On This Day for May 4 - Four students shot at Kent State, Audrey Hepburn is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. May 04 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Audrey Hepburn READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1970 Four students shot at Kent State READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 2000: British politician Ken Livingstone was elected mayor of London, the first time that British voters had directly elected a candidate to an executive office at any level of government. [ Take a video tour of London.] 1996: José María Aznar of the conservative Popular Party became prime minister of Spain; during his term, which lasted until 2004, he oversaw an improving economy while facing growing terrorism by ETA and Islamic extremists. 1961: The first Freedom Ride—a political protest against the segregation of interstate bus travel in the South —began as a group of white and black Americans departed Washington, D.C., on buses bound for New Orleans. [Read a timeline of the American civil rights movement.] 1863: The Battle of Chancellorsville in the American Civil War, a bloody assault by the Union army in Virginia that failed to disperse the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, continued. [ How much do you know about the American Civil War?] 1770: François Gérard, a French Neoclassical painter best known for his portraits of celebrated European personalities, particularly the leading figures of the French First Empire and Restoration periods, was born in Rome. [ Take our artists and painters quiz.] 1942: During World War II, U.S. air and naval fleets turned back a Japanese invasion force heading for the strategic Port Moresby, New Guinea, in the Battle of the Coral Sea. [ Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1929 Audrey Hepburn Belgian-born British actress 1928 Hosni Mubarak president of Egypt 1958 Keith Haring American artist 1989 Rory McIlroy Northern Irish golfer 1796 Horace Mann American educator 1654 Kangxi emperor of Qing dynasty SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2020 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help