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1963
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1905
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more events on May 16
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1963
After 22 Earth orbits, Gordon Cooper returns to Earth, ending the last mission of Project Mercury.
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1960
A Big Four summit in Paris collapses because of the American U-2 spy plane affair.
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1955
Olga Korbut, Olympic gymnast.
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1951
Chinese Communist Forces launch second phase of the Chinese Spring Offensive in the Korean War and gain up to 20 miles of territory.
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1943
A specially trained and equipped Royal Air Force squadron destroys two river dams in Germany.
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1929
Adrienne Rich, poet (Diving into the Wreck).
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Betty Carter, jazz singer.
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1928
The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood.
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1920
Joan of Arc is canonized in Rome.
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1913
Woody Herman, jazz bandleader.
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1912
Studs Terkel, author and historian.
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1905
Henry Fonda, American actor (Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond).
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1886
Douglas Southall Freeman, journalist, historian, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer.
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1879
The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England sets up the Afghan state.
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1868
President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during Senate impeachment, by one vote, cast by Edmund G. Ross.