Portal:United States/On this day/May 25

On this day for the United States

May 25:

Events

• 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presides.
• 1865 - In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
• 1935 - Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• 1936 - The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
• 1953 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.
• 1955 - In the United States, a night time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It was the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
• 1961 - Apollo program: U.S. president John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.
• 1966 - Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
• 1977 - Star Wars is released. It rapidly becomes a cult classic and is the start of a six-movie franchise.
• 1979 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
• 1999 - The United States House of Representatives released the Cox Report which detailed the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
• 2001 - 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.