May 9 is National Sleepover Day. A sleepover offers more than just watching shows, playing games like would you rather and long chats with friends.
As you observe this day, spare some time to learn about historical events that happened on this day, May 9. Take a look!
- 1914-US President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother’s Day.
- 1922-The International Astronomical Union formally adopted Annie Jump Cannon’s stellar classification system, which, with only minor changes, is still used today.
- 1944-British intelligence at Bletchley Park broke German spy codes after capturing Enigma machines aboard the weather ship Muenchen.
- 1944-Jimmie Davis became the Governor of Louisiana.
- 1953-Calls for the federal government to take on the crime syndicate after the murder of a longshoreman.
- 1955-West Germany joined NATO.
- 1960-The first birth control pill was approved.
- 1969-Carlos Lamarca began his fight against Brazil’s military dictatorship.
- 1969-Following his release from prison Ian Paisley, North Ireland Loyalists held a ‘victory’ meeting.
- 1974-Impeachment hearings against President Richard M. Nixon began on this day for his involvement in the Watergate cover-up.
- 1979-Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian was executed.
- 1979-The first cases of the Ebola virus, in the latest outbreak in Gabon, were identified.
- 1981-The Motherland Monument at 62 m high was opened in Kyiv, Ukraine in a ceremony attended by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
- 1984-Alexander Calder’s “Big Crinkly” sold for $852,000.
- 1994-South Africa’s newly elected parliament chose an unopposed Nelson Mandela to be the country’s first black president.
- 1999-Pete Peterson becomes the first U.S. ambassador to visit Vietnam after the end of the war.
- 2005-Liberal commentary website The Huffington Post was launched.
- 2010-Iceland flights were canceled due to volcanic ash.
- 2011-An Austrian court decided to deport Croatia’s former Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, back to Croatia to face charges of corruption.
- 2012-The brand-new Sukhoi Superjet marked 100 plane crashes.