| May 1959 |
| 1st....World Heavyweight Boxing Champ, Floyd Patterson, successfully defended his title by knocking out Brian London in the 11th round. 2nd...The bay colt "Tommy Lee", with jockey Willie Shoemaker aboard, won by a nose over " Sword Dancer" in the 85th running of the Kentucky Derby in a time of 2:02 1/5, collecting the $119,650 prize. 3rd....Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn starred in the 20th Century-Fox film "Warlock". 4th.... Grammy Music Award winners: Record of the Year: Volare, Album of the Year: Peter Gunn by Henri Mancini, Best C/W song: "Tom Dooley" by the Kingston Trio. 5th.....President Eisenhower and former British Prime Minister Churchill visited with former State Sec.John Foster Dulles and General George C. Marshall at Walter Reed Hospital. 6th....TV Emmy awards: Comedy Series Winner: Jack Benny Show, Leading Actor Winner: Raymond Burr (aka Perry Mason). 7th....A benefit baseball game between the LA Dodgers and the NY Yankees drew the largest crowd of all time: 93,103. The game was played to help raise funds for former Dodger Roy Campanella who was injured in a car accident in 1958. 8th....The first free flight of an experimental 50-foot long space laboratory took place today. It was dropped from a B-52, 38,000 feet above the Mojave Desert. 9th....Scientists warn that resumption of nuclear testing, such as was done 1953-1958, would raise radiation beyond acceptable levels for humans. 10th....Since the 1954 Supreme Court desegration decision, 802 school districts in the southern US have been integrated while 2,100 still remain as segregated. 11th....Gov. J. Caleb Boggs of Delaware vetoed a bill that would make "flogging" mandatory for robbery convicts. 12th....Elizabeth Taylor, 27, married Eddie Fisher, 30, in Las Vegas, just 3 hours after his divorce from Debbie Reynolds. 13th....Three USAF F-100 Super Sabre jets crashed in the ocean near Myrtle Beach, SC 14th....President Eisenhower participated in ground-breaking ceremonies for the NY Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 15th....NBA Award: Rookie of the Year: Elgin Baylor, a Minneapolis Laker 16th...."Royal Orbit" with jockey William Harmatz aboard, won the 84th Preakness Stakes Horse Race. 17th....Jerry Unser, 26, died as he was practicing for the upcoming Indianapolis 500 Car Race. Fellow driver, Bob Cortner, was also fatally injured. 18th....British, French and Soviet foreign ministers, meeting to discuss conflicting western and Soviet plans for resolving security problems in Germany and Europe, reached a deadlock. 19th....Hit Parade songs: "Kansas City" and "Battle of New Orleans". 20th....US citizenship was restored to 4,978 of the 5,766 Japanese-Americas who had renounced the US in 1945 following three years of confinement in wartime relocation camps. 21st....A new musical, "Gypsy" based on Gypsy Rose Lee opened in New York. It starred Ethel Merman. 22nd....Soviet Professor Igor Schlovsky went on the radio to defend his recently-released report that Mars' two moons are probably artificial bodies launched by extinct Martians. 23rd....Shirley MacLaine and Gig Young starred in a comedy film: " Ask Any Girl". 24th....The Obie Construction Co.of Pittsburgh, PA, began marketing the first house fully equipped with a fallout shelter. 25th....NHL Trophy Winners: Andy Bathgate (NY), Dickie Moore (Montreal), Tom Johnson (Montreal), Alex Delvecchio (Detroit). 26th.... Left-handed pitcher Harvey Haddix, 33, of the NL Pittsburgh Pirates, earned himself a spot in baseball history as he tossed a no-hitter for 12 innings before losing 1-0 to the hometown Milwaukee Braves. 27th....The funeral for former State Secretary John Foster Dulles, 71, was held in Washington, DC 28th...."Able" and "Baker", two tiny monkeys, were rescued by the US Navy following a successful 15-minute, 300-mile space flight. 29th....Gregory Peck starred in "Pork Chop Hill", a Korean War film. 30th....Rodger Ward won the 43rd Indianapolis 500 Car Race with an average lap speed of 135.857 mph. 31st....A quart of fresh milk delivered to homes across the country sold for the price of 25 cents ! |
| The key to unlocking the door to our future opens with a journey into the past. |