Years Ago

Today is Saturday, May 14, the 134th day of 2011. There are 231 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1643: Louis XIV becomes King of France at age four upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

1796: English physician Edward Jenner inoculates 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

1811: Paraguay achieves independence from Spain with the bloodless overthrow of the country’s royal governor.

1860: The first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in Washington.

1900: The Olympic games open in Paris, held as part of the 1900 World’s Fair.

1940: The Netherlands surrender to invading German forces during World War II.

1948: According to the current-era calendar, the independent state of Israel is proclaimed in Tel Aviv.

1961: Freedom Riders are attacked by violent mobs in Anniston and Birmingham, Ala.

1973: The United States launches Skylab 1, its first manned space station.

1998: Singer-actor Frank Sinatra dies at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82.

The hit sitcom “Seinfeld” airs its final episode after nine years on NBC.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Despite demands of more than 100 residents at a meeting of Austintown Township trustees, the trustees say the township parks will remain closed until liability insurance can be obtained.

Youngstown’s Catholic community is stunned by the apparent suicide of the Rev. Joseph Iati, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Youngstown.

New York City artist Joy Rosenblum Jacobs, a Youngstown native, is returning to her hometown to judge the YWCA’s fifth annual “Women Artists: a Celebration” exhibition, which is a part of the Walk on Wick.

1971: Burglars break into South High School and steal six typewriters valued at $1,500.

Atty. Donald J. Libert of Poland is named general counsel and secretary of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.

A proposed ordinance that would have given Youngstown police and three other departments 4 percent pay raises is sidetracked into council’s Finance Committee over the objections of Mayor Jack C. Hunter who wanted the raises to go into effect immediately.

The U.S. Senate announces that it has agreed to the appointment of three girls as pages, breaking a 182-year Senate tradition for an all-male page corps.

1961: Five men and a woman are the Youngstown district’s newest lawyers after passing the Ohio bar examination: Richard T. Tracy, Joseph W. Maxin, Dale E. Bricker, John R. Neff, Milan Tatalovich and Louise O. Petransky.

The Youngstown Foundation announces aid for a wide variety of organizations, awarding grants totaling $105,950.

The New York Herald Tribune reports that 100 of America’s best trained jungle fighters are being assigned to Vietnam on the orders of President John F. Kennedy.

1936: The Pennsylvania Railroad will bring its newest streamlined coal-burning locomotive to Youngstown for display in the Pennsylvania yards beneath the Market Street Bridge.

Robert A. McClain, known to four U.S. presidents as “Bob” and a colorful figure in Youngstown civic and political life, dies of a heart attack at his home at 646 Bryson St. He was 71.

John Curtiss Lynch, son of Mrs. Jessie Lynch of 2220 Coronado Ave., is made a member of Eta Kappa Nu, electrical engineering honorary fraternity at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. Herbert Beecher Hudnut of Pittsburgh, formerly of Youngstown, will be the speaker at graduation ceremonies at Stambaugh Auditorium for 38 new nurses, graduates of the Youngstown Hospital School of Nursing.