Today, May  9

1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail from Acapulco with 2 ships, the San Pedro, and the Santa Catalina, later joined by the San Gabriel at St. Jago de Buena Esperanza, in Colima, to travel up the Gulf of California, explore the Baja California Peninsula and contact and resupply the overland expedition by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado.

1865 – Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest surrenders his forces at Gainesville, Alabama.

1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett fly over the North Pole.

1941 – The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.

1955 – 4 Days after having its sovereignty returned and recognized by France, Britain and the United States, West Germany joins the NATO alliance.

1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle’s Enovid, making Enovid the world’s first approved oral contraceptive.

1974 – The House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

1979 – Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran by the shiite moslem theocratic government, prompting the mass exodus of the Jewish community in Iran.

1980 – The Liberian freighter MV Summit Venture collides with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay, causing a 1,400 foot long section of the southbound span collapse. 6 cars and a Greyhound bus fall 150 ft. into the water killing 35 people in the vehicles.
In Norco, California, 5 masked gunmen hold up a Security Pacific bank, leading to a violent shoot out and one of the largest pursuits in California history. 2 of the gunmen and 1 police officer are killed and 33 police and civilian vehicles are destroyed in the chase.

2002 – A 38 day long stand off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.

2020 – The COVID-19 recession causes the U.S. unemployment rate to hit 14.9 percent, its worst rate since the Great Depression.

2022 – President Joe Biden signs the 2022 Lend-Lease Act into law, a rebooted World War II era policy expediting American equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.