Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Today is the 151st day of 2026. There are 214 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1889
More than 2,000 people perished when a dam break sent water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.
1910
The Union of South Africa was founded.
1913
The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was declared in effect.
1916
British and German fleets fought the Battle of Jutland off Denmark during World War I.
1961
South Africa became an independent republic.
1962
Gestapo official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel for his role in the Nazi Holocaust.
1970
An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.
1977
The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was completed after three years of work.
1989
House Speaker Jim Wright, dogged by questions about his ethics, announced he would resign.
1991
Leaders of Angola's two warring factions signed a peace treaty, ending a 16-year-old civil war.
1994
The United States announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.
1996
Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel's election for prime minister, defeating incumbent Shimon Peres by nine-tenths of 1 percent.
1999
The treason trial of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan opened in Turkey. (He was convicted and sentenced to death.)
Notable Births
1819
Poet Walt Whitman was born in West Hill, N.Y.
Notable Deaths
1809
Composer Franz Joseph Haydn died in Vienna, Austria.
2000
Bandleader Tito Puente died in New York at age 77.