Nixon makes surprise trip to South Vietnam (1969), and The New Hebrides becomes the independent Republic of Vanuatu (1980). Born on this day: Henry Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emily Brontë. Died: Otto von Bismarck, Ingmar Bergman and Meiji.
25 events, 48 births and 61 deaths on this date.
Richard Nixon, the sitting US president, made a surprise stop in South Vietnam, where he met President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and American military commanders. The visit came as Washington was trying to reduce its role in the war.
Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. (ca. 1974 - 05/15/1984) · Public domainAfter more than seven decades under joint British and French management, the New Hebrides became the Republic of Vanuatu. An independence movement that arose in the 1970s had pushed for the change, and the new state later joined the United Nations and the Commonwealth.
Bach's church cantata, built on Psalm 124, got its debut in Leipzig, where he directed music for the city's churches. Its words reworked a 1524 Lutheran hymn by Justus Jonas, set here as a chorale cantata for worship.
Caliph al-Mansur established the city on the Tigris, and it soon became the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a few generations it grew into one of the largest cities in the world and a centre of learning.
On this day the Town of Baltimore was established, turning a tobacco-shipping port on the Patapsco River into a planned settlement. It went on to become Maryland's largest city and a major Atlantic harbour.
Sinatra cut his last session with Tommy Dorsey's band on this day, before leaving to front his own sound. The records he made with Dorsey are what first brought him wide fame as a crooner.
Columbia Pictures Corporation · Public domain
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Henry Ford built the Model T, the car that put motoring within reach of ordinary American families. Later, through his newspaper The Dearborn Independent, he spread antisemitic propaganda.
Fred Hartsook · Public domain
Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and former politician, known for Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He served as governor of California from 2003 to 2011, and is still active in film and public life.
DHSgov · Public domain
Emily Brontë was an English novelist and poet remembered for Wuthering Heights, published in 1847 under the pen name Ellis Bell. Her one novel was initially disliked by many critics, but it is now considered a classic of English literature.
Branwell Brontë · Public domain
Bismarck, nicknamed the Iron Chancellor, engineered the unification of Germany and became its first chancellor. He then steered European diplomacy for nearly two decades, building alliances to keep the peace.
André Bockmann · Public domain
Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish film and theatre director remembered for The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and Persona. Across a long career he made dozens of films and documentaries, most of them written by him, many shot on the island of Fårö.
Joost Evers / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0
Emperor Meiji died at Meiji Palace in Tokyo, aged 59. He presided over Japan's rapid transformation from a feudal state into a major imperial power, and his era gave its name to that period of modernisation.
Uchida Kuichi · Public domain
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