Today in History — May 16

updated 12:01 a.m. ET May 16, 2007

Today is Wednesday, May 16, the 136th day of 2007. There are 229 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented during a banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The movie “Wings” won “best production,” while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.

On this date:
In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

In 1866, Congress authorized minting of the first five-cent piece, also known as the “Shield nickel.”

In 1868, the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of the 11 articles of impeachment against him.

In 1905, actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Neb.

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.

In 1946, the Irving Berlin musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” starring Ethel Merman as Annie Oakley, opened on Broadway.

In 1960, a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the U.S. in the wake of the U2 incident.

In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

In 1977, five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling atop the Pan Am Building in midtown Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.

In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton publicly apologized for the notorious Tuskegee experiment, in which government scientists deliberately allowed black men to weaken and die of treatable syphilis. The space shuttle Atlantis docked with Russia’s Mir station. In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko ended 32 years of autocratic rule, giving control of the country to rebel forces.

Five years ago: The White House defended President Bush for not disclosing intelligence before the Sept. 11 attacks that Osama bin Laden wanted to hijack U.S. airplanes, saying there had been no specific threat. The remains of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl were unearthed in Pakistan.

One year ago: The Pentagon released the first video images of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the military headquarters building and killing 189 people on 9/11. Richard Hatch, who had won $1 million in the debut season of “Survivor,” was sentenced in Providence, R.I., to more than four years in prison for failing to pay taxes on his reality TV prize and other income. Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, the winningest coaches in Division I-A football, were elected to the college football Hall of Fame.

Today’s Birthdays: Author Studs Terkel is 95. Actor George Gaynes is 90. Actor Harry Carey Jr. is 86. Jazz musician Billy Cobham is 63. Actor Bill Smitrovich is 60. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 54. Actress Debra Winger is 52. Soviet-born gymnast Olga Korbut is 52. Actress Mare Winningham is 48. Rock musician Boyd Tinsley (The Dave Matthews Band) is 43. Singer Janet Jackson is 41. Country singer Scott Reeves (Blue County) is 41. Actor Brian F. O’Byrne is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) is 39. Actor David Boreanaz is 38. Actress Tracey Gold is 38. Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is 37. Country singer Rick Trevino is 36. Musician Simon Katz is 36. Actress Tori Spelling is 34. Actress Melanie Lynskey is 30. Actress Megan Fox is 21. Actor Marc John Jefferies is 17.

Thought for Today: “If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.” — John Kenneth Galbraith, American economist, diplomat and author (1908-2006).

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