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 Today's highlight in history:
On May 13, 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were introduced with a face value of 24 cents. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was printed upside-down; the "inverted Jenny," as it came to be called, instantly became a collector's item.)
On this date:
In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. (The colonists went ashore the next day.)
In 1846, the United States declared that a state of war already existed with Mexico.
In 1917, three children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.
In 1940, in his first speech as prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
In 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
In 1954, the musical play "The Pajama Game" opened on Broadway.
In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
In 1968, a one-day general strike took place in France in support of student protesters.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped an explosive onto the group's headquarters; 11 people died in the resulting fire.
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Ten years ago: President Clinton ordered harsh sanctions against an unapologetic India, which had gone ahead with a second round of nuclear tests despite global criticism. Five years ago: A judge ruled that Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols should stand trial in state court on 160 counts of first-degree murder. (Nichols was later found guilty on 161 counts; the 161st count was for the fetus of a pregnant victim. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.) The government unveiled a new and more colorful version of the $20 bill. Algerian army commandos freed 17 European tourists who'd been kidnapped in the Sahara Desert by an al-Qaida-linked terror group.
One year ago: President Bush made a pilgrimage to the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia to mark the 400th anniversary of its founding. Pope Benedict the XVI, ending a five-day visit to Brazil, blamed both Marxism and unbridled capitalism for Latin America's problems. Canada won hockey's world championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland.
Today's birthdays: Actress Beatrice Arthur is 86. Critic Clive Barnes is 81. Actor Buck Taylor is 70. Actor Harvey Keitel is 69. Author Charles Baxter is 61. Actor Franklyn Ajaye is 59. Actress Zoe Wanamaker is 59. Singer Stevie Wonder is 58. Basketball player Dennis Rodman is 47. Actor-comedian Stephen Colbert is 44. Actor Tom Verica is 44. Country singer Lari White is 43. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 42. Actress Susan Floyd is 40. Contemporary Christian musician Andy Williams (Casting Crowns) is 36. Actress Samantha Morton is 31. Rock musician Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) is 29.
Thought for today: "A nation is a society united by a delusion about its ancestry and by a common hatred of its neighbours."
-- William Ralph Inge, English religious leader and author (1860-1954)
[Associated Press]
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