On May 1,1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

On May 2,1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

On May 3,1971, anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C., aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.

On May 4,1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

On May 5,1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

On May 6,1937, the hydrogen-filled German dirigible Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 36 of the 97 people on board.

On May 7,1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, to take effect the following day, ending the European conflict of World War II.

On May 8,1973, militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

On May 9,1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president.

On May 10,1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

On May 11,1973, Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct, dismissed charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the Pentagon Papers case.

On May 12,1943, during World War II, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.

On May 13,1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

On May 14,1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed as British rule in Palestine came to an end.

On May 15,1911, the Supreme Court of the United Stated ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

On May 16,1868, the U.S. Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against him. (Johnson was acquitted of all charges).

On May 17,1954, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, which declared that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal.

On May 18,1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.

On May 19,1935, T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died in England from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.

On May 20,1961, a white mob attacked a busload of "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery, Ala., prompting the federal government to send in U.S. marshals to restore order.

On May 21,1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his "Spirit of St. Louis" near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

On May 22,1947, the Truman Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

On May 23,1934, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, La.

On May 24,1883, the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, was opened to traffic.

On May 25,1925, John T. Scopes was indicted in Tennessee for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

On May 26,1868, the Senate impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal as the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction.

On May 27, 1964, independent first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, died.

On May 28,1984, President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War.

On May 29,1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand, left, and Tensing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit.

On May 30,1958, unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflict was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

On May 31, 1889, more than 2,000 people perished when a dam break sent water rushing through Johnstown, Pa.