History Events on May 16

A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

#Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

#Elizabeth_II

Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.

#Thomas_More

Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.

#Kuwait

The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.

#Battle_of_Alamance

Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

#Nikola_Tesla

The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France.

#Marie_Antoinette

Having been elected on May 9, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.

#Election

The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world's first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).

#International_Electrotechnical_Exhibition

The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.

#The_Holocaust

The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France.

#16_May_1877_crisis

A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.

#Mill_River_(Northampton,_Massachusetts)

Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.

#Park_Chung-hee

The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.

#Sedition_Act_of_1918

The United States Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote.

#United_States_Senate

In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

#Hollywood

In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.

#Morocco

Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.

#Mary,_Queen_of_Scots

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.

#Mobutu_Sese_Seko

STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.

#STS-134

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.

#United_Kingdom_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland

Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.

#Greek_War_of_Independence

Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.

#Peninsular_War

The United States Congress establishes the nickel.

#United_States_Congress

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

#Theodore_Maiman

A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

#Curtiss_NC-4

Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.

#Josip_Broz_Tito

The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.

#Wagon_train

In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.

#Pope_Benedict_XV

Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.

The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

The Triton Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.

The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.

The Battle of Asseiceira is fought, the last and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.

Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia.

The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army.

Santiago de Vera becomes sixth Governor-General of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.

Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.