Today in History

Today is Tuesday, May 14, the 135th day of 2024. There are 231 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 14, 1948, according to the current-era calendar, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv by David Ben-Gurion, who became its first prime minister; U.S. President Harry S. Truman immediately recognized the new nation.

On this date:

In 1643, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near present-day Hartford, Illinois.

In 1940, the Netherlands surrendered to invading German forces during World War II.

In 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in 1991.)

In 1961, Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1988, 27 people, mostly teens, were killed when their church bus collided with a pickup truck going the wrong direction on a highway near Carrollton, Kentucky. (Truck driver Larry Mahoney served 9 1/2 years in prison for manslaughter.)

In 1998, singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82 and the hit sitcom “Seinfeld” aired its final episode after nine years on NBC.

In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana for medical purposes.

In 2003, more than 100 immigrants were abandoned in a locked trailer at a Texas truck stop; 19 of them died. (Truck driver Tyrone Williams was later sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison for his role in the deaths.)

In 2008, the Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species because of the loss of Arctic sea ice.

In 2013, in an op-ed in The New York Times, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said she’d undergone a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.

In 2017, Emmanuel Macron swept into office as France’s new president, pledging to fortify the European Union, redesign French politics and glue together his divided nation.

In 2018, writer Tom Wolfe, who chronicled the space race in “The Right Stuff” before turning his satiric wit to such novels as “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” died in New York at the age of 88.

In 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned doctors about a serious rare inflammatory condition in children linked with the coronavirus.

In 2022, a gunman wearing body armor opened fire in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, killing at least 10 people before being taken into custody.

Today’s Birthdays: Photo-realist artist Richard Estes is 92. Actor Dame Sian Phillips is 91. Former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is 82. Movie producer George Lucas is 80. Guitarist Gene Cornish is 80. Actor Meg Foster is 76. Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 73. Rock singer David Byrne is 72. Actor Tim Roth is 63. Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 62. Rock musician C.C. (aka Cecil) DeVille is 62. Actor Danny Huston is 62. Rock musician Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) is 58. Fabrice Morvan (ex-Milli Vanilli) is 58. R&B singer Raphael Saadiq is 58. Actor Cate Blanchett is 55. Singer Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block) is 55. Movie writer-director Sofia Coppola (KOH’-pah-lah) is 53. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is 52. Actor Gabriel Mann is 52. Singer Natalie Appleton (All Saints) is 51. Singer Shanice is 51. Actor Carla Jimenez is 50. Rock musician Henry Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 46. Alt-country musician-singer Ketch Secor is 46. Rock singer-musician Dan Auerbach is 45. Rock musician Mike Retondo (Plain White T’s) is 43. Actor Amber Tamblyn is 41. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is 40. Actor Lina Esco is 39. NFL player Rob Gronkowski is 35. Actor Miranda Cosgrove is 31.