May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 226 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about May 19th, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about May 19th in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- Global Accessibility Awareness Day
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day
- National May Ray Day
- Abdominal Cancer Day
- National Notebook Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – May 19
1967: The Soviet Union joins most of the world’s major powers by ratifying the treaty banning nuclear weapons from outer space in 1967.
1963: Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is published
King used the open letter to defend his nonviolent resistance against racism and segregation. It became one of the central texts for the civil rights movement in the United States.
1962: Marilyn Monroe performs her famous rendition of Happy Birthday
Monroe gave her sultry performance, which was to be her last, at a party for U.S. President John F. Kennedy. The two are believed to have been engaged in an affair.
1959: The North Vietnamese Army begins organizing the Ho Chi Minh trail
According to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the system of supply routes used by the “Vietcong” was “one of the greatest achievements of military engineering of the 20th century.”
1919: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sets off the Turkish War of Independence
The fight against the allies of the Triple Entente ended some four years later. The Republic of Turkey was founded, and Atatürk became its first President.
1743: Jean-Pierre Christin invents the Celsius thermometer
The centigrade temperature scale, which is based on the freezing and boiling point of water, is used by most countries around the world. Exceptions include the United State, Belize, and Palau.
1943: Lepa Radić of the Yugoslav Partisans was executed in 1943. The Germans offered her a way out of execution by revealing her comrades’ and leaders’ identities. She replied that she was not a traitor and that her comrades would reveal themselves when they avenged her death

1915: Atlantic City. Bathing in front of the Marlborough-Blenheim and the Traymore Hotels.

1910: Nedeljko Čabrinović, who threw a bomb at the Austrian archduke Ferdinand’s car, in an attempt to kill him and his wife. 1910s

1901: Chuckwagon on a Texas cattle roundup.

1649: England was declared a republic by Parliament following the execution of King Charles I in 1649.
Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, May 19
1945: Pete Townshend, English singer-songwriter, guitarist
1925: Malcolm X, American minister, activist
1898: Julius Evola, Italian philosopher
1893: H. Bonciu, Romanian author, poet, journalist
1881: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkish army officer, politician, 1st President of Turkey
Malcolm X was born.
Marshmallow was born.
André the Giant was born.
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, May 19
1994: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American book editor, 37th First Lady of the United States
1912: Bolesław Prus, Polish writer
1898: William Ewart Gladstone, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1895: José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, theorist
1536: Anne Boleyn, English wife of Henry VIII of England
Jacqueline Kennedy died.
Paul Money died.
Jamsetji Tata died.