Louis Armstrong did his usual rafter-raising job at a West Berlin concert on May 28, 1959 before 9,000 enthusiastic fans. The hard working King of Jazz blows his trumpet with a handkerchief ready for use in his left hand. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch)

Today is Sunday, May 24, the 145th day of 2020. There are 221 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On May 24, 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.

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Jacqueline Kennedy is surrounded by photographers at the christening of the USS John F. Kennedy at Newport News, Va., May 27, 1967. (AP Photo)

On this date

In 1775, John Hancock was unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, succeeding Peyton Randolph.

In 1935, the first major league baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.

In 1941, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.

In 1961, a group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Miss., charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)

Jesse Owens takes the last jump in the 220-yard hurdles event at a time of 22.6 seconds, at the Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 25, 1935. In what is acknowledged as the greatest single day by any track and field athlete, Owens broke five world records and tied another within the span of 45 minutes. (AP Photo)

In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.

In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.

In 1976, Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.

In 1991, the feminist film drama “Thelma & Louise,” starring Susan Sarandon (as Louise) and Geena Davis (as Thelma), was released by MGM.

In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

President Jimmy Carter and former President Gerald R. Ford are shown during their meeting at the White House in Washington on May 24, 1978. Ford has a number of events on his schedule during his visit to the nationís Capital. (AP Photo/Harvey Georges)

In 1995, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died in London at age 79.

In 2001, 23 people were killed when the floor of a Jerusalem wedding hall collapsed beneath dancing guests, sending them plunging several stories into the basement.

In 2018, a gunman was shot and killed by two bystanders after opening fire at an Oklahoma City restaurant and wounding three patrons.

Ten years ago: Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the BP oil spill, rejected the idea of taking over the crisis, saying the government had neither BP’s expertise nor its deep-sea equipment. The Supreme Court rejected the NFL’s request for broad antitrust law protection, saying that it had to be considered 32 separate teams – not one big business – when selling branded items like jerseys and caps. Lukas Lacko of Slovakia beat American Michael Yani in a 71-game match that tied for the most games in a French Open singles match since tiebreakers were instituted in 1973. (Lacko won 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 12-10 in a first-round match that began on a Sunday and finished after midnight.)

Five years ago: Conservative challenger Andrzej Duda (AHN’-zhray DOO’-dah) won Poland’s presidential election, ousting the incumbent, Bronislaw Komorowski (kah-mah-RAWF’-skee), in a runoff vote. Juan Pablo Montoya sliced his way from the back to the front twice to win his second Indianapolis 500.

One year ago: A Wisconsin man, Jake Patterson, was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents; the sentencing came after the girl told the judge that she wanted him “locked up forever.” (Patterson, who had held the girl under a bed in his remote cabin for 88 days before she made a daring escape, had pleaded guilty to intentional homicide and kidnapping.) Theresa May ended her failed three-year quest to lead Britain out of the European Union, announcing that she would step down as Conservative Party leader. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill banning abortions on or beyond the eighth week of pregnancy without exceptions for cases of rape or incest, making it among the most restrictive abortion policies in the nation. (The law was blocked from taking effect after a court challenge.) Amanda Eller, a Hawaii woman, was found injured but alive in a forest on Maui after being missing for more than two weeks.

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May 25

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy told Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spanish rule with the forming of the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires.

In 1965, Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of their world heavyweight title rematch in Lewiston, Maine. (Ali’s victory generated controversy over whether he’d truly connected when he sent Liston crashing to the canvas with a right to the head, or whether it was a “phantom punch,” implying that the fight had been fixed.)

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MAY 26

On May 26, 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure creating the Montana Territory.

In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on the remaining charges.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

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MAY 27

On May 27, 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, unanimously struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act, a key component of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” legislative program.

In 1199, King John of England was crowned in Westminster Abbey nearly two months after the death of his brother, Richard I (“The Lion-Hearted”).

In 1861, Chief Justice Roger Taney, sitting as a federal circuit court judge in Baltimore, ruled that President Abraham Lincoln lacked the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (Lincoln disregarded the ruling).

In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois.

In 1912, golf legend Sam Snead was born in Ashwood, Va. Author John Cheever was born in Quincy, Mass.

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MAY 28

On May 28, 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of freed blacks, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

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MAY 29

On May 29, 1988, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened their historic summit in Moscow.

In 1765, Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia’s House of Burgesses.

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MAY 30

On May 30, 1989, student protesters in Beijing erected a “Goddess of Democracy” statue in Tiananmen Square (the statue was destroyed in the Chinese government’s crackdown).

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