Print
Close
This Day in History: May 21
By Bryan Robinson
Published May 21, 2021
On this day, May 21 …
1932: Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she lands in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland.
Also on this day:
- 1863: The Seventh-day Adventist Church is officially organized.
- 1881: The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
- 1924: Bobby Franks, 14, is murdered in a "thrill killing" carried out by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (Bobby's cousin).
Charles A. Lindbergh posing with his plane in 1927. (AP Photo, File)
- 1927: Charles A. Lindbergh lands his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean, in 33 1/2 hours.
(AP Photo/Warner Bros.)
- 1945: Humphrey Bogart, 45, and Lauren Bacall, 20, are married at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio. (It is his fourth marriage, her first, and would last until Bogart’s death in 1957).
- 1972: Michelangelo’s Pietà, on display at the Vatican, is damaged by a hammer-wielding man shouting he is Jesus Christ.
- 1979: Former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk; outrage over the verdict sparks rioting.
- 2001: Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., the U.S. unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., announces it would sever its business relationship with automobile giant Ford Motor Co., ending a 95-year relationship.
- 2004: The Washington Post publishes additional photographs and still video images documenting torture and sexual humiliation of detainees by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, in the fall of 2003.
- 2018: Netflix announces a multi-year deal with former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/this-day-in-history-may-21