Yesterday in History

A day late, but who's counting?

~On May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish squadron in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
~In 1786, Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna.
~In 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition opened to the public in Chicago.
~In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
~Ten years ago: Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62. Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Tutsis. (Kambanda was later sentenced to life in prison.)
~Five years ago: President Bush, flying aboard an S-3B Viking, landed on the deck of the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the Southern California coast. With a banner strung across the bridge of the ship proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," the president declared major combat in Iraq over, but also said "difficult work" remained ahead. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake killed 177 people in Turkey.

Thought for Today: "Think much, speak little, and write less." — Italian proverb. (Dang. There goes the blog-o-sphere)