@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Wednesday, May 21, the 142nd day of 2008. There are 224 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1840, New Zealand was declared a British colony.

In 1904, FIFA, football's international governing body, was established in Paris.

In 1924, 14-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered in a "thrill killing" committed by Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb, two students at the University of Chicago.

In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she landed in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland..

In 1969, Sirhan B. Sirhan was sentenced to death by a U.S. court for the 1968 murder of Robert Kennedy. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian prime minister, was killed by a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers while campaigning for elections in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

In 1989, one million people, a sixth of the population of Hong Kong, demonstrated in support of rebellious students in Beijing after authorities clamped martial law on the capital.

Thought for Today

"Being frustrated is disagreeable, but the real disasters of life begin when you get what you want." — Irving Kristol, American editor.