Today in History - History - May 2nd

1900George Bernard Shaw's "You Never Can Tell" premieres in London

1939Lou Gehrig ends 2,130 consecutive game streak, Yanks beat Tigers 22-2

1949Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman"

1906Tsar Nicolas II of Russia dismisses his moderate Prime Minister Witte and appoints Ivan Goremykin, a conservative bureaucrat

1783Architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant is promoted by brevet to Major of Engineers in recognition of his service to American liberty

1933In Germany, Adolf Hitler bans trade unions

1929Billie Holiday (14) and her mother are arrested for prostitution following a raid of a brothel in Harlem

1957Gangster Frank Costello escapes an assassination attempt made by rival mobsters

2008The critically acclaimed "Iron Man", starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, is released

1997Donald Trump & Marla Maples announce they are separating

1892Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen [The Red Baron], Breslau, German World War I fighter ace

1985Lily Allen, English singer and songwriter

1729Catherine the Great [Catherine II], Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, Empress of Russia (1762-96)

1903Benjamin Spock, New Haven, Connecticut, American pediatrician (Common Sense Book of Baby Care)

1972Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, American professional wrestler and actor

1797Abraham Gesner, Cornwallis Nova Scotia, Canadian geologist (inventor of kerosene)

2009Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (32) weds film and stage actor Peter Sarsgaard (38) in a small chapel in Brindisi, Italy

1946"Rebecca" actress Joan Fontaine (28) weds producer and actor William Dozier (38)

1519Leonardo da Vinci, artist/scientist, dies at 67

2011Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda and 'the most wanted man in the world' (b. 1957)

1972J. Edgar Hoover, first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72) dies at 77

1957Joseph McCarthy, anti-communist US senator (R-Wisc), dies at 48