Today in History

Today is Wednesday, May 28, the 148th day of 2014. There are 217 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 28, 1934, the Dionne quintuplets — Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne — were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada. (Of the five, Annette and Cecile are still living.)

On this date:

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of freed blacks, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a "state of absolute unpreparedness," improperly tested safety equipment and an "indifference to danger" as some of the causes of an "unnecessary tragedy."

In 1929, the first all-color talking picture, "On with the Show," opened in New York.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California. Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1961, Amnesty International had its beginnings with the publication of an article in the British newspaper The Observer, "The Forgotten Prisoners."

In 1964, the charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization was issued at the start of a meeting of the Palestine National Congress in Jerusalem.

In 1977, 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. (However, the remains were later identified through DNA as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.)

Ten years ago: The Iraqi Governing Council chose Iyad Allawi (EE'-yahd ah-LAH'-wee), a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, to become prime minister of Iraq's interim government. Some three dozen people were killed by a powerful earthquake in northern Iran.

Five years ago: A white New York City police officer killed an off-duty black colleague in a friendly fire incident in East Harlem. (A grand jury declined to indict Officer Andrew Dunton in the shooting of Officer Omar Edwards, who had drawn his gun and was chasing a man who had broken into his car.) Kavya Shivashankar, a 13-year-old girl from Kansas, spelled "Laodicean (lay-AHD'-uh-SEE'-uhn)" (lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics) to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

One year ago: Calling it perhaps the biggest money-laundering scheme in U.S. history, federal prosecutors charged seven people with running what amounted to an online, underworld bank, saying that Liberty Reserve handled $6 billion for drug dealers, child pornographers, identity thieves and other criminals around the globe.

Today's Birthdays: Rockabilly singer-musician Sonny Burgess is 85. Actress Carroll Baker is 83. Producer-director Irwin Winkler is 83. Actor John Karlen is 81. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Jerry West is 76. Actress Beth Howland is 73. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is 70. Singer Gladys Knight is 70. Actress-director Sondra Locke is 70. Singer Billy Vera is 70. Singer John Fogerty is 69. Country musician Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss and Union Station) is 58. Actor Louis Mustillo is 56. U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.., is 54. Actor Brandon Cruz (TV: "The Courtship of Eddie's Father") is 52. Country singer Phil Vassar is 50. Actress Christa Miller is 50. Singer-musician Chris Ballew (Presidents of the USA) is 49. Rapper Chubb Rock is 46. Singer Kylie Minogue (KY'-lee mihn-OHG') is 46. Actor Justin Kirk is 45. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is 43. Olympic gold medal figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva is 43. Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 37. Actor Jesse Bradford is 35. Actress Monica Keena is 35. Pop singer Colbie Caillat (kal-LAY') is 29. Actress Carey Mulligan is 29. Actor Joseph Cross is 28.

Thought for Today: "Time does not become sacred to us until we have lived it, until it has passed over us and taken with it a part of ourselves." — John Burroughs, American author and naturalist (1837-1921).

Categories: News