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Other Notable Events for May 20

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Published in History & Quotes

On this date in history:

In 526, up to 300,000 people were killed in an earthquake in Syria and Antioch.

In 1506, Christopher Columbus died in Spain.

In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were granted a patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from New York in his single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, bound for Paris. While he winged his way across the Atlantic, his mother taught her chemistry class at Cass Technical High School as usual.

In 1974, Judge John Sirica ordered U.S. President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes and other records of 64 White House conversations on the Watergate affair.

In 1989, Chinese Premier Li Peng declared martial law in Beijing in response to heightened student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

In 1999, a high school student in Georgia opened fire on his classmates, wounding six of them before surrendering to school authorities. The same day, President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton met in Littleton, Colo., with students, teachers and families of the victims of the previous month's deadly shootings at Columbine High School.

In 2002, East Timor, a small Pacific Coast nation, gained independence from Indonesia. It is called Timor Leste.

In 2006, Barbaro, the unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner, entered the Preakness a heavy favorite but pulled up shortly after the race began with a fractured right hind leg. The race was won by Bernardini, owned by the Dubai royal family.

In 2008, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., 76, a champion of liberal causes in the Senate for more than four decades, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Kennedy died Aug. 25, 2009.

In 2010, researchers announced the creation of a synthetic genetic cell that could replicate itself.

In 2012, the Pakistani government temporarily blocked access to Twitter because of what an official called objectional discussions about the Prophet Muhammad.

In 2013, a tornado struck the Moore, Okla., area near Oklahoma City, killing 24 people, injuring more than 300 and destroying many buildings, including two elementary schools.

In 2014, NFL owners chose Minneapolis (and its planned $1 billion stadium) as the site of the 2018 Super Bowl.

 


Copyright 2016 by United Press International

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