TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Thursday, May 21, the 142nd day of 2020. There are 224 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 21, 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33 1/2 hours.

On this date:

In 1542, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto died while searching for gold along the Mississippi River.

In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in Chicago.

In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.

In 1910, a year-old Jewish settlement near the port city of Jaffa adopted the name Tel Aviv (Hebrew for “Hill of Spring”).

In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she landed in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland.

In 1979, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk; outrage over the verdict sparked rioting. (White was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison; he ended up serving five years and took his own life in 1985.)

In 1991, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during national elections by a suicide bomber.

In 2015, the Family Research Council said it had accepted the resignation of Josh Duggar in the wake of the reality TV star’s apology for unspecified bad behavior as a young teen. (Duggar later admitted molesting five underage girls as a teenager, including two of his sisters, cheating on his wife and being addicted to pornography; those revelations led to the cancellation of the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting.”)

Today’s Birthdays: Rhythm-and-blues singer Ron Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 79. Rock musician Hilton Valentine (The Animals) is 77. Musician Bill Champlin is 73. Singer Leo Sayer is 72. Actress Carol Potter is 72. Former Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is 69. Actor Mr. T is 68. Music producer Stan Lynch is 65. Actor Judge Reinhold is 63. Actor-director Nick Cassavetes is 61.

Thought for Today: “Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters of life begin when you get what you want.” — Irving Kristol, American writer (1920-2009).

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