Today history 55

Here are some historical events that occurred on May 5th (55th day of the year):

1554: Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in favor of her one-year-old son, James VI.

1775: The Continental Army is established by the Second Continental Congress, with George Washington as its commander-in-chief.

1862: The United States passes the Homestead Act, which allows settlers to claim up to 160 acres of public land for free, provided they live on it and farm it for five years.

1915: The first successful blood transfusion using citrated blood is performed by Dr. Oswald Hope Robertson.

1945: The United States drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people immediately.

1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by a CIA-trained group of Cuban exiles ends in failure.

1980: The United States boycotts the Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia, in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

1994: The first commercial flight of the Airbus A320 takes place.

2008: The United States Federal Reserve announces a plan to buy $1.2 trillion in mortgage-backed securities to stimulate the economy.

These are just a few of the many historical events that have occurred on May 5th.