May 9: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

President Joe Biden signed the 2022 Lend-Lease act to send military equipment to Ukraine.

President Barack Obama officially declared his support of same-sex marriage.

The Huffington Post was launched, founded by Arianna Huffington, Andrew Breitbart, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti.

A stampede killed 129 people in Ghana.

At the Accra Sports Stadium, the two most popular football teams of Ghana competed. Disappointed fans of the losing team became rowdy, and police fired teargas. This started a panic, and with not enough exits, a deadly stampede occurred.

Five bank robbers armed themselves and attempted a heist in Norco, California.

The ensuing shootout and police chase is one of the most destructive in California's history, with more than 30 police vehicles destroyed, countless wounded, and three fatalities. The robbers were so heavily armed that they easily out-gunned the police forces, which led the California government to rapidly up-scale their police force's arsenal.

The Luna 5 attempted to land on the Moon.

The Luna 5 was an uncrewed USSR spacecraft meant to land on the Moon. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to succeed in making a soft landing on the surface. Unfortunately, the retrorockets failed, and the Luna 5 crashed on the surface.

The United States became the first country to legalize a birth control pill.

The noir psychological thriller film “Vertigo,” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was released.

German submarine U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy, who found an Enigma cipher machine onboard.

The capture of U-110 was kept secret for months to allow time for British codebreakers to make full use of the captured Enigma Machine to decrypt German communications.

The first flight over the North Pole was completed, flown by Richard E. Byrd with co-pilot Floyd Bennett.

A steam locomotive called City of Truro became the first steam engine to go over 100 miles per hour.

Aside from being the first locomotive to exceed 100 miles per hour, it was also the first vehicle of any kind to do so.

John Burr patented a better rotary blade lawn mower, designed with traction wheels and a rotary blade that would not easily get stuck with grass clipping.

An attempt was made to steal the Crown Jewels.

As part of an elaborate plan, Colonel Thomas blood befriended the keeper of the jewels and frequently visited. After some time, Colonel Blood requested to see the treasures, at which point he knocked the keeper of the jewels unconscious and stabbed him. While Colonel Blood was taking the jewels, the keeper woke up and alerted the guards.

Christopher Columbus embarked on his fourth and final journey into the New World.