May 5th

Preliminary plans for a mosque and cultural center near ground zero in New York were unveiled, setting off a national debate over whether the project was disrespectful to 9/11 victims and whether opposition to it exposed anti-Muslim biases.

Pablo Picasso's "Boy with a Pipe" became the most expensive painting ever sold.

French President Jacques Chirac was re-elected in a landslide victory over extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

President Ronald Reagan attended a wreath-laying ceremony at a military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany. The visit drew worldwide condemnation because 49 members of the Waffen SS were buried there.

Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died in prison in Northern Ireland on his 66th day without food.

Siege at Iranian Embassy in London ends as British SAS and police storm the building.

First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam.

Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

West Germany is granted full sovereignty by its three occupying powers.

The Council of Europe is founded. The organization was the first to work for European integration. It has 47 member countries and is a completely separate entity from the European Union (EU).

Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa.

The first Three Stooges film is released. The comedy trio soon became famous, especially in the U.S., for their short films featuring slapstick humor.

John T. Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

Cy Young of the Boston Americans pitched the first perfect game in modern major league baseball history in a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.

Panic hit the New York Stock Exchange; by year's end, the country was in the throes of a severe depression.

Congress extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for 10 years.

Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City. Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.

Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

Political philosopher Karl Marx was born in Prussia.

Mary Kies of South Killingly, Conn., became the first woman to be granted a patent. The patent was for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.

Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.