What Happened in May?

The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated on May 30, 1922, in Washington DC in front of an audience of over 50,000 people. The ceremony was broadcasted across the nation through the then new medium of radio. The Dedication address on behalf of the government was given by US President Warren G. Harding. More

Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. President to broadcast a message over the radio as his voice was first heard on radio on May 30, 1922, during a speech at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial. Expand +

John Edgar Hoover became the 5th Director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), on May 10, 1924 the predecessor to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). After 11 years in that post, Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in June 1935, where he remained as director for an additional 37 years until his death in May 1972. Expand +

President Calvin Coolidge signs the Immigration Act of 1924 into law on May 26, 1924. The act, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act. limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota.  Expand +

The Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies to adopt a five-day, 40-hour workweek for workers in their factories. for its factory workers on May 1, 1926. A move that help change the way companies in America operated.  Expand +

Charles Lindberg took off in his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, on May 20, 1927, from Roosevelt Field on Long Island for his transatlantic solo flight, to Le Bourget Aerodrome about 7 miles (11 km) outside of Paris. Expand +

Charles Lindbergh becomes the first man to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 21, 1927. He flew 3,610 miles from New York to Paris in his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in 33 1/2 hours. More

The last of the Model T Ford comes off the line, on May 26, 1927, and Henry Ford and his son Edsel drive the 15 millionth Model T Ford out of their factory and closing the Model T production line. In 19 years, the company made 15,007,033 of the model T cars. More

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse made its debut with the test screen premiere of the cartoon Plane Crazy to a theater audience and potential distributors as a silent film and it failed to pick up a distributor. Later that year, Disney released Mickey's first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, which was an enormous success; Plane Crazy was officially released as a sound cartoon on March 17, 1929. It ended up being the fourth Mickey film to be given a wide release after Steamboat Willie, The Gallopin' Gaucho and The Barn Dance (1929).

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held in Hollywood on May 16, 1929, as a private dinner in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. It was attended by 270 people and it was a 15-minute ceremony.

The New York City’s Empire State Building was dedicated and officially open, on May 1, 1931, 45 five days ahead of its original projected opening date, becoming the tallest building in the world at the time. President Herbert Hoover, pressed a button in the White House that turned on the building’s lights for the first time, Construction costs were about $41M ($550M in 2023 money) and $20M under budget. The Site was previously occupied by the Waldorf -Astoria Hotel which opened in 1890. Official records indicate that 5 workers died during construction, although 14 deaths were reported by local News. More

The body of 20-month-old, Charles Lindbergh Jr. the son, of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was found on May 12, 1932, about 4.5 miles of the family's home in Hopewell Township, New Jersey. More Expand +

Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, on May 21, 1932. She had departed from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and landed in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, about 15 hours later, she was only the second person to solo the Atlantic. The first was Charles Lindbergh in 1927. More

The first article attracting a great deal of attention about the Loch Ness “Monster” was published in the Inverness Courier on May 2, 1933, in the Inverness Courier.  Expand +

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed, on May 18, 1933, the Act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as part of Roosevelt's New Deal to improve the Tennessee River Valley, and address issues like flood control, navigation, and to produce electrical power along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. Expand +

Walt Disney releases the Three Little Pigs animated short film on May 25, 1933. It is based on the classic fairy tale about a three pig brothers, who build their houses out of straw, sticks, and bricks to protect themselves from the Big Bad Wolf. The short won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The story emphasizes the importance of hard work and planning ahead. The names of the pigs were Fiddler Pig, Fifer Pig, and Practical Pig. The cartoon is considered by many to be the most successful animated short ever made.

An enormous dust storm, 1,500 miles long and 600 miles wide, that originated on the west coast, moved eastward across the Great Plains, on May 11, 1934. A total of 300 million tons of topsoil, parched to dust by drought were blown out of the Great Plains. More

Legendary American athlete Jesse Owens sets five world records and tied a sixth in just 45 minutes, on May 25, 1935, while competing at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This achievement is often called "the greatest 45 minutes in sport." Expand +

A 7.7 earthquake takes place at Quetta, Balochistan, British India (now part of Pakistan), on May 31, 1935, close to the border with southern Afghanistan. Between 30,000 and 60,000 people died from the impact. More

Benito Mussolini Italian government proclaims on May 9, 1936, the annexation of Ethiopia as part of Italian East Africa, seven months after invading Ethiopia and driving Emperor Haile Selassie I into exile.