Today in History: May 19, West Virginia’s Matewan Massacre, Marilyn Monroe sings Happy Birthday to President Kennedy
On May 19, 1920, ten people were killed in a gun battle between coal miners, who were led by a local police chief, and a group of private security guards hired to evict them for joining the United Mine Workers of America in Matewan, West Virginia.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the White House in 1943. The two leaders agreed on May 1, 1944 as the date for the D-Day invasion of France. The actual invasion started on June 6, 1944 due to a variety of factors, including weather conditions.
Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower of London in 1536 after having being convicted of adultery. She was the second wife of England’s King Henry VIII.
Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden in 1962. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was notibly absent. Less than three months later, the iconic sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s would be dead. While ruled a suicide, the cause of her death remains open to debate to this day. See: Coroner Who Performed Marilyn Monroe’s Autopsy Reveals Shocking New Details About Botched Exam.