Historical Events
- May 1 World's most intense shower (2.47" in 3 minutes) at Portobelo, Panama
- May 2 Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer register their popular song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" for copyright
- May 5 34th Kentucky Derby: Arthur Pickens aboard 66-1 chance Stone Street wins in muddy track conditions; 2:15.20 slowest Derby in history
Great White Fleet
May 5 US Great White Fleet arrives in San Francisco
Getting Married
May 12 George Bernard Shaw's play "Getting Married" premieres in London
- May 12 Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B. Stubblefield
- May 14 1st passenger flight in an airplane
- May 15 Reich Association Law comes into force
- May 21 1st American horror movie silent film "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" premieres in Chicago
- May 23 Dirigible explodes over San Francisco Bay, 16 passengers fall, none killed
- May 23 Part of Great White Fleet arrives in Puget Sound, Washington
- May 24 Belgium Catholic socialist/liberal parliamentary election
- May 24 John Masefields "Tragedy of Nan" premieres in London
- May 26 At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made, rights acquired by the United Kingdom
- May 26 Mr & Mrs Jacob Murdock and their children become 1st family to travel across United States by car: Los Angeles to NYC in a Packard Thirty (32 days, 5 hours and 25 minutes)
- May 27 Maulana Hakeem Noor-ud-Din iss elected the first Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
- May 30 1st federal workmen's compensation law approved
- May 30 42nd Belmont: Joe Notter aboard Colin win
- May 30 Aldrich Vineland Currency Act forerunner to Federal Reserve System
- May 30 Paris advocate E Archdeacon is 1st passenger in a airplane
- May 30 US Assay Office in Salt Lake City, Utah authorized
- May 31 Miss Pottelsberghe de la Pottery is 1st airplane passenger (Belgium)
Famous Birthdays
- May 1 Giovannino Guareschi, Italian writer (Don Camillo, Peppone), born in Roccabianca, Emilia, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1968)
- May 2 William Bakewell, American actor (All Quiet on the Western Front; Gone With The Wind), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1993)
- May 5 Jacques Massu, French general who led Battle of Algiers, born in Châlons-sur-Marne (d. 2002)
- May 5 Kurt Böhme, German bass, born in Dresden, Germany (d. 1989)
- May 6 Necil Kazım Akses, Turkish classical composer, born in Istanbul, Turkey (d. 1999)
- May 7 Leo Sternbach, Polish-American chemist, created first benzodiazepines including valium, born in Abbazia, Austria-Hungary (d. 2005) [1]
- May 7 Wouter Paap, Dutch composer, born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1981)
- May 8 Laura Liddell, English actress (Shakespeare Wallah), born in Barrow-in-Furness, England (d. 1992)
- May 9 Mary Goldsmith, American ceramist (d. 2007)
- May 10 Carl Albert, American politician, US speaker of the House (1971-77), (Rep-D-OK 1947-77), born in McAlester, Oklahoma (d. 2000)
- May 10 Henry Diamond, Irish Nationalist MP, born in Belfast, Ireland (d. 1996)
- May 15 Lars-Erik Larsson, Swedish composer (God in Disguise (Förklädd gud, Op. 24); Linden), and pedagogue (Stockholm Conservatory; Uppsala University), born in Åkarp Sweden (d. 1986)
- May 16 John Holland, American actor (My Fair Lady, Chinatown), born in Fremont, Nebraska (d. 1993)
- May 16 Mohammed Roem, Indonesian politician (as Foreign Minister negotiated Roem–Van Roijen Agreement that led to independence), born in Parakan, Central Java (d. 1983)
- May 17 Sigismund Toduţă, Romanian composer, born in Simeria, Romania (d. 1991)
- May 19 John Griggs, American actor (The Joey Bishop Show; Fearless Fosdick), born in Evanston, Illinois (d. 1967)
- May 19 Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (Olympic gold 100m / 200m 1928), born in Vancouver, British Columbia (d. 1982)
James Stewart (1908-1997)
May 20 American actor (The Philadelphia Story; It's a Wonderful Life; Mr Smith Goes to Washington; Vertigo), born in Indiana, Pennsylvania
- May 22 Horton Smith, American golfer (US Masters 1934, 36), born in Springfield, Missouri (d. 1963)
- May 22 Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker and cinematographer (Tang), born in Bangkok, Thailand (d. 1970)
John Bardeen (1908-1991)
May 23 American physicist, electrical engineer and co-inventor of the transistor (Nobel 1956, 1972), born in Madison, Wisconsin
- May 23 Max Abramovitz, American architect (Lincoln Center, UN Building), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2004)
- May 24 Krešimir Fribec, Croatian composer, born in Daruvar, Croatia (d. 1996)
- May 24 Michael Roberts, English historian ("The Military Revolution: 1560-1660"), born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire (d. 1996)
- May 25 Theodore Roethke, American poet (Words for the Wind), born in Saginaw, Michigan (d. 1963)
- May 26 Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, Prime Minister of South Vietnam, born in Long Xuyên, Annam, French Indochina (d. 1976)
- May 26 Robert Morley, British actor (Marie Antoinette, The Young Ones, How the Other Half Loves), born in Semley, Wiltshire, England (d. 1992)
- May 26 Vera Van [Webster], American radio and dance band singer, born in Marion, Ohio (d. 2006)
- May 27 Alec Brown, English snooker player (Daily Mail Gold Cup 1939, 40; News of the World 1951), born in London (d. 1995)
- May 27 Harold Rome, American composer (Fanny; Pins & Needles), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1993)
- May 27 Melle Oldeboerrigter, Dutch painter and cartoonist, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1976)
- May 28 Ian Fleming, English author (James Bond novels), born in London, England (d. 1964)
- May 29 Dick Metz, American golfer (US Open 1938 runner-up; 10 PGA Tour titles), born in Arkansas City, Kansas (d. 1993)
- May 30 Mel Blanc, American voice actor, comedian best known for his Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd & Porky Pig), born in San Francisco, California (d. 1989)
- May 31 Dominic "Don" Ameche, American actor (Cocoon, Trading Places), born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (d. 1993)
- May 31 Gene Gifford American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and arranger (Jean Goldkette; Casa Loma Orchestra), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 1970)
- May 31 Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (the Seventh Seal, Dum-Bom), born in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden (d. 2000)
Famous Weddings
Louis St. Laurent
May 19 Prime Minister of Canada Louis St. Laurent (26) weds Jeanne Renault
Famous Deaths
- May 12 Melesio Morales, Mexican composer, dies at 69
- May 23 Francois Coppee, French poet, dies at 66
- May 24 Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (British Open 1861-62, 64, 67), dies as result of a fall at 86
- May 26 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indies theologist (Ahmadiyya motion), dies at 69
- May 31 Louis-Honoré Fréchette, Canadian poet, dies at 68
