May 30 in history — What Happened Today in History

Cold War: Spain joins NATO.

Downeast Airlines Flight 46 crashes on approach to Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, Maine, killing 17.

The European Space Agency is established.

The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.

The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.

In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.

Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, West Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of the May 1968 events in France.

The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.

Former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.

A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem.

The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Viasa Flight 897 crashes after takeoff from Lisbon Airport, killing 61.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.

Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

The Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Auschwitz concentration camp.

World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.

World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag.

Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.

May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.

The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.

The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War between the Balkan allies and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans cede all their European territories west of a straight line between Enos and Media and Albania becomes an independent nation.

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.

Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.

In New York City, 12 people are killed in a stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge.

Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.

Jeremy Lamb, American basketball player

Jonathan Fox, English swimmer

Im Yoon-ah, South Korean singer and actress

Andrei Loktionov, Russian ice hockey player

Zack Wheeler, American baseball player

Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter

Lesia Tsurenko, Ukrainian tennis player

Nikolay Bodurov, Bulgarian international footballer

Will Peltz, American actor

Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (died 2013)

Igor Lewczuk, Polish footballer

Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player

Sham Kwok Fai, Hong Kong footballer

Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (born 1969)

Joël Champetier, Canadian author and screenwriter (born 1957)

L. Tom Perry, American religious leader and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1922)

Hienadz Buraukin, Belarusian poet, journalist, and diplomat (born 1936)

Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1927)

Joan Lorring, British actress (born 1926)

Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral (born 1932)

Jayalath Jayawardena, Sri Lankan physician and politician (born 1953)

Larry Jones, American football player and coach (born 1933)

John Fox, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (born 1957)

Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Gerhard Pohl, German economist and politician (born 1937)

Jack Twyman, American basketball player and sportscaster (born 1934)