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| Birthday May 20, 1750 Stephen Girard, bailed out U.S. bonds during War of 1812 |
| Birthday May 20, 1768 Dolly Dandridge Payne Madison, first lady |
| Birthday May 20, 1799 Honore de Balzac, French novelist (Pere Goriot) |
| Birthday May 20, 1806 John Stuart Mill, philosopher, political economist, Utilitarian |
| Birthday May 20, 1818 William George Fargo, helped to found Wells, Fargo & Co |
| Birthday May 20, 1822 Frederic Passy, cowinner of 1st Nobel Peace Prize (1901) |
| Birthday May 20, 1882 Sigrid Undset, Norweg. novelist (Kristin Lavransdatter) (Nobel '28) |
| Birthday May 20, 1890 Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor |
| Birthday May 20, 1894 Adela Rogers St. Johns, journalist, author |
| Birthday May 20, 1901 Max Euwe, of the Netherlands, world chess champion (1935-37) |
| Birthday May 20, 1908 Jimmy Stewart, Actor |
| Birthday May 20, 1913 William Hewlett, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Co |
| Birthday May 20, 1915 Moshe Dayan, Israeli general & politician |
| Birthday May 20, 1919 George Gobel, Comedian |
| Birthday May 20, 1933 Constance Towers |
| Birthday May 20, 1934 Alexei A. Leonov, Soviet cosmonaut (Voskhod 2, Apollo-Soyuz) |
| Birthday May 20, 1940 Sadaharu Oh, of Yomiuri Giants (Japan), hit 868 career HR |
| Birthday May 20, 1944 Joe Cocker, in Engl |
| Birthday May 20, 1946 Cher Bono, California "I got you babe" |
| Birthday May 20, 1958 Ron Reagan Jr., President's son |
| Birthday May 20, 1958 Jane Wiedlin, (GoGos) |
| Birthday May 20, 1966 Mindy Cohn, LA (Facts of Life) |
| History May 20, 0325 1st Christian ecumenical council opens at Nicaea - Asia Minor |
| History May 20, 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India |
| History May 20, 1506 Christopher Columbus dies |
| History May 20, 1506 Christopher Columbus died in poverty in Spain |
| History May 20, 1775 Mecklenburg County - NC citizens declare independence from England |
| History May 20, 1778 Battle of Barren Hill, Pennsylvania |
| History May 20, 1830 1st railroad timetable published in newspaper -`Baltimore American' |
| History May 20, 1845 1st legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii |
| History May 20, 1861 NC becomes 10th state to secede from US |
| History May 20, 1862 The Homestead Act |
| History May 20, 1862 Union Congress passes the Homestead Act |
| History May 20, 1862 Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of West |
| History May 20, 1862 Lincoln signs Homestead Act |
| History May 20, 1873 Levi Strauss patents copper-riveted jeans |
| History May 20, 1875 Intl Bureau of Weights & Measures established by treaty |
| History May 20, 1902 US ends occupation of Cuba |
| History May 20, 1915 British renew attacks in Battle of Festubert |
| History May 20, 1926 Thomas Edison said Americans preferred silent movies over talkies |
| History May 20, 1927 Spirit of St. Louis departs |
| History May 20, 1927 Lindbergh flew NY-Paris - 1st solo flight across Atlantic |
| History May 20, 1932 Earhart left Newfoundland 1st woman fly solo across Atlantic |
| History May 20, 1939 Pan Am began transatlantic passenger & air mail service |
| History May 20, 1940 Germans break through to English Channel at Abbeville, France |
| History May 20, 1946 W.H. Auden becomes a U.S. citizen |
| History May 20, 1953 French see light at the end of the tunnel in Vietnam |
| History May 20, 1956 Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane - Bikini Atoll |
| History May 20, 1956 United States drops hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll |
| History May 20, 1959 Yanks sink to last place - 1st time since May 25 - 1940 |
| History May 20, 1961 White mob attacks `Freedom Riders' in Montgomery - Alabama |
| History May 20, 1965 Plane crashes at Cairo airport |
| History May 20, 1969 Battle for Hamburger Hill ends |
| History May 20, 1969 Kennedy criticizes the Hamburger Hill battle |
| History May 20, 1972 Republic of Cameroon declared |
| History May 20, 1974 Soyuz 14 returns to Earth |
| History May 20, 1976 Viking 1 - Mars landing |
| History May 20, 1978 US Launches Pioneer Venus 1-produces 1st global radar map of Venus |
| History May 20, 1979 Cambodian Martyrs Day |
| History May 20, 1985 US began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti |
| History May 20, 1985 FBI arrests John A Walker Jr - convicted of spying for USSR |
| History May 20, 1985 Dow Jones Avg closes above 1300 for 1st time |
| History May 20, 1989 Sunday Silence wins Preakness by a nose |
| History May 20, 1995 Street in front of the White House closed to traffic |
| History May 20, 1996 Supreme Court defends rights of homosexuals |
| History May 20, 1998 Frank Sinatra is laid to rest |
| History May 20, 2005 Mary Kay Letourneau marries former victim |
| History May 20, 2007 The Simpsons airs 400th episode |