May 15
1862
The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created by an act of Congress on this day.
1911
The Standard Oil Company, headed by John D. Rockefeller, was ordered dissolved by the Supreme Court, under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
1918
The first air mail route in the U.S. was established between New York and Washington, DC, with a stop at Philadelphia.
1930
On a Boeing Air Transport flight between Oakland and Chicago, Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess.
1940
Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States.
1972
Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot and crippled as he campaigned for the presidency.
1988
The Soviet Union began to withdraw its estimated 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
Birthdays
Pierre Curie
Pronunciation: [kürE´]1859–1906, French Scientist.
Claudio Monteverdi
composer (1567)
Lyman Frank Baum
author (1856)
Katherine Anne Porter
author, (1890)
Richard Joseph Daley
political leader (1902)
James Mason
actor (1909)
Paul A. Samuelson
economist, (1915)
Richard Avedon
photographer, (1923)
Jasper Johns
artist (1930)
Madeleine Albright
government official, (1937)