Today in History, May 16th
On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards were held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. Plus Andrew Johnson's impeachment vote and Tabei on Everest.
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May 16 is best known for 1929, when the first Academy Awards were handed out at a dinner in Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel. The date also saw President Andrew Johnson escape conviction in the Senate’s first vote at his impeachment trial in 1868 and Junko Tabei become the first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1975.
The big story: The first Academy Awards (1929)
The first Oscars were less a TV spectacle than a nice dinner. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an idea of studio boss Louis B. Mayer, had been founded as a nonprofit in May 1927 to boost the film industry. On May 16, 1929, about 250 people gathered in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, with Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the Academy’s first president, as host. There was no suspense, because the winners had been announced ahead of time. Wings, directed by William Wellman, took the top picture award. Emil Jannings was named best actor for two films, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. Janet Gaynor, just 22, won best actress for three performances at once. The statuette had no official nickname yet. The Academy started calling it “Oscar” in 1939, and the sealed-envelope reveal came along in 1942.
More events on May 16
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1717 | French writer Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille. |
| 1763 | Samuel Johnson met his future biographer, James Boswell, in London. |
| 1770 | Marie Antoinette married the French dauphin, the future King Louis XVI. |
| 1866 | Congress created a five-cent coin made of nickel and copper, which became known as the nickel. |
| 1868 | In the first of two key votes at his impeachment trial, the Senate failed to convict President Andrew Johnson. He was ultimately acquitted. |
| 1916 | Britain and France concluded the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, dividing Ottoman Arab lands into spheres of influence. |
| 1943 | Nazi troops crushed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. |
| 1960 | A U.S.-Soviet summit collapsed after Nikita Khrushchev attacked Dwight Eisenhower over the downed U-2 spy plane. |
| 1975 | Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. |
| 1985 | British Antarctic Survey scientists announced the discovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica. |
| 2007 | Nicolas Sarkozy was sworn in as president of France. |
| 2014 | Barbara Walters retired from ABC News and The View. |
Born on May 16
- 1801: William H. Seward, U.S. secretary of state who arranged the purchase of Alaska, born in Florida, New York.
- 1905: Henry Fonda, American actor, born in Grand Island, Nebraska.
- 1955: Olga Korbut, gymnast who won three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics, born in Grodno in what is now Belarus.
- 1966: Janet Jackson, American singer, born in Gary, Indiana.
Sources
- First Academy Awards ceremony, History.com
- This Day in History: May 16, History.com
- On This Day: May 16, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- William H. Seward, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Henry Fonda, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Olga Korbut, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Janet Jackson, Encyclopaedia Britannica
