Moments in Time: The Maltese Falcon
The History Channel
On May 24, 1883, after 14 years and 27 deaths during construction, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York is opened, the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.
On May 27, 1894, Dashiell Hammett, author of "The Maltese Falcon," is born in Maryland. He worked as a Pinkerton detective for eight years and turned his experiences into fiction. The novel was filmed three times, the last in 1941, starring Humphrey Bogart.
On May 28, 1902, Owen Wister's "The Virginian" is published. It was the first serious Western and one of the most influential in the genre. The book became a sensation and inspired four movies and a Broadway play.
On May 29, 1932, the so-called Bonus Expeditionary Force, a group of 1,000 World War I veterans seeking cash payments for their veterans' bonus certificates, arrives in Washington, D.C. One month later, that number had swelled to nearly 20,000 strong.
On May 26, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt makes a radio appeal for the support of the Red Cross. Belgian and French civilians were "running from their homes to escape bombs and shells and machine gunning, without shelter, and almost wholly without food," FDR told Americans.
On May 23, 1960, a tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Chile travels across the Pacific Ocean and kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii. The massive 9.5 magnitude quake had killed thousands in Chile the previous day. The Pacific Tsunami Warning System, established in 1948, worked properly and warnings were issued to Hawaiians six hours in advance, but some people ignored the warnings and others actually headed to the coast to view the wave.
On May 25, 1977, the communist government of China lifts its decade-old ban on the writings of William Shakespeare. Mao Tse-Tung's 1966 revolution had banned any cultural work that did not have the required ideological content.
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