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Today in history

 
Published May 14, 2016

1796: English physician Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

1804: The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory as well as the Pacific Northwest left camp near present-day Hartford, Ill.

1900: The Olympic games opened in Paris as part of the 1900 World's Fair.

1940: The Netherlands surrendered to invading German forces during World War II.

1948: According to the current-era calendar, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv.

1955: Representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland.

1961: Freedom Riders were attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Ala.

1988: 27 people, mostly teens, were killed when their church bus collided with a pickup truck going the wrong direction on a highway near Carrollton, Ky.

1998: The hit sitcom Seinfeld aired its final episode after nine years on NBC.

Associated Press