What Happened in May?

Margaret Thatcher, a member of the Conservative Party is elected Prime Minister of Britain, becoming the first woman in Europe to hold that post. Thatcher went on to serve three terms as Prime Minister and held the office consecutively for eleven and a half years, becoming the longest continuously serving British premier since 1827. More

American Airlines Flight 191 - a Douglas DC-10 aircraft crashed as it was taking off from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago when its left engine detached from the wing, causing a loss of control. The aircraft crashed about 4,600 feet (1,400 m) from the end of runway. All 258 passengers and 13 crew on board and two people on the ground were killed. The total of 273 fatalities, makes it the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the United States. More

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

Pope John Paul II was shot four times by Mehmet Ali Agca in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.

The  Philadelphia Police Department drops a satchel bomb on 6221 Osage Ave. in West Philadelphia, where members of the Black liberation advocacy group MOVE lived. Eleven people were killed, including five children. One adult and one child survived. More

Three scientists from the British Antarctic Survey Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin, shocked the world when they announced their discovery of the ozone hole in the scientific journal Nature. Their findings led to the Montreal Protocol, a global treaty phasing out CFCs, Their discovery, became an important example of mankind's ability to damage the Earth's atmosphere as well as one of the most famous success stories in the history of climate activism. More

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visits Beijing; the the first visit by a Soviet leader in 30 years. He met with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping formally ending a rift between the two communist aiming to normalize state-to-state ties and restore party-to-party relations. More

Day of the Restoration of Latvian Independence after the end of occupation by the Soviet Union. The Supreme Council adopted the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, and the Latvian SSR was renamed Republic of Latvia.

Somaliland Independence day. Officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an unrecognized de facto sovereign state in the Horn of Africa. Its claimed territory has an area of 68,000 square miles with approximately 5.7 million residents.

Indian politician Rajiv Gandhi, who had served as the country's prime minister from 1984 to 1989, was assassinated in a suicide bombing attack. More

Eritrea Independence day from Ethiopia. Eritrea's history is characterized by ancient trade routes, colonial rule, and a long struggle for independence. It has roots in ancient civilizations like the Kingdom of Axum, experienced Italian colonial rule, and fought a 30-year war for liberation before achieving independence in 1991. More

Lauda Air Flight 004, a Boeing 767-300ER crashed following an uncommanded deployment of the thrust reverser on the No. 1 engine during the climb phase, causing the aircraft to enter an uncontrolled dive, and in-flight breakup,. All 213 passengers and ten crew members on board were killed. The plane’s black box was destroyed, making the cause of the crash difficult to determine.," The following official investigation analysis of mechanical evidence and the voice recorder pointed to a serious problem with the jet’s thrust reverser. Boeing was forced to recall and modify the 767’s thrust reversing system. It was the deadliest aviation accident in Thailand's history as of 2024.

Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, falls to the forces of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). This marked the end of the 17 year rule of the Derg regime, a Marxist military junta that had ruled Ethiopia since 1974. A new regime was established by the coalition of four ethnically based parties. The founding and most influential member was the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), led by Meles Zenawi, who was the prime minister of Ethiopia until his death in 2012.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gives a symbolic speech about the Cold War at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri; the same site of Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech 46 years earlier.  More

The English Channel Tunnel, or “Chunnel,” built under the English Channel is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and French president, François Mitterrand. The Chunnel is 31 miles long, 23 of them underwater at an average depth of 150 feet below the sea bed, making it the world’s longest undersea tunnel. The Chunnel cuts travel time between England and France to 35 minutes. More

Nelson Mandela becomes the first African president of democratic South Africa. More

Four men, Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmad Ajaj, are convicted for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and each sentenced to 240 years in prison. The terrorist attack, involved detonating a truck bomb in the parking garage of the North Tower, killing six people and injuring over 1,000. More

More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) indefinitely and without conditions to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. A total of 191 States have now joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States More

“Megan's Law" is signed into law by U.S. President Bill Clinton requiring that law-enforcement officials notify local schools, day-care centers, and residents of the presence of registered sex offenders in their communities. The law is named for seven-year-old Megan Kanka, who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a violent predator previously convicted of a sex offense against a child in New Jersey in 1994. Unbeknownst to Megan Kanka and her family, the predator was living across the street before he abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered Megan. More

Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko flees the country, ending his 32-year rule and leading to the rise of Laurent Kabila.