WHAT HAPPENED ON 16. MAY
Want to find out what all happened on 16. May

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 It will be repealed less than two years later. (16. May 1918)

A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. (16. May 1919)

In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc. (16. May 1920)

In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are awarded. (16. May 1929)

Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends. (16. May 1943)

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. (16. May 1951)

American journalist William N. Oatis is released after serving 22 months of a ten-year prison sentence for espionage in Czechoslovakia. (16. May 1953)

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. (16. May 1960)

Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. (16. May 1961)

The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. (16. May 1966)

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus. (16. May 1969)

Josip Broz Tito is re-elected president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he is elected for life. (16. May 1974)

India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favor of merging with India. (16. May 1975)

Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. (16. May 1975)

Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government. (16. May 1983)

The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain. (16. May 1986)

A report by United States' Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. (16. May 1988)

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. (16. May 1991)

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country. (16. May 1997)

In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. (16. May 2003)