May 27 is the 147th day (148th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining.
- 1328 - Philip VI is crowned King of France
- 1703 - Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg
- 1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, United States forces capture Fort George[?]
- 1883 - Alexander III becomes Tsar of Russia
- 1895 - Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for "somdomy"
- 1901 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company[?] is founded.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Tsushima - Start of the naval climax of the war.
- 1907 - A Bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California
- 1921 - Afghanistan becomes independent of the United Kingdom
- 1924 - The Music Corporation of America (MCA) is founded
- 1923 - The first 24 hours of Le Mans race ends
- 1927 - Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model As.
- 1933 - New Deal: The Federal Securities Act[?] is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission
- 1933 - Disney releases the cartoon The Three Little Pigs[?], with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
- 1935 - New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional.
- 1936 - The RMS Queen Mary begins her maiden voyage
- 1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County.
- 1940 - World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment[?] unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knochlein[?], is eventually hanged for war crimes.
- 1941 - World War II: President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency."
- 1941 - World War II: German pocket battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing 2,300.
- 1960 - In Turkey, General Cemal Gürsel[?] leads a military coup d'etat removing President Celal Bayar[?] and the rest of the democratic government
- 1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of Viet Cong targest within South Vietnam for the first time
- 1972 - President of the Soviet Union[?] Leonid Brezhnev and President of the United States Richard Nixon sing the SALT I agreements
- 1995 - In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
- 1996 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire in the war.
- 1998 - Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier[?] is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
- 1999 - The International War Crimes Tribunal[?] in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
- 1738 - Nathaniel Gorham, American politican (+1796)
- 1794 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, entrepreneur (+ 1877)
- 1819 - Julia Ward Howe, composer ("The Battle Hymn of the Republic[?]") (+ 1910)
- 1836 - Jay Gould, American financier (+ 1892)
- 1837 - Wild Bill Hickock[?], gunfighter (+ 1876)
- 1871 - Georges Rouault[?], painter and graphic artist (+ 1958)
- 1877 or 1878- Isadora Duncan, free form and interpretative dancer (+ 1927)
- 1879 - Karl Bühler[?], psychologist (+ 1963)
- 1884 - Max Brod, author (+ 1968)
- 1888 - Louis Durey, composer, member of Les Six (+ 1979)
- 1894 - Dashiell Hammett, author of detective novels (+1961)
- 1907 - Rachel Carson, ecologist (+ 1964)
- 1911 - Teddy Kollek[?], mayor of Jerusalem
- 1911 - Vincent Price, actor (+ 1993)
- 1911 - Hubert H. Humphrey, former Vice President of the United States (+1978)
- 1912 - Sam Snead, golf champion (+ 2002)
- 1912 - John Cheever[?], author (+ 1982)
- 1915 - Herman Wouk[?] writer
- 1917 - Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan
- 1921 - Caryl Chessman[?], murderer (+ 1960)
- 1922 - Christopher Lee, actor
- 1923 - Henry Kissinger, American diplomat and recipient of the Nobel Prize in peace 1973
- 1923 - Sumner Redstone, entrepreneur
- 1925 - Tony Hillerman[?], mystery writer
- 1934 - Harlan Ellison, science fiction author
- 1936 - Louis Gossett Jr.[?], actor
- 1937 - Allan Carr[?], producer, writer (+ 1999)
- 1943 - Cilla Black, singer
- 1945 - Bruce Cockburn, musician
- 1957 - Siouxsie Sioux[?], musician ("Siouxsie and the Banshees ")
- 1958 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
- 1958 - Wayne Williams, Atlanta, Georgia child murderer
- 1970 - Joseph Fiennes, actor
- 1971 - Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, singer (+ 2002)
- 1975 - Jamie Oliver, chef (the "Naked Chef[?]")
- 927 - Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria[?]
- 1564 - John Calvin, religious reformer
- 1661 - Archibald Campbell[?], Marquess of Argyll, Scottish Covenanter
- 1707 - Marquise de Montespan[?], mistress of the French King Louis XIV
- 1831 - Jedediah Smith, explorer
- 1840 - Niccolò Paganini, violinist, composer
- 1910 - Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch, German bacteriologist
- 1942 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official
- 1960 - James Montgomery Flagg, illustrator
- 1964 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian politician
- 2000 - Maurice Richard, ice hockey player
- 2003 - Luciano Berio, composer
See Also:
May 26 -- May 28 -- April 27 -- June 27 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December