THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― MAY 27

May 27 is the 147th day of the year (148th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 218 days remaining until the end of the year. 

NATIONAL CELLOPHANE TAPE DAY 

1199 – John is crowned King of England. He ruled until his death on October 19, 1216. John, the youngest of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, was at first not expected to inherit significant lands. Following the failed rebellion of his elder brothers between 1173 and 1174, however, John became Henry's favorite child. He was appointed the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and given lands in England and on the continent. John's elder brothers William, Henry and Geoffrey died young; by the time Richard I became king in 1189, John was a potential heir to the throne. John unsuccessfully attempted a rebellion against Richard's royal administrators whilst his brother was participating in the Third Crusade. Despite this, after Richard died in 1199, John was proclaimed King of England, and came to an agreement with Philip II of France to recognize John's possession of the continental Angevin lands at the peace treaty of Le Goulet in 1200.

1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized, and based on The Enlightenment. Peter's reforms made a lasting impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government traced their origins to his reign.

1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George. The Americans had inflicted heavy casualties and captured a strongly fortified position with fewer losses to themselves. The victory can be credited to excellent planning and leadership by two comparatively junior officers: Winfield Scott and Oliver Hazard Perry.

1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, in order to go to Grant's aid. When his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history. A second attack also failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander, General Franklin Gardner surrendered the port. This left the Mississippi open to Union navigation from its source to the Gulf of Mexico.

1896 – The F4-strength 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado strikes, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage (1997 US dollars). One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this large and violent tornado was the most notable of an outbreak which produced other large, long-track, violent, killer tornadoes. It caused approximately $2.9 billion in damage adjusted for 1997, or over $10,000,000 in damage in 1896.

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco.

1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.

1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public. Thew 102-Story Empire State Building (1454 feet with spire) opened 11 moths later. The Chrysler Building is still the largest brick building in the world.

1933 – The New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law. Legislated pursuant to the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, it requires that any offer or sale of securities using the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce be registered with the SEC pursuant to the 1933 Act, unless an exemption from registration exists under the law.

1935 – The New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495). The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was a law passed by the United States Congress in 1933 to authorize the President to regulate industry in an attempt to raise prices after severe deflation and stimulate economic recovery.

1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men after it's rudder had been disabled by a British torpedo.

1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1968 – Major League Baseball's National League awards Montreal the first franchise in Canada and the first franchise outside the United States. (the Montreal Expos).

1996 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.

1997 – The unusual tornado outbreak in Jarrell, Texas (Central Texas Tornado Breakout). The F5 tornado that struck the town of Jarrell, Texas killed 27 people out of 410 residents. The tornado was 3/4 of a mile wide and tracked across the ground for 7.6 miles. Double Creek Estates, a subdivision of Jarrell, was literally wiped off the face of the earth with all 38 homes and several mobile homes destroyed.

1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot. Michael and Lori Fortier were considered accomplices for their foreknowledge of the planning of the bombing. In addition to Michael assisting McVeigh in scouting the federal building, Lori had helped McVeigh laminate a fake driver's license which was later used to rent the Ryder truck. Michael agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a reduced sentence and immunity for his wife. He was sentenced on May 27, 1998 to twelve years in prison and fined $75,000 for failing to warn authorities about the attack. On January 20, 2006, after serving ten and a half years of his sentence, including time already served, Fortier was released for good behavior into the Witness Protection Program and given a new identity.

2006 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.


BORN TODAY 

1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1877)

1837 – James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, American law man (d. 1876)

1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (d. 1964)

1912 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1982)

1915 – Herman Wouk, American novelist

1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.