Transcontinental Railroad

Transcontinental railroad completed, unifying United States

Born on This Day

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

1899 - 1987

Star of Hollywood musicals famed for his athletic but relaxed dancing in films like "Top Hat" and "Swing Time."

NASA Astronaut Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa

1958 -

American astronaut who in 1993 became the first Hispanic woman in space.

Today - Season 71

Kenan Thompson

1978 -

Actor, comedian and longest-serving cast member of "Saturday Night Live" known for his sketch "What's Up with That?"

Fred AstaireCorbis via Getty Images

Ellen OchoaGetty Images

Kenan ThompsonNathan Congleton/NBC via Getty I

1893

MAY10

A real food fight reaches the Supreme Court, which rules in Nix v. Hedden that tomatoes are vegetables—not fruit—for tariffs. While the court concedes tomatoes are fruits botanically, it subjects them to veggie import taxes.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on May 10th

French navigator Jacques Cartier begins exploring the Canadian coast

On May 10, 1534, French navigator Jacques Cartier becomes the first European explorer to encounter the eastern coast of Canada, as he enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the present-day province of Quebec. In the first of his three expeditions to Canada, he would circumnavigate the Gulf and explore the coasts of Newfoundland and […]

1:40m read

British parliament passes unpopular Tea Act

On May 10, 1773, the British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade. Because all legal tea entered the colonies […]

1:52m read

Second Continental Congress assembles as Americans capture Fort Ticonderoga

On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, while the Second Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Congress faced the task of conducting a war already in progress. Fighting had begun with the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, and […]

Confederate general Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson dies

The South loses one of its boldest generals on May 10, 1863, when 39-year-old Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson dies of pneumonia a week after his own troops accidentally fired on him during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia. In the first two years of the war, Jackson terrorized Union commanders. A native Virginian, Jackson grew […]

Confederate President Jefferson Davis captured by Union forces

Jefferson Davis, president of the fallen Confederate government, is captured with his wife and entourage near Irwinville, Georgia, by a detachment of Union General James H. Wilson’s cavalry. On April 2, 1865, with the Confederate defeat at Petersburg, Virginia imminent, General Robert E. Lee informed President Davis that he could no longer protect Richmond and […]

Treaty of Frankfurt ends Franco-Prussian War

The humiliating defeat of Louis Napoleon’s Second Empire of France is made complete on May 10, 1871, when the Treaty of Frankfurt is signed, ending the Franco-Prussian War and marking the decisive entry of a newly unified German state on the stage of European power politics, so long dominated by the great empires of England […]

3:26m read

J. Edgar Hoover begins his 48-year tenure as FBI director

J. Edgar Hoover is named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation (now the FBI) on May 10, 1924. By the end of the year he was officially promoted to director. This began his 48-year tenure in power, during which time he personally shaped American criminal justice in the 20th century. Hoover first became involved […]

1:10m read

Winston Churchill becomes prime minister of Britain

Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, is called to replace Neville Chamberlain as British prime minister following the latter’s resignation after losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons. In 1938, Prime Minister Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, giving the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia over to German conquest […]

Photographer captures soaring Stanley Cup champion Bobby Orr in iconic image

On May 10, 1970, 40 seconds into overtime of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, Boston Bruins star Bobby Orr slips the winning goal past St. Louis Blues goaltender Glenn Hall. After scoring, Orr leaps into the air before landing flat and sliding into his teammates’ embrace. The famous celebration is immortalized by Boston Record-American photographer Ray […]

1:44m read

Government approves $1.5 billion loan for Chrysler

On May 10, 1980, United States Secretary of the Treasury G. William Miller announces the approval of nearly $1.5 billion dollars in federal loan guarantees for the nearly bankrupt Chrysler Corporation. At the time, it was the largest rescue package ever granted by the U.S. government to an American corporation. Founded as the Maxwell Motor […]

2:28m read

China releases 211 prisoners arrested during Tiananmen Square protests

The government of the People’s Republic of China announces that it is releasing 211 people arrested during the massive protests held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989. Most observers viewed the prisoner release as an attempt by the communist government of China to dispel much of the terrible publicity it received for its […]

1:34m read

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first Black president, is inaugurated

In South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is sworn in as the first Black president of South Africa. In his inaugural address, Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life as a political prisoner of the South African government, declared that “the time for the healing of the wounds has come.” Two weeks earlier, more than […]

Eight climbers die on Mt. Everest

Eight climbers die on Mount Everest during a storm on May 10, 1996. It was the worst loss of life ever on the mountain on a single day. Author Jon Krakauer, who himself attempted to climb the peak that year, wrote a best-selling book about the incident, Into Thin Air, which was published in 1997. […]

2:04m read

Robert Hanssen, FBI agent turned Russian spy, is sentenced to life in prison

On May 10, 2002, Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent who intermittently sold state secrets to Russia over the course of two decades, receives his sentencing for espionage: life in prison without the possibility of parole. “I apologize for my behavior. I am shamed by it,” said Hanssen. “I have opened the door for calumny […]

1:52m read

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