A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on May 2nd. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On May 2, 1945, an American Artillery Battalion intercepted a death march of concentration camp inmates being taken from the Dachau concentration camp to the Austrian border, in turn saving the lives of hundreds of the starving inmates.
On May 2, 1918, General Motors Corporation acquired the Delaware based Chevrolet Motor Company, its last major car company acquisition for decades.
On May 2, 1863, the Confederate States of America lost their best or second best general, because they shot him!
On May 2, 1964, before even the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that heralded major US involvement in the Vietnam War, a Viet Cong or North Vietnamese frogman placed an explosive charge against the hull of the USS Card (USNS Card at the time of sinking), blowing a hole in the ship and sinking 48 feet as she lay berthed at the dock at Saigon.
On May 2, 1982, Britain’s nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror fired torpedoes at the Argentine Navy’s World War II era cruiser, ARA General Belgrano, rapidly sinking the big ship and killing 323 of her crew of 1,095.
On May 2, 2011, American military Special Forces carried out a surprise raid on the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound where Al Qaeda leader and mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden, had been hiding.
On May 2, 2012, one of the 4 versions of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream (Skrik in Norwegian) sold at auction in New York for an American record $120 million.
On May 2, 2015, to much jubilation and fanfare, the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby girl at 8:34 a.m. following a seemingly short labor as “Kate” had only been admitted to the hospital about 2 and 1/2 hours before.
On May 2, 2016, we asked, “Is Ted Cruz the most reviled candidate in history?”
On May 2, 2020, we looked back to 2008, when a British man was convicted of the horrendous crime of incest with his 2 daughters, sexual unions (rapes actually) that resulted in the birth of 7 children!
Question for students (and subscribers): Which event that occurred on today’s date would you like to learn more about? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.