Today in History

Today is Sunday, May 26, the 146th day of 2019. There are 219 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 26, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

On this date:

In 1647, Alse (Alice) Young was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut, in the first recorded execution of a "witch" in the American colonies.

In 1865, Confederate forces west of the Mississippi surrendered in New Orleans.

In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on the remaining charges.

In 1897, the Gothic horror novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker was first published in London.

In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress.

In 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.

In 1954, explosions rocked the aircraft carrier USS Bennington off Rhode Island, killing 103 sailors. (The initial blast was blamed on leaking catapult fluid ignited by the flames of a jet.)

In 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.

In 1978, Resorts Casino Hotel, the first legal U.S. casino outside Nevada, opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court made it far more difficult for police to be sued by people hurt during high-speed chases. The Supreme Court also ruled that Ellis Island, historic gateway for millions of immigrants, was mainly in New Jersey, not New York.

In 2005, President George W. Bush received Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House; Bush called Abbas a courageous democratic reformer and bolstered his standing at home with $50 million in assistance.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama nominated federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. California's Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that had taken place before the prohibition passed were still valid.

Five years ago: Pope Francis honored Jews killed in the Holocaust and in terrorist attacks during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem as he wrapped up his Mideast pilgrimage. Egypt began holding a three-day presidential election (former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi emerged the landslide winner).

One year ago: Joshua Holt, who traveled to Venezuela from Utah in 2016 to marry a Spanish-speaking Mormon woman, but was jailed and labeled as the CIA's top spy in Latin America, was set free by Venezuela's anti-American government and returned to the United States with his wife. The leaders of North and South Korea met for the second time in a month in a surprise summit at a border village to discuss Kim Jong Un's potential meeting with President Donald Trump.

Today's Birthdays: Sportscaster Brent Musberger is 80. Rock musician Garry Peterson (Guess Who) is 74. Singer Stevie Nicks is 71. Actress Pam Grier is 70. Actor Philip Michael Thomas is 70. Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 70. British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is 70. Actress Margaret Colin is 61. Country singer-songwriter Dave Robbins is 60. Actor Doug Hutchison is 59. Actress Genie Francis is 57. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 57. Singer-actor Lenny Kravitz is 55. Actress Helena Bonham Carter is 53. Distance runner Zola Budd is 53. Rock musician Phillip Rhodes is 51. Actor Joseph Fiennes is 49. Singer Joey Kibble (Take 6) is 48. Actor-producer-writer Matt Stone is 48. Singer Lauryn Hill is 44. Contemporary Christian musician Nathan Cochran is 41. Actress Elisabeth Harnois is 40. Actor Hrach Titizian is 40.

Thought for Today: "Courage is being scared to death -- and saddling up anyway." -- John Wayne, American actor (born this date in 1907, died 1979).