852 - 6/4/1918
American politician; vice-president under Theodore Roosevelt (1905-09)
72 Frank Schlesinger
5/11/1871 - 7/10/1943
American astronomer
101 Irving Berlin
5/11/1888 - 9/22/1989
Russian-born American composer for stage and screen musicals
75 Henry Morgenthau, Jr.
5/11/1891 - 2/6/1967
American secretary of the treasury (1934-45)
80 Dame Margaret Rutherford
5/11/1892 - 5/22/1972
English stage and screen actress
83 William Grant Still
5/11/1895 - 12/3/1978
American composer and conductor
84 Salvador Dali
5/11/1904 - 1/23/1989
Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker
78 Herbert Philbrick
5/11/1915 - 8/16/1993
American counterintelligence agent for the F.B.I.
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