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more events on May 3
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1982
A British submarine sinks Argentina’s only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.
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1979
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain.
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1971
James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.‘s assassin, is caught in a jail break attempt.
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1968
After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retake Dai Do complex in Vietnam, only to find the North Vietnamese have evacuated the area.
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1952
The first airplane lands at the geographic North Pole.
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1948
The Supreme Court rules that movie studios must sell off its theaters, breaking apart a huge monopoly forming within the film industry.
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1933
James Brown, American singer and songwriter.
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1926
U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua.
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1920
Walker Smith, Jr. (Sugar Ray Robinson), champion middleweight boxer.
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John Lewis, jazz pianist.
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1919
Pete Seeger, folksinger and songwriter.
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Betty Comden, lyricist.
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1913
William Inge, American playwright (Picnic, Bus Stop).
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1912
May Sarton, poet and writer.
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1903
Bing [Harry Lillis] Crosby, singer and actor. Various dates given for his birth date.