May 29, 2020
Day 150 of 366

 

May 29th is the 150th day of the year. It is Statehood Day for both Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Rhode Island was the thirteenth state and was admitted to the Union on May 29, 1790. Wisconsin, the thirtieth state, was admitted on May 29, 1848.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Paperclip Day and National Coq Au Vin Day.

 

Historical items of note:

• In 1790, Rhode Island became the last of North America’s original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the Constitution and become one of the United States.
• In 1903, actor, singer, and producer Bob Hope was born.
• In 1905, actor, director, playwright, and first Anakin Skywalker Sebastian Shaw was born.
• In 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring premiered in Paris, France. It also provoked a riot.
• In 1917, naval officer and thirty-fifth President of the United States John F. Kennedy was born.
• In 1919, Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity was tested (and later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
• In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. It happened on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.
• Also in 1953, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor Danny Elfman was born.
• In 1958, actress Annette Bening was born.
• In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
• In 1999, Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station during mission STS-96.
• In 2004, the National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

 

May 29th is the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, an international day to pay tribute to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The United Nations uses the day to celebrate the peacekeepers for their high level of professionalism, dedication, and courage, as well as to honor the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace.

It was designated by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 57/129, on December 11, 2002. The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the creation of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in 1948, which monitored the ceasefire after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was the first-ever UN peacekeeping mission.

The day is commemorated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City with the presentation of the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, statements by the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, and a press release regarding the state of UN Peacekeeping missions and the continued necessity of their work.

 

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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