[goofywife]

1946: Riots erupt at Alcatraz
Inmates Bernard Paul Coy, Joseph Paul Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Clarence Carnes, Marvin Franklin Hubbard and Miran Edgar Thompson started a riot today in Alcatraz prison after a failed escape attempt. Coy, whose prison job was to clean the gun galleries, had reportedly thrown a master switch to open the cells. He overpowered a guard to gain access to weapons.

"The fiercest prison mutiny in the Nation's history was uncontrolled in its second day as besiegers on Alcatraz island began lobbing 60-millimeter mortar shells into the barricaded cell-block and indicated that chemical warfare would be the next move against the convict holdouts," reported The Oakland Tribune on May 3, 1946. "Attacking U.S. Marines and prison guards already had used bazooka guns, demolition bombs, fragmentation hand grenades and other weapons of war in their all-out assault against the convict insurrectionists, barricaded in two separate parts of the cell block."

NOTE: The rioting, which is now called the Battle of Alcatraz, lasted two days. When it was over, two officers and three prisoners were killed, while 14 guards and two inmates were wounded.

1972: J. Edgar Hoover dies
J. Edgar Hoover, the infamous director of the FBI, died today of heart disease at the age of 77. "Hoover, the nation's chief law officer for 48 years, had become a legend in the United States, an 'untouchable' who shaped the FBI into a massive, powerful agency," explained The Lowell Sun on May 2, 1972. "The jut-jawed FBI head was permitted by presidential order to continue in his $42,500-a-year government job after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Hoover, unmarried, dominated the bureau during his lifetime like no man in any other federal agency. Wielding vast power, he was said to lavish on the FBI the pride and possessiveness of a stern and watchful parent."


1955: Williams and Faulkner win Pulitzers
"William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, two writers who have captured many of the top writing awards of the last decade, Monday received Pulitzer prizes," informed The Daily Register on May 3, 1955. "Faulkner won the prize for 'A Fable,' the novel of trench life in World War I which took him nine years to write. Williams won his second Pulitzer prize for the play 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,' a drama about a twisted Mississippi plantation family."

1952: First commercial jet flights begin
The De Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner, took its inaugural flight today. "The sleek blue and white, four-engine jet liner, carrying a full load of 36 paying passengers, a crew of six and 30 bags of mail, left London airport at 3:14 p.m.," reported the Long Beach Press-Telegram on May 2, 1952. "With stops at Rome, Beirut, Khartoum in the Sudan, Entebbe in Uganda and Livingston in Rhodesia, it is due at Johannesburg in 23 hours and 40 minutes, slicing about one-third from the present commercial air travel time for the 6724-mile trip."

1945: Soviets announce fall of Berlin
The Soviet Union proclaimed the capture of Berlin today. "The announcement was made by the Moscow radio which declared that 70,000 Germans were captured in the cleanup of the city. Stalin's order described the capital as the center of German imperialism. He said the German garrison defending Berlin had laid down its arms today and resistance had ceased at 3 p.m.," reported The Sheboygan Press on May 2, 1945. NOTE: The battle for Berlin began on April 16, 1945, and by the time the battle was over, Adolf Hitler had committed suicide.


1939: Lou Gehrig is benched
Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive Major League games came to an end today when he was benched for what he called "the good of the team." On May 3, 1939, the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune explained, "Lou Gehrig, the pressure off at last, sits on the Yankee bench for the first time in nearly 14 years and watches another, younger man play first base for the three-time world champions. It must have been a cruelly hard decision for the old 'Iron Horse' to make, when he told Manager Joe McCarthy he was ready to call it a career after 2,130 consecutive games."