Today in History
2011 Germany abandons nuclear energy
Following the nuclear meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima power plant and years of hands-on protests and activism by Germany’s powerful anti-nuclear movement, the government made its decision.
1967 The Republic of Biafra is proclaimed
The Eastern Region of Nigeria comprised the brief-lived state. Its secession triggered the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted until 1970 before the region was reintegrated into Nigeria.
1962 Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is premiered
The work was done in preparation for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which had been destroyed during WWII. It juxtaposes the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead with Wilfred Owen’s war poems.
1961 The Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo, is assassinated
El Jefe had been President of the Dominican Republic for 31 years. Despite the assassination, the dictatorship in the Caribbean country was not overthrown because the ruler’s son, Ramfis Trujillo, quickly stepped into his father’s shoes.
1911 The first Indianapolis 500 is held
Ray Harroun won the first running of the 500-mile automobile race, which is today one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events.
Births On This Day, May 30
1980 Steven Gerrard
English footballer
1971 Idina Menzel
American singer-songwriter, actress
1949 Bob Willis
English cricketer
1846 Peter Carl Fabergé
Russian goldsmith, jeweler
1814 Mikhail Bakunin
Russian philosopher, theorist
Deaths On This Day, May 30
1993 Sun Ra
American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet
1960 Boris Pasternak
Russian author, poet, Nobel Prize laureate
1778 Voltaire
French philosopher
1640 Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish painter
1431 Joan of Arc
