Updated
May 27, 2014,
10:57 am
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On May 27, 1964, independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died.
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On May 27, 1907, Rachel Carson, the American biologist whose books helped inspire the environmental movement, was born. Following her death on April 14, 1964, her obituary appeared in The Times.
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Other birthdays »
| 1647
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Alse Young became the first person executed as a witch in America when she was hanged in Hartford, Conn.
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| 1896
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A tornado struck St. Louis and East St. Louis, Ill., killing 255 people.
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| 1911
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Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was born in Wallace, S.D.
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| 1912
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Golfer Sam Snead was born in Ashwood, Va.
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| 1935
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The Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act.
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| 1937
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The Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, Calif., opened.
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| 1941
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The British navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France with a loss of more than 2,100 lives.
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| 1964
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Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister, died.
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| 1994
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Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia after spending two decades in exile.
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| 1995
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Actor Christopher Reeve was paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event in Charlottesville, Va.
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| 1996
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Russian President Boris Yeltsin negotiated a cease-fire to the war in Chechnya in his first meeting with the rebels' leader.
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| 1997
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The Supreme Court ruled Paula Jones could pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he was in office.
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| 1998
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Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after apologizing for not warning anyone about the deadly plot.
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| 1999
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A U.N. tribunal indicted Slobodan Milosevic for crimes against humanity, holding the Yugoslav president personally responsible for the horrors in Kosovo.
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Historic Birthdays
Rachel Carson
5/27/1907 - 4/14/1964
American biologist and writer.
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| 82
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Cornelius Vanderbilt 5/27/1794 - 1/4/1877
American shipping and railroad magnate
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| 76
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Amelia Bloomer 5/27/1818 - 12/30/1894
American reformer; campaigned for temperance and women's rights
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| 91
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Julia Ward Howe 5/27/1819 - 10/17/1910
American author and reformer; wrote "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
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| 56
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Jay Gould 5/27/1836 - 12/2/1892
American railroad executive and financier
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| 39
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Wild Bill Hickok 5/27/1837 - 8/2/1876
American frontiersman, army scout, marksman and gambler
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| 86
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Georges Rouault 5/27/1871 - 2/13/1958
French painter, printmaker, ceramist and maker of stained glass
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| 66
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Dashiell Hammett 5/27/1894 - 1/10/1961
American novelist
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| 39
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William Hansen 5/27/1909 - 5/23/1949
American physicist; pioneered use of microwave technology
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| 66
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Hubert Humphrey 5/27/1911 - 1/13/1978
American politician; senator and 38th vice-president of the U. S.
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| 70
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John Cheever 5/27/1912 - 6/18/1982
American short-story writer and novelist
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| 38
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Caryl Chessman 5/27/1921 - 5/2/1960
American criminal; wrote four books while on death row
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