Today is Friday, May 16, the 136th day of the year 2025 with 229 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On May 16, 1966, the Chinese Communist Party released the May 16 Notification, a significant document that denounced "counterrevolutionary revisionists" within the party and marked the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
Other notable events on this date:
- In 1770, 14-year-old Marie Antoinette married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.
- In 1868, President Andrew Johnson narrowly avoided impeachment by the Senate, with a vote of 35-19 in favor of impeachment, just one vote short of the required two-thirds majority.
- In 1929, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place. The film "Wings" won the award for Outstanding Picture, while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named Best Actor and Best Actress.
- In 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising concluded as German forces crushed the Jewish resistance and destroyed the city’s Great Synagogue.
- In 1960, the first operational laser was demonstrated at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California by physicist Theodore Maiman.
- In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- In 1997, President Bill Clinton publicly apologized for the unethical Tuskegee Experiment, where government scientists allowed Black men to suffer and die from untreated syphilis.
- In 2018, Michigan State University agreed to a $500 million settlement with over 300 women and girls who were victims of sports doctor Larry Nassar’s assaults.
- In 2022, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 1 million.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Danny Trejo turns 81.
- Actor Pierce Brosnan is 72.
- Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Olga Korbut celebrates her 70th birthday.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Jack Morris turns 70.
- Actor Debra Winger is 70.
- Olympic marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson is 68.
- Actor Mare Winningham is 66.
- Rock musician Krist Novoselic from Nirvana is 60.
- Singer Janet Jackson celebrates her 59th birthday.
- Football Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas turns 59.
- Singer Ralph Tresvant of New Edition is 57.
- Actor David Boreanaz is 56.
- Political commentator Tucker Carlson is also 56.
- Tennis Hall of Famer Gabriela Sabatini celebrates her 55th birthday.
- Actor Tori Spelling turns 52.
- Actor Melanie Lynskey is 48.
- Actor Megan Fox celebrates her 39th birthday.
- Actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster is 35.
These events and birthdays mark significant moments in history and the entertainment industry.
