Updated

On this day, May 19 ...

1943: In his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledges his country’s full support in the fight against Japan; that evening, Churchill meets with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, where the two leaders agree on May 1, 1944 as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (the operation would end up being launched over a month later).

Also on this day:

  • 1536: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, is beheaded after being convicted of adultery.
  • 1649: England is declared a republic by Parliament following the execution of King Charles I. (The monarchy would be restored in 1660.)
  • 1914: California Gov. Hiram Johnson signs the Webb-Haney Act prohibiting "aliens ineligible to citizenship" from owning farmland, a measure targeting Asian immigrants, particularly Japanese.
  • 1921: Congress passes, and President Warren G. Harding signs, the Emergency Quota Act, which establishes national quotas for immigrants.
  • 1928: An explosion in a coal mine kills 195 miners in Pennsylvania.
  • 1935: T.E. Lawrence, also known as "Lawrence of Arabia," dies in Dorset, England, six days after being injured in a motorcycle crash.
  • 1943: In his second wartime address to the U.S. Congress, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pledges his country’s full support in the fight against Japan; that evening, Churchill meets with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, where the two leaders agree on May 1, 1944 as the date for the D-Day invasion of France (the operation would end up being launched over a month later).
  • 1962: Marilyn Monroe performs a special rendition of "Happy Birthday" for President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
  • 1992: Mary Jo Buttafuoco is shot in the head by Amy Fisher, the 17-year-old mistress of her husband, Joey Buttafuoco.
  • 1994: Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies at age 64.
  • 2001: Apple opens its first retail stores in Tysons Corner, Va., and Glendale, Calif.
  • 2006: A key U.N. panel joins European and United Nations leaders in urging the Bush administration to close its prison in Guantanamo Bay, saying the indefinite detention of terror suspects there violates the world’s ban on torture.
  • 2014: The U.S. charges five Chinese military officials with hacking into U.S. companies’ computers to steal vital trade secrets.
  • 2014: Lucy Li, at age 11, becomes the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open by winning the sectional qualifier at Half Moon Bay in California.
  • 2017: Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., pleads guilty in New York City to a sex charge, tearfully apologizing for communications with a 15-year-old girl. (Weiner would receive a 21-month prison sentence.)
  • 2018: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are married, becoming Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
  • 2019: Robert F. Smith, a billionaire tech investor, pledges to eliminate student debt for the entire 2019 Morehouse College graduating class.