History of the Day for:
May 19
- 1536: Anne Boleyn, the second of King Henry VIII's wives, was beheaded for adultery.
- 1588: The Spanish Armada set sail for England; it was soundly defeated by the English fleet the following August.
- 1796: Congress passed a game protection law restricting encroachment on Indian hunting grounds.
- 1906: The Federated Boys' Clubs, which later became the Boys' Clubs of America, was formed.
- 1921: Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, setting up quotas for immigrants.
- 1935: T.E. Lawrence, known as "Lawrence of Arabia," died from injuries he received in a motorcycle crash.
- 1943: Churchill pledged England's full support to the U.S. against Japan.
- 1958: The United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
- 1964: The State Department announced the U.S. embassy in Moscow was bugged.
- 1967: The Soviet Union ratified a treaty with the United States and Britain banning nuclear weapons from outer space.
- 1992: The 27th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, prohibiting Congress from giving itself pay raises.
- 1994: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died at the age of 64.
- 1997: NBC sportscaster Marv Albert was charged in an indictment with biting a woman in an Arlington, Va., hotel room as many as 15 times and forcing her to perform oral sex.
- 2001: Apple, Inc. opens their first retail store at Glendale Galleria.
- 2009: Sri Lanka announces victory in its 27 year war against the terrorist organisation, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.