Today in History, May 3rd
On May 3, 1947, Japan's postwar constitution took effect, renouncing war. Plus the Battle of the Coral Sea and Hernandez v. Texas.
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May 3 is best known for 1947, when Japan’s postwar constitution took effect, turning the emperor into a symbol and renouncing war. The same date saw the Battle of the Coral Sea begin in 1942 and the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Hernandez v. Texas in 1954.
The big story: Japan’s postwar constitution takes effect (1947)
After its defeat in World War II, Japan was governed by the Allied occupation under General Douglas MacArthur. In early 1946, the Japanese government offered a new draft constitution. MacArthur’s headquarters rejected it as too conservative and had his own young staff write a replacement in about a week. Their version reshaped the country. Emperor Hirohito kept his throne but lost all real power, becoming the “symbol of the state.” The peerage was abolished. A bill of rights protected civil liberties, and voting rights became universal; Japanese women cast ballots for the first time in April 1946. Most famously, Article 9 renounced war as a right of the nation. The document replaced the Meiji Constitution of 1889. Parliament promulgated it on November 3, 1946, and it came into force on May 3, 1947.
More events on May 3
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1810 | Lord Byron, 22, swam the Hellespont (the Dardanelles) in Turkey, about four miles, copying the mythical Greek hero Leander. |
| 1942 | Japanese troops occupied Tulagi in the Solomon Islands, opening the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval battle fought entirely by aircraft, with the opposing ships never firing at each other. |
| 1946 | The International Military Tribunal for the Far East opened its trial of 28 Japanese leaders in Tokyo. Former premier Hideki Tojo was among seven later sentenced to death. |
| 1948 | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Paramount and other big Hollywood studios in an antitrust case, forcing them to give up their theater chains and helping end the old studio system. |
| 1952 | A ski-equipped U.S. Air Force C-47 landed at the North Pole, and Lt. Col. Joseph Fletcher became the first person to stand on the pole beyond dispute. |
| 1954 | In Hernandez v. Texas, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment protects Mexican Americans and other ethnic groups, not just Black Americans, from discrimination. |
| 1968 | Student protests at the Sorbonne in Paris led to hundreds of arrests and set off a month of upheaval in France. By late May, millions of workers were on strike. |
| 2007 | Three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished from her family’s vacation apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal. The case drew intense attention around the world. |
Born on May 3
- 1469: Niccolò Machiavelli, Florentine official and political thinker.
- 1898: Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, born in Kiev.
- 1919: Pete Seeger, folk singer and activist, born in New York City.
- 1933: James Brown, singer known as the “Godfather of Soul.”
Sources
- New Japanese constitution goes into effect, History.com
- This Day in History: May 3, History.com
- The Battle of the Coral Sea begins, History.com
- Japanese war crimes trial begins, History.com
- U.S. Supreme Court decides Paramount antitrust case, History.com
- Fletcher lands on the North Pole, History.com
- Supreme Court ruling: Hernandez v. Texas, History.com
- Protests mount in France, History.com
- Golda Meir, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Pete Seeger, Encyclopaedia Britannica
