May 15 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since their conquest in 1945, revert to Japanese control.

President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.

Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.

At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.

Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel, thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe, is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.

Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).

World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.

First flight of the Gloster E.28/39, the first British and Allied jet aircraft.

USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.

World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.

Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.

A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima.

All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.

In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan, Inukai Tsuyoshi, is assassinated.

A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.

The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.

Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.

The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.

A seventeen-year-old farmworker, Jesse Washington, is lynched in Waco, Texas, USA, after being convicted of rape and murder.

In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.

More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.

Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.

American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.

The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.

The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.

The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.

Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.

Stella Maxwell, New Zealand model

Susan Soonkyu Lee, Korean-American singer and entertainer

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer

Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player

Scott Laird, English footballer

David Adams, American baseball player

Michael Brantley, American baseball player

Brian Dozier, American baseball player

Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player

Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player

Leonardo Mayer, Argentinian tennis player

Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player

Thomas Brown, American football player

Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (born 1940)

Noribumi Suzuki, Japanese director and screenwriter (born 1933)

Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (born 1946)

Carlos Fuentes, Mexican novelist and essayist (born 1928)

Arno Lustiger, German historian and author (born 1924)

Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian soldier and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Egypt (born 1918)

Besian Idrizaj, Austrian footballer (born 1987)

Loris Kessel, Swiss race car driver (born 1950)

Bud Tingwell, Australian actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player and bass player (born 1964)

Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1956)

Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (born 1919)

Will Elder, American illustrator (born 1921)