The following events occurred in May 1981:
May 1, 1981 (Friday) The first frequent-flyer program was introduced, with American Airlines launching "AAdvantage." People flying on "AA" were rewarded with credits that could be amassed and used for free travel. Soon, other airlines would follow suit.James C. Samans, Spontaneous Tourism: The Busy Person's Guide to Travel(Spontaneous Tourism Portal, 2007) An 8-year-old boy in Spain became the first victim of toxic oil syndrome, dying from acute respiratory insufficiency after eating food prepared in a cooking oil that contained aniline. Before the source was located, 20,643 cases would be documented and 312 other people would die of aniline poisoning within the first year."Diet and Food Contaminants", by Manuel Posada de la Paz, in Steenland, Topics in Environmental Epidemiology (Oxford University Press US, 1997) p73 U.S. Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey was convicted on felony charges of bribery and conspiracy, and sentenced to 3 years in prison. Senator Williams refused to resign until his conviction was upheld on appeal, and would not quit until March 11, 1982.Kim Long, The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals, and Dirty Politics (Random House, 2007) In response to pressure from the United States, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) enacted a voluntary restraint agreement (VRA), reducing the number of car sales to the U.S. to 1,680,000 units. The VRA would stay in effect until March 1, 1985.Richard B. Finn, U.S.-Japan relations: Learning from Competition (Transaction Publishers, 1986) p46; "Japan To Cut Car Exports 7.7%", Pittsburgh Press, May 1, 1981, p1 Born: Alexander Hleb, Belarusian footballer with 80 caps for the Belarus national football team; in Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
May 2, 1981 (Saturday) Aer Lingus Flight 164 from Dublin to London was hijacked by Laurence James Downey, whose motive was to learn the 3rd of the Three Secrets of Fátima. After dowsing himself with gasoline and threatening to set himself afire, Downey ordered the Boeing 737 to fly to the French city of Le Touquet and held the 113 people on board hostage, demanding publication of his manifesto, and for Pope John Paul II to disclose the third secret. French anti-terrorist police rushed aboard the airliner after 8 hours and took Downey into custody, without the secret being revealed."Agents nab hijacker of Irish jetliner", Milwaukee Journal, May 3, 1981, p3 Downey would live to see the Vatican's release of the secret on June 26, 2000."Vatican Issues Text of Third Secret of Fatima", New York Times, June 27, 2000
May 3, 1981 (Sunday) Symeon of Thessaloniki was proclaimed a saint of the Greek Orthodox Church by unanimous decision of church officials.Sharon E. J. Gerstel, Thresholds of the Sacred: Architectural, Art Historical, Liturgical, and Theological Perspectives on Religious Screens, East and West (Dumbarton Oaks, 2006) pp165-166
May 4, 1981 (Monday) The U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced that it had set aside the 40 MHz range of the radio spectrum for future use by cellular telephone systems, with each market to receive two equal blocks, one of which would be granted to the local telephone service provider, and the other to the highest bidder. The number of available channels for communication had been 44 since 1946, and was increased to 666 by the ruling.James B. Murray, Jr., Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America (Basic Books, 2002) pp24-25 Born: Jacques Rudolph, South African cricketer in 48 test matches and 45 one-day internationals for the South Africa national team; in Springs, Transvaal Province Died: Paul Green, 87, American playwright known for The Lost Colony and In Abraham's Bosom
May 5, 1981 (Tuesday) While in orbit in the Salyut 6 space station, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok saw what he described as an unidentified flying object that resembled a transparent barbell, kept the same speed as the station, and then exploded. Kovalyonok would describe the experience 12 years later in an interview.Don Berliner, UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence (Random House, Inc., 2000) p187 Born: Craig David, English R&B singer with 14 Brit Awards from the British Phonographic Industry; in Southampton, Hampshire Died: Bobby Sands, inmate at the Maze Prison, convicted activist of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and a Member of Parliament, died on the 66th day of his hunger strike, at the age of 27. Sands had gone into a coma and succumbed at 1:17 am local time. British policy toward hunger strikers had been changed in 1974 to prohibit forced feeding or other medical intervention.Formations of Violence: The Narrative of the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland (University of Chicago Press, 1991) p246; "Sands dies; violence erupts", Milwaukee Sentinel, May 5, 1981, p1 Alphonse Indelicato, 50; Dominick Trinchera, 44; and Philip Giaccone, 48, three high ranking bosses in the Bonanno crime family, were shot to death after being invited to a meeting at the 20/20 Nightclub in Brooklyn by Joseph Massino of the Rastelli family. Massino's men then disposed of the bodies.Louis Ferrante, Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman (Penguin, 2011) p76
May 6, 1981 (Wednesday) Citing Libya's support of international terrorism, the United States ordered the closure of the Libyan Embassy building in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Ali Houderi was summoned to the U.S. State Department, and told to withdraw the 27 diplomats and their families within one week. The U.S. Embassy in Libya had closed in 1980. Diplomatic relations were restored in 2004.Brent L. Smith, Terrorism in America: Pipe Bombs and Pipe Dreams (SUNY Press, 1994) p141; "Libyans told to leave US", Milwaukee Sentinel, May 7, 1981, p2 Maurice Papon, the Minister of the Budget of France, was revealed by the newspaper Le Canard enchaîné to have been a collaborationist with the Nazi German occupation forces in Vichy France during World War II. Documents discovered by Le Canard showed Papon's signature on orders deporting French Jews to Germany. Papon would later be tried for and convicted of crimes against humanity."France and Trials for Crimes against Humanity", by Annette Wieviorka, in Sarat, et al., Lives in the Law (University of Michigan Press, 2006) p224-225 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announced that it had accepted the design of 21-year-old architecture student Maya Ying Lin for the memorial in Washington D.C. Lin's proposal was #1026 out of 1,421 reviewed by a panel of judges.Franklin Ng, Asian American Women and Gender (Taylor & Francis, 1999) p63; "Granite 'V' to honor Vietnam War dead", Milwaukee Sentinel, May 7, 1981, p1 A U.S. Air Force C-135 plane, similar to a Boeing 707, exploded at 10:45 while at an altitude of 28,000 feet. All 21 USAF personnel on board were killed, and the wreckage was scattered over an area near Frederick, Maryland."AF Jet Blows Up, 21 Die", Pittsburgh Press, May 6, 1981, p1 Died: Frank Fitzsimmons, 72, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters since 1967, died of lung cancer. Roy Williams succeeded him on May 15."Frank Fitzsimmons of Teamsters Dies", by Philip Shabecoff, The New York Times, May 7, 1981, p.B-14
May 7, 1981 (Thursday) Stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld, of Massapequa, New York, performed for a national audience for the first time, introduced by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. His routine, taped in the evening, aired an hour into that night's show. Seinfeld's national television debut had been in 1980 on three shows of the TV comedy Benson.Jerry Oppenheimer, Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon(HarperCollins, 2002) p181, 189 A school bus accident in Surakarta, Indonesia, killed 31 people, mostly children, when the driver ignored a signal at a railroad crossing.James T. Siegel, Solo in the New Order: Language and Hierarchy in an Indonesian City (Princeton University Press, 1993) p237
May 8, 1981 (Friday) A sinkhole in Winter Park, Florida began forming near South Denning Drive and West Fairbanks Avenue at 8 p.m."Slowly Growing Sinkhole Chomps Streets, Buildings", Daytona Beach (FL) Morning Journal, May 12, 1981, p1 By Saturday, it had "swallowed" the home of 67-year-old beautician Mae Rose Owens, along with six cars at German Car Service, a Porsche dealership, and part of the municipal swimming pool before stabilizing."Sinkhole victims mourn losses", Nashua (NH) Telegraph, May 13, 1981, p52 Maureen Mosie, believed to be the last victim of the "Trans-Canada Highway Killer", was found beaten to death at Kamloops in British Columbia. Beginning on October 19, 1973, and continuing for more than seven years, 28 young women and girls, in British Columbia and Alberta, most of them hitchhikers, were raped and murdered. The crimes remain unsolved."'Highway Killer(s)', Canada (1973-81)", The Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes by Michael Newton (Infobase Publishing, 2009) p161-62; CrimeZZZ.net Died: Uri Zvi Grinberg, 84, Israeli poet and journalist who wrote in Yiddish and in Hebrew"Obituaries: Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet", The New York Times, May 10, 1981, p.32
May 9, 1981 (Saturday) Direct elections were held in Nepal for the first time for the Rashtriya Panchayat.Dharam Vir, Education and Polity in Nepal: An Asian Experiment (Northern Book Centre, 1988) p49 India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi overwhelmingly won a vote of confidence, 275–90, following a ten-hour debate that had started the afternoon before."Gandhi wins confidence vote", Milwaukee Journal, May 9, 1981, p2 Died: Nelson Algren, 72, American novelist known for The Man with the Golden Arm
May 10, 1981 (Sunday)
In the second round of the presidential elections in France, François Mitterrand beat President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, receiving 15,708,262 votes to Giscard's 14,642,306."France", in The International Almanac of Electoral History by Thomas T. Mackie and Richard Rose (Springer, 2016) p137 Mitterrand had been defeated for the presidency in 1965 and in 1974 before winning a seven-year term as the first socialist President of the French Fifth Republic.Philip Thody, The Fifth French Republic: Presidents, Politics and Personalities (Psychology Press, 1998) p97 Joseph Christopher, an American serial killer who killed twelve people was arrested, and charged with the murders of four soldiers earlier in the year. He had been hospitalized on May 6 after a suicide attempt; the "Midtown Slasher", bragged to a nurse about his crimes.Michael Newton, Encyclopedia of Unsolved Crimes (Infobase Publishing, 2009)p61
May 11, 1981 (Monday)
Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Cats was performed for the first time, beginning an 8,949 show run at the New London Theatre, closing on May 11, 2002. The Broadway production would open at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 23, 1982.Elizabeth L. Wollman, The Theater Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical, from Hair to Hedwig (University of Michigan Press, 2006) pp123-124 Born: Lauren Jackson, Australian-born pro basketball player, MVP of the WNBA in 2003, 2007 and 2010, and of Australia's WNBL in 1999, 2000, and 2004; in Albury, New South Wales Daisuke Matsui, Japanese footballer with 32 caps for the Japan national team; in Kyoto Died: Bob Marley, 36, Jamaican reggae singer and musician, died of skin cancer that metastasized to his lungs and his brain."Singer Bob Marley Dies", Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1981, p.I-5
May 12, 1981 (Tuesday)