1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.

1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.

1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created..

1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

1926 – The United Kingdom general strike begins.

1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary; 5 people are killed in the riot.

1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

1961 – American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).

1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.

1972 – The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to "Greenpeace Foundation".

1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.

1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

…and if today is your birthday, happy birthday to you! You share this special day with…

1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)

1889 – Francis Spellman, American cardinal (d. 1967)

1905 – Al Dexter, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)

1916 – Richard Proenneke, American soldier, carpenter, and meteorologist (d. 2003)

1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)

1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet, translator, and publisher

1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (d.2020)

1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)

1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor and educator (d. 2018)

1937 – Ron Carter, American bassist and educator

1937 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (d. 2019)

1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2018)

1941 – George Will, American journalist and author

1953 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer

1958 – Keith Haring, American painter (d. 1990)

Almanac - Monday 5/4/20

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