May 28th in History

Michael Dobson | May 28

Today in History

  • Battle of the Eclipse, the earliest historical event whose date is known with certainty (585 BCE)
  • The Spanish Armada sets sail (1588 CE)
  • Lt. Col. George Washington ambushes French Canadians at the Battle of Jumonville Glen (1754 CE)
  • Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act (1830 CE)
  • Battle of Tsushima ends (1905 CE)
  • Dionne Quintuplets born (1934 CE)
  • Volkswagen founded (1937 CE)
  • Allies recapture Narvik (1937 CE)
  • Greek women get the right to vote (1952 CE)
  • PLO founded (1964 CE)
  • Mathias Rust lands in Red Square (1987 CE)
  • Pakistan becomes a nuclear power (1998 CE)
  • Da Vinci’s The Last Supper returns to display (1999 CE)

Birthdays

  • Elisabeth Hasselbeck, talk show host (1977)
  • Marco Rubio, senator (1971)
  • Justin Kirk, actor (1969)
  • Kylie Minogue, singer (1968)
  • Brandon Cruz, actor (1962)
  • Mark Sanford, politician (1960)
  • Wendy O. Williams, singer (1949)
  • Lynn Johnson, cartoonist (1947)
  • Sondra Locke, actress (1947)
  • John Fogerty, musician (1945)
  • Patch Adams, physician (1945)
  • Faith Brown, actress (1944)
  • Gladys Knight, singer (1944)
  • Rudy Giuliani, mayor (1944)
  • Maeve Binchy, novelist (1940)
  • Jerry West, basketball player (1938)
  • Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X (1936)
  • Carroll Baker, actress (1931)
  • Papa John Creach, violinist (1917)
  • Barry Commoner, presidential candidate (1917)
  • Walker Percy, author (1916)
  • Thora Hird, actress (1911)
  • T-Bone Walker, blues guitarist (1910)
  • Red Horner, hockey player (1909)
  • Ian Fleming, created James Bond (1908)
  • Sepp Dietrich, SS general, character in Fox on the Rhine and Fox at the Front (1892)
  • Jim Thorpe, athlete (1888)
  • Santo Trafficante Sr., mobster (1886)
  • Tony Pastor, “father of vaudeville” (1837)
  • P. G. T. Beauregard, Confederate general (1818)
  • William Pitt the Younger, prime minister (1759)
  • Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, recommended a painless execution method (1738)
  • George I of Great Britain, monarch (1660)

Deaths

  • Gary Coleman, actor (2010)
  • Phil Hartman, comedian (1998)
  • Julius Boros, golfer (1994)
  • Edward VIII, abdicator (1972)
  • Audie Murphy, actor and soldier (1971)
  • Alfred Adler, psychologist (1937)
  • Anne Brontë, novelist (1843)
  • Noah Webster, lexicographer (1843)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Amnesty Day (Amnesty International)
  • Armed Forces Day (Croatia)
  • Downfall of the Derg Day (Ethiopia)
  • Flag Day (Philippines)
  • Republic Day (Nepal, Armenia, Azerbaijan)
Informal and made-up holidays for this day include Ancestor Honor Day, Fairy Day of the Pin-Hiding and Button-Losing, the Feast of Zerowork, Hamburger Day (the pullback from Hill 937 “Hamburger Hill” on May 28, 1969), James Bond Day (Ian Fleming’s birthday), the Slugs Return from Capistrano Day, and Whooping Crane Day.