Events
- 1776 – Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
- 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
- 1805 – A fire consumed large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
- 1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
- 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English–Americans and Irish–Americans.
- 1898 – Spanish–American War: U.S. war ships start to sail for Cuba.
- 1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey.
- 1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
- 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
- 1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students from attending that school.
- 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
- 1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high–tech acquisition.
- 2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- 2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
- 2004 – Ronald Reagan's funeral held at Washington National Cathedral.