History for May 15

History for May 15 - On-This-Day.com
Lyman Frank Baum 1856 - Author of children's books ("The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"), Pierre Curie 1859 - Physicist, James Mason (James Neville Mason) 1909 - Actor 


Trini Lopez (Trinidad López III) 1937 - Singer, guitarist, Madeleine Albright 1937 - First woman to become a U.S. Secretary of State, Chazz Palminteri (Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri) 1951 - Actor, writer 


1618 - Johannes Kepler discovered his harmonics law.


1702 - The War of Spanish Succession began.


1768 - Under the Treaty of Versailles, France purchased Corsica from Genoa.














1916 - U.S. Marines landed in Santo Domingo to quell civil disorder.



1918 - Regular airmail service between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, began under the direction of the Post Office Department, which later became the U.S. Postal Service.


1940 - Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S.



1963 - The last Project Mercury space flight was launched.


1972 - Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the U.S. presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.


1988 - The Soviet Union began their withdrawal of its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years.