April 30, 1789: On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
The crowd in attendance is, IN FACT, the largest crowd at any presidential inauguration to date. Unfortunately there are no photographs to prove it.
May 1, 1900: The Scofield Mine Disasterkills at least 200 in Utah. At the time, this was the deadliest mine accident in US history.
May 1, 1956: The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
May 2, 1845: The Great Yarmouth Bridge Disaster.
Hundreds of people were on a suspension bridge over the river Bure in Great Yarmouth, England. They were waiting to see a floating clown in a barrel being pulled by four geese. When the clown finally came into view, people rushed to one side of the bridge to get a look. Their weight collapsed the bridge into the water and 79 people died. Many more were injured.
May 2, 1920: The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis. The eight initial teams were the Chicago American Giants, Detroit Stars, Kansas City Monarchs, Indianapolis ABCs, St. Louis Giants, Cuban Stars, Dayton Marcos and Chicago Giants.
**May 3, 1999 **: The highest wind speed ever recorded was measured at 301 miles per hour during the Bridge Creek - Moore tornadoin Oklahoma. The tornado kills 36 and causes a billion dollars in damage.
May 3, 1978: The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
May 4, 1970: The Kent State Shootings. Four dead in Ohio.
May 4, 1959: The first annual Grammy Awards are held. Henry Mancini won Best Album, for The Music from Peter Gunn, and Domenico Modugno won Best Song, for “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)”
May 4, 1626: American Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons.
Can we return it this weekend (when Trump is there)?
May 5, 2002: Spider-Man is first movie to top $100 million in opening weekend. 
May 5, 1945: Sunday school teacher Elyse Mitchell and five young members of her class go on a picnic in Southeast Oregon, near the town of Bly. They discover something strange in the woods: remnants of a balloon made of rice paper. While examining their find, suddenly there is an explosion and all 6 are killed.
What these picnickers had found was a Japanese balloon bomb. The bomb was one of several thousand released by the Japanese military that were designed to float across the Pacific and start fires and cause harm in the United States. While other balloon bombs made it across the ocean, this was the only one to kill. Elyse Mitchell and her students were the only combat deaths that occurred in the continental United States during World War II.
May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.
May 6, 1937: The *Hindenburg *Disaster. 36 people died. But what is amazing to me is that 62 people somehow survived.
May 6, 2013: Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the home of Ariel Castro, in Cleveland, Ohio.
May 6, 1954: Roger Banister becomes the first person to run a mile under 4 minutes.
**May 7, 1824: **World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision.
May 7, 1915: The luxury ocean liner RMS Lusitania is torpedoed by a German submarine. 1198 die.
May 8, 1902: In one of the deadliest volcanic disasters in history, Mt. Peleeerupts killing over 30,000 people. The one survivor in the entire city of St. Pierre was a prisoner who had been confined in an underground cell.
I have climbed Mt. Pelee. Very wet and muddy.
May 8, 1976: The roller coaster “The New Revolution”, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.