May 21
1542
Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto died while searching for gold on the banks of the Mississippi River.
1881
Clara Barton founded what became the American Red Cross.
1927
Charles Lindbergh became the first person to fly across the Atlantic (from New York to Paris) in his monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis.
1932
Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (from Newfoundland to Ireland).
1956
The first hydrogen bomb to be dropped by air exploded over the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1989
In Hong Kong, approximately one million people took to the streets to show their support for students protesting for democratic reforms in China’s Tiananmen Square.
1991
Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian prime minister, was assassinated by a suicide bomber.
1998
Indonesian President Suharto resigned.
1999
Susan Lucci finally won a Daytime Emmy on her 19th nomination.
2003
Christine Todd Whitman announced her resignation as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Birthdays
Alexander Pope
1688–1744, English poet.
Albrecht Dürer
painter, engraver (1471)
Elizabeth Fry
prison reformer and philanthropist (1780)
Henri Rousseau
painter (1844)
Glenn Curtiss
inventor and aviation pioneer (1878)
Fats Waller
musician (1904)
Andrei Sakharov
human rights advocate (1921)