Today in History - History - May 7th

1996Comedian Martin Lawrence suffers a nervous breakdown

1664Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles.

1700William Penn began monthly meetings for blacks advocating emancipation

1866German premier Otto Von Bismarck seriously wounded in assassination attempt

1917Red Sox Babe Ruth beats Wash Senator Walter Johnson, 1-0

1947General MacArthur approves Japanese constitution

2012Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six year term as President of Russia

1999Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.

1789First US Presidential inaugural ball (for George Washington in NYC)

558In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.

1909Edwin Land, inventor (instant photography (Polaroid))

1933Johnny Unitas, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, NFL QB (Balt Colts, San Diego); one of the greats

1950Tim Russert, Buffalo NY, American television journalist and host of NBC's Meet the Press, (d. 2008)

1840Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Votkinsk, Russia, composer (1812 Overture, Swan Lake), (d. 1893) [NS]

1919Eva Peron-Duarte [Evita], Argentina, 1st lady/actress, (d. 1952)

1812Robert Browning, London England, poet (Pied Piper)

1825Antonio Salieri, Italian composer, dies in Vienna at 74

1896H. H. Holmes [Herman Webster Mudgett], American serial killer executed by hanging at 34