May 2nd fun facts:

• 1878 - The United States stops minting the 20 cent coin
• 1885 - The legendary women's magazine Good Housekeeping goes on sale for the first time
• 1925 - The former home to the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, Kezar Stadium opens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park
• 1933 - The first sighting of the Loch Ness Monster is reported in Inverness, Scotland

May 2nd entertainment:

• 1932 - Jack Benny's 1st radio show premieres
• 1949 - Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman"
• 1975 - Historic record label Apple Records, founded by the Beatles, closes down
• 1979 - "Quadrophenia", a movie loosely based on the rock opera written by British band, The Who, opens in London, England

May 2nd politics:

• 1865 - Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, under President Andrew's authorization, offers a $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate president, Jefferson Davis
• 1999 - Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected president of Panama
• 2000 - Former President Bill Clinton announces that GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States Military
• 2003 - President George W. Bush announces in a nationally televised address, that major combat operations in Iraq had ended

May 2nd in transportation:

• 1918 - General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware
• 1952 - The world's first commercial jet airliner leaves London, England in route for Johannesburg, South Africa carrying 36 passengers
• 1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II departs on her maiden voyage from England to New York
• 1986 - A World's Fair called The 1986 World Exposition of Transportation and Communication, opens in Vancouver, British Columbia. It showcased hundreds of exhibits from all over the world displaying methods of transportation going all the way back to the time of Ramses II of Egypt

May 2nd birthdays:

• 1729 - Catherine The Great, Empress of Russia
• 1950 - Lou Gramm, lead singer for the band Foreigner
• 1972 - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, American wrestler and actor
• 1975 - David Beckham, English soccer player

May 2nd deaths:

• 1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter
• 1880 - Eberhard Anheuser, German co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch company
• 1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• 2009 - Jack Kemp, American professional football player