Discover what happened on May 25 in history, along with notable events that shaped space exploration, entertainment, technology, and social change.
What Happened on May 25 in History?
Important events on this day include President John F. Kennedy’s promise to land a man on the Moon, the release of Star Wars, and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
MAY 25 – TODAY IN HISTORY:
1787 – The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia, PA, with George Washington presiding.
1822 – The first steam powered boat arrived in Detroit, MI. The “Superior” carried 94 passengers from Buffalo, NY.
1844 – The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.
1844 – The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore “Patriot.”
1895 – James P. Lee first published “Golf in America — A Practical Manual.”
1927 – Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.
1927 – The “Movietone News” was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York, NY.
1935 – Babe Ruth, then playing for the Boston Braves, hits the 714th and final home run of his career. A record that would stand for 39 years.
1935 – In Ann Arbor, MI, at a Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championship, Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100-yard dash. He ran it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.
1953 – The first public television station in the U.S. officially began broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
1953 – In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.
1961 – John F. Kennedy promised to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, which did happen.
1965 – Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston just one minute and 42 seconds into their heavyweight championship fight at Lewiston, ME.
1968 – The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.
1969 – The X-rated film “Midnight Cowboy”, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, opened in theaters.
1970 – Boeing Computer Services was founded.
1977 – The movie “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” opened and became the largest grossing film to date.
1978 – The first bomb of a series of bombings orchestrated by the Unabomber detonated at Northwestern University resulting in minor injuries.
1979 – An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, killing all 258 passengers and 13 crew on board and two people on the ground. It is the deadliest aviation accident to have occurred in the United States.
1981 – Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled the Sears Tower, in Chicago, IL. It took him 7 1/2 hours. He was dressed as Spiderman and used suction cups.
1983 – Michael Jackson stole the show with his moonwalk in the NBC television special “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”. Other stars of the broadcast include Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie, The Four Tops, The Temptations and Smokey Robinson reuniting with The Miracles.
1983 – The movie “The Return of the Jedi” opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales, selling $6,219,629 worth of tickets.
1985 – Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people.
1986 – Approximately 7 million people participated in “Hands Across America” to make a human chain across the U.S. to raise money for the hungry and homeless. The event raised over $15 million.
1988 – Debbie Gibson’s song “Foolish Beat” hit #1 on the charts, making her the youngest artist (at age 17) to write, sing and produce a #1 hit.
1992 – Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC’s “Tonight Show”.
1992 – In Manilla, Pepsi announced that “349” was the winning number for a $37,000 grand prize in its “Number Fever” contest. Unfortunately, due to what Pepsi called a computer software glitch, 800,000 people had bottle caps with that winning number. In this public relations nightmare, violence erupted as angry consumers attacked bottling plants and delivery trucks.
1997 – Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history. He served 41 years and 10 months.
2000 – The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a long-term deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner. Time Warner had blacked out Disney programs for a 39 hour period the previous month due to the lack of an agreement.
2001 – Erik Weihenmayer, 32, of Golden, CO, became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2001 – Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2001 – The movie “Pearl Harbor”, starring Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin, premiered in theaters. The film presented a heavily fictionalized version of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
2005 – Carrie Underwood won TV’s “American Idol”.
2006 – In Houston, TX, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.
2007 – The movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” opened in theaters, with Keith Richards as the father of Johnny Depp’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow.
2007 – ABC announced that Rosie O’Donnell had been released from her contract and would not be returning to TV’s “The View”.
2008 – NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains (Green Valley region) of Mars.
2010 – Nicole Scherzinger won “Dancing With the Stars”, beating skater Evan Lysacek and sportscaster Erin Andrews in the finale.
2011 – Oprah Winfrey aired her last show, ending her 25 year run of TV’s “The Oprah Winfrey Show”.
2011 – In Tucson, AZ, Jared Lee Loughner, charged with various federal and state crimes for shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and murdering six others on January 8th, was found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.
2011 – At the age of 16, Scotty McCreery won the tenth season of TV’s “American Idol”, the youngest man ever to do so.
2012 – The SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.
2020 – In Minneapolis, MN, George Floyd was killed after a police officer kneeled on his neck for an extended period of time, setting off worldwide protests.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS ON MAY 25:
Irwin Winkler – 95 years old (1931) – Director and producer
Jessi Colter – 83 years old (1943) – Singer-songwriter and pianist
Leslie Uggams – 83 years old (1943) – Actress and singer
Robert MacPherson – 82 years old (1944) – Mathematician and academic
Frank Oz – 82 years old (1944) – English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor
Karen Valentine – 79 years old (1947) – Actress
Jamaica Kincaid – 77 years old (1949) – Antiguan-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
Bob Gale – 75 years old (1951) – Director, producer, and screenwriter
Jeffrey Bewkes – 74 years old (1952) – Businessman
Nick Fotiu – 74 years old (1952) – Ice hockey player and coach
Al Sarrantonio – 74 years old (1952) – Author and publisher
Gordon H. Smith – 74 years old (1952) – Businessman and politician
Eve Ensler – 73 years old (1953) – Playwright and producer
Stan Sakai – 73 years old (1953) – Japanese-American author and illustrator
Larry Hogan – 70 years old (1956) – Politician, 62nd Governor of Maryland
David P. Sartor – 70 years old (1956) – Composer and conductor
Edward Lee – 69 years old (1957) – Author
Dorothy Straight – 68 years old (1958) – Children's author
Amy Klobuchar – 66 years old (1960) – Lawyer and politician
Mike Myers – 63 years old (1963) – Canadian-American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter
David Shaw – 62 years old (1964) – Canadian-American ice hockey player
Kendall Gill – 58 years old (1968) – Basketball player, boxer, and sportscaster
Stacy London – 57 years old (1969) – Journalist and author
Jamie Kennedy – 56 years old (1970) – Actor, producer, and screenwriter
Octavia Spencer – 56 years old (1970) – Actress and author
Daz Dillinger – 53 years old (1973) – Rapper and producer
Molly Sims – 53 years old (1973) – Model and actress
Frank Klepacki – 52 years old (1974) – Drummer and composer
Miguel Tejada – 52 years old (1974) – Dominican-American baseball player
Ethan Suplee – 50 years old (1976) – Actor
Alberto Del Rio – 49 years old (1977) – Mexican-American mixed martial artist and wrestler
Brian Urlacher – 48 years old (1978) – Football player
Carlos Bocanegra – 47 years old (1979) – Footballer and executive
Chris Young – 47 years old (1979) – Baseball pitcher
Ryan Gallant – 44 years old (1982) – Skateboarder
Jason Kubel – 44 years old (1982) – Baseball player
Stacey Pensgen – 44 years old (1982) – Figure skater and meteorologist
A. J. Foyt IV – 42 years old (1984) – Race car driver
Shawne Merriman – 42 years old (1984) – Football player
Roman Reigns – 41 years old (1985) – Football player and wrestler
Bo Dallas – 36 years old (1990) – Wrestler
Norman Powell – 33 years old (1993) – Basketball player
Aly Raisman – 32 years old (1994) – Gymnast
Brec Bassinger – 27 years old (1999) – Actress
Claire Liu – 26 years old (2000) – Tennis player
Chloé Lukasiak – 25 years old (2001) – Actress and dancer
Cam Ward – 24 years old (2002) – Football player
DAYS OF THE YEAR FOR MAY 25:
- International Plastic Free Day: International Plastic Free Day encourages ditching single-use plastics, protecting wildlife, and inspiring reusable habits for a cleaner, healthier planet.
- International Skin Pigmentation Day: Explore International Skin Pigmentation Day, raising awareness of hyperpigmentation, skin health, and inclusive beauty while encouraging education, care, and self-love.
- Decoration Day: Discover the meaning of Decoration Day, its Civil War origins, traditions of honoring fallen soldiers, and thoughtful ways to remember their sacrifice.
- Prayer for Peace Memorial Day: Honor fallen heroes with quiet reflection, prayer, and acts of kindness. Learn the meaning, traditions, and ways to observe Prayer for Peace Memorial Day.
- Spring Bank Holiday: Discover the meaning of the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK, from its origins to modern traditions, and explore relaxing, family-friendly ways to celebrate.
- Global Africa Day: Discover Global Africa Day, celebrating African unity, culture, and progress with music, food, art, and dialogue that highlight the continent’s future.
- National Missing Children’s Day: National Missing Children’s Day honors missing kids, supports families, and promotes awareness, safety, and community action to help bring children home.
- World Thyroid Day: A small, butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the neck has an oversized job description. The thyroid helps regulate how the body uses energy, how warm it feels, how fast the heart beats, and even how quickly the digestive system moves along. World Thyroid Day spotlights this often-overlooked gland, encourages...
- Celebration Day: Discover Celebration Day, a gentle moment to remember loved ones through shared stories, symbols, and acts of remembrance that turn grief into connection.
- Towel Day: Celebrate Towel Day, the global tribute to Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with towels, fandom events, and interstellar humor.
- National Tap Dance Day: Explore the rhythm, history, and cultural roots of tap on National Tap Dance Day, with classes, performances, and family-friendly ways to join the fun.
- Geek Pride Day: Celebrate Geek Pride Day, honoring passionate fans of sci-fi, gaming, math, and more with events, creative activities, and unapologetic geeky self-expression.
- National Wine Day: If only every day was Wine Day. Gather some friends together and splurge on some fancier wines, or visit a vineyard to try out your local selections.
- National Brown-Bag-It Day: Celebrate National Brown-Bag-It Day by embracing homemade lunches, creativity, thrift, and sustainability, while enjoying healthier, more mindful meals.
- Cheese Rolling Gloucester: Discover Cheese Rolling Gloucester, a daring hill race chasing Double Gloucester cheese, blending historic British tradition, carnival energy, and cheesy fun.
- National Sing Out Day: Celebrate National Sing Out Day by embracing your voice, boosting well-being, and sharing joyful music through karaoke, sing-alongs, and community song.
- Memorial Day: Honor Memorial Day, the U.S. federal holiday that remembers fallen military service members with ceremonies, flags, visits to graves, and quiet reflection.
- National Children’s Gardening Week: Did you know that children who spend time in gardens often grow up to be more environmentally conscious? National Children’s Gardening Week aims to inspire a love for gardening among kids. Held annually in the late spring, this event is a great opportunity to encourage children to explore nature! How to...
- Whit Monday: Celebrated on the day after Pentecost, Whit Monday is a time to remember the Holy Spirit's descent and marks the end of the Easter season.
- Garden Wildlife Week: Garden Wildlife Week, observed in the early summer, is a lively celebration of the natural world found in our gardens. This week encourages people to appreciate and protect the birds, insects, and plants in their backyards. The celebration highlights the vital role these creatures play in keeping our environment healthy! How...
- Be Nice to Nettles Week: Be Nice to Nettles Week is a vibrant annual event that shines a spotlight on the humble nettle plant. Celebrated in mid-May, this period encourages us to appreciate the ecological and health benefits of nettles. How to Celebrate Be Nice to Nettles Week Here are five quirky and playful ways to dive...
- Tracky Dack Day: Tracky Dack Day is a funny name for a serious cause. This annual event, run by TLC for Kids, encourages people to wear their favorite track pants (aka 'tracky dacks'!) to support children in hospitals! The name brings a smile, but the mission is profound. It raises awareness and funds...
- Italian Beef Week: What's better than sinking your teeth into a juicy sandwich piled high with tender beef, topped with sweet peppers?
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