On May 14, 2024, notable figures celebrated their birthdays, including filmmaker George Lucas at 80 and actor Cate Blanchett at 55. Key historical events also share this date: In 1643, Louis XIV ascended to the French throne at just four years old after the death of Louis XIII. In 1796, Edward Jenner conducted the first vaccination against smallpox. The Lewis and Clark expedition began on May 14, 1804, to explore the vast Louisiana Territory.
World War II saw the Netherlands capitulate to Nazi Germany on this day in 1940. Meanwhile, the state of Israel was officially declared in 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, immediately receiving recognition from U.S. President Harry Truman. The Warsaw Pact was signed in 1955, binding Soviet-aligned nations during the Cold War until its dissolution in 1991.
May 14 also witnessed various tragedies and pivotal moments: the 1961 attacks on Freedom Riders in Alabama; a deadly collision involving a church bus and a pickup in Kentucky in 1988 that killed 27; and Frank Sinatra's death on May 14, 1998. More recently, in 2003, over 100 immigrants were found locked in a trailer in Texas, with 19 fatalities.
In entertainment, 2013 saw Angelina Jolie disclose her preventive double mastectomy due to cancer risks, emphasizing health awareness. Emmanuel Macron became the French president on this day in 2017, focusing on strengthening the EU and national unity. The realm of conservation saw the U.S. declaring polar bears a threatened species due to habitat loss in 2008.
Recent years have also brought somber news, such as the CDC’s 2020 announcement of a rare inflammatory condition in children connected to the coronavirus and a tragic racially motivated shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2022 that resulted in the deaths of 10 individuals.