Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on May 18th?

Abraham Lincoln, a former U.S. Representative from Illinois, secures the Republican Party's nomination for President beating Senator William H. Seward of New York who was considered the front-runner. Lincoln went on to win the 1860 election, becoming the first Republican president. The Republican Party was founded in 1854.

The US Supreme Court, (Chief Justice: Melville Weston Fuller) rules in Plessy v. Ferguson by a vote of 7-1, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal". This ruling allowed for the continued discrimination against African Americans and solidified Jim Crow laws in the South. The court reasoned that segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment as long as facilities for both races were equal. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter from the Court's decision, arguing that the Constitution was color-blind and that the United States had no class system. Accordingly, all citizens should have equal access to civil rights. More

Halley's Comet passed near Earth. Easing widespread fears, although its tail brushed the planet, it did not cause any harm or a doomsday scenario. Halley's Comet is a famous periodic comet, known for its regular appearances in Earth's night sky, making it a celestial event of great historical and scientific interest. Halley makes a close approach to Earth every 75-76 years. The first certain appearance of Halley's Comet in the historical record is a description from 240 BC, in the Chinese chronicle Records of the Grand Historian or Shiji, which describes a comet that appeared in the east and moved north. It was last seen in 1986, and is expected to return in 2061. More

Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which authorized the Federal Government to temporarily expand the military through conscription. The act eventually required all men between the ages of 21 to 45 to register for military service. More

Day of the proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from the Russian Empire.

As part of President Roosevelt's New Deal to improve the Tennessee River Valley, the U.S. government establishes the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to address issues like flood control, navigation, and to produce electrical power along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The TVA is a federally owned corporation in the United States that operates as a public utility and regional economic development agency. More

Jacqueline Cochran makes history by becoming the first woman to break the sound barrier. She achieve this record piloting a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet aircraft. During her aviation career, from the 1930s through the 1960s, Jacqueline Cochran set more speed and altitude records than any contemporary pilot, male or female. and during World War II, she was instrumental in formation of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs). Cochran received the Distinguished Service Medal for her leadership of the WASP and three Distinguished Flying Cross awards for other records. She was also a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.  More

India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon in the Rajasthan Desert in the municipality of Pokhran. becoming the world’s sixth nuclear power and the first nation outside the five members of the U.N. Security Council—the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, China and France. More

Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington state, killing 57 people. Hundreds of square miles of wilderness were reduced to wasteland. More