Updated May 9, 2014, 8:54 am
On May 9, 1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.
Go to article »
On May 9, 1874, Howard Carter, the British archaeologist who discovered the Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamen, was born. Following his death on March 2, 1939, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
| 1502 | Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere. |
|---|---|
| 1918 | "60 Minutes" newsman Mike Wallace was born Myron Wallace in Brookline, Mass. |
| 1926 | Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett made what they claimed was the first airplane flight over the North Pole. (Evidence suggests they may have missed their target by 150 miles.) |
| 1936 | Italy annexed Ethiopia. |
| 1961 | Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton N. Minow condemned TV programming as a "vast wasteland" in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters. |
| 1974 | The House Judiciary Committee opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. |
| 1974 | A concert in Cambridge, Mass., prompted rock critic Jon Landau to write, "I saw rock and roll future and it's name is Bruce Springsteen." |
| 1978 | The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who'd been abducted by the Red Brigades, was found in an automobile in the center of Rome. |
| 1994 | South Africa's newly-elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president. |
| 1994 | Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire, was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus. |
| 2004 | Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov and 23 other people were killed in a bombing in the capital Grozny. |
| 2010 | Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, leading the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. |
| 2012 | President Barack Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage. |
Historic Birthdays
Howard Carter
5/9/1874 - 3/2/1939
English archaeologist.Go to obituary »
| 59 |
John Brown 5/9/1800 - 12/2/1859 American abolitionist; led raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859 |
|---|---|
| 56 |
Belle Boyd 5/9/1844 - 6/11/1900 American actress and Confederate spy during the Civil War |
| 67 |
Carl Gustaf Laval 5/9/1845 - 2/2/1913 Swedish scientist, engineer and inventor |
| 77 |
Sir James Barrie 5/9/1860 - 6/19/1937 Scottish dramatist and novelist; wrote "Peter Pan" |
| 63 |
Lilian Mary Baylis 5/9/1874 - 11/25/1937 English theatrical manager |
| 85 |
Henry J. Kaiser 5/9/1882 - 8/24/1967 American industrialist; built dams, bridges and ships |
| 72 |
Jose Ortega y Gasset 5/9/1883 - 10/18/1955 Spanish philosopher and humanist |
| 76 |
William du Bois 5/9/1916 - 2/5/1993 American author and illustrator of children's books |
| 67 |
Pancho Gonzales 5/9/1928 - 7/3/1995 American tennis player; U.S. Open single's champion 8 times between 1953 and 1961 |