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more events on May 18
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1980
After rumbling for two months, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington, erupts 3 times in 24 hours.
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1974
India becomes the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.
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1969
Two battalions of the 101st Airborne Division assault Hill 937 but cannot reach the top because of muddy conditions.
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1951
The United Nations moves its headquarters to New York city.
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1944
The Allies finally capture Monte Cassino in Italy.
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1942
New York ends night baseball games for the rest of World War II.
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1933
President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
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1931
Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashes his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He is picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.
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1919
Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer.
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1918
John Paul II [Karol Jozef Wojtyla], Roman Catholic pope.
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1917
The U.S. Congress passes the Selective Service act, calling up soldiers to fight World War I.
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1911
Joseph Vernon “Big Joe” Turner, blues singer.
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1904
Brigand Raisuli kidnaps American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.
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1902
Meredith Willson, composer and lyricist (The Music Man).
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1897
Frank Capra, film director (It’s A Wonderful Life).