May 1 Birthday
On May 1, 1707, the Acts of Union took effect, joining the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into a single political entity called Great Britain. The union was driven by economics — Scotland was bankrupt after the Darien disaster — and by security — both kingdoms feared a Jacobite restoration with French backing. The Scottish Parliament voted itself out of existence in exchange for financial compensation and free trade with England's colonies. The union has been contested for 316 years. A referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 voted to remain, but Brexit, which Scotland voted against, revived the independence movement. The Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, when President Hoover pressed a button in Washington that turned on the building's lights. It was the tallest building in the world — 1,250 feet, 102 stories — and was completed in 410 days, ahead of schedule and under budget. The Great Depression had begun, and the building sat half-empty for years — critics called it the "Empty State Building." It did not become profitable until 1950. The building was designed by William Lamb, who modeled the setbacks on a pencil. The observation deck on the 86th floor has been visited by 110 million people. On May 1, 2011, a team of twenty-three Navy SEALs from DEVGRU (commonly called SEAL Team Six) flew by helicopter from Afghanistan to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden. The operation lasted forty minutes. Bin Laden was shot twice in the head and once in the chest. His body was identified and buried at sea within twenty-four hours. Pakistan was not informed in advance — the US feared that someone in Pakistan's intelligence service would warn bin Laden. The compound was 800 yards from Pakistan's military academy, which is roughly the distance from the Pentagon to the White House. Bin Laden had lived there for five years. Joseph Heller, born this day in 1923, flew sixty bombing missions in World War II. Catch-22 (1961) described the experience with a circular logic that gave the phrase its name: a pilot could be grounded if he was insane, but if he asked to be grounded, that proved he was sane, so he had to fly. Heller took ten years to write the book. He sold the film rights for $100,000 and was told the film would be a comedy. It was not. People born on May 1 fall under the zodiac sign of Taurus. The birthstone is Emerald and the birth flower is Lily of the Valley. Historical events on May 1 include 1707: Act of Union joins England and Scotland into Great Britain, 1931: Empire State Building officially opens in New York, 2011: US Navy SEALs kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Famous people born on May 1 include Joseph Heller (1923), Tim McGraw (1967), Wes Anderson (1969).