Today is Wednesday, May 7, the 128th day of 2008. There are 238 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On May 7, 1915, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast.

On this date

In 1789, the first inaugural ball was held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. Washington.

In 1812, poet Robert Browning was born in London.

In 1833, composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany.

In 1840, composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, Russia.

In 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France.

In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.

In 1960, Leonid Brezhnev replaced Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

In 1975, President Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnam era.” In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.

In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories. (On this date in 2002, Seattle Slew died.)

In 1984, a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they’d suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.

Ten years ago

The parent company of Mercedes-Benz agreed to buy Chrysler Corporation for more than $37 billion. Londoners voted overwhelmingly to elect their own mayor for the first time in history. (In May 2000, Ken Livingstone was elected.)

Five years ago

President Bush ordered U.S. sanctions against Iraq lifted, allowing U.S. humanitarian aid and remittances to flow into Iraq. The White House announced President Bush had chosen New Mexico oilman Colin McMillan to be secretary of the Navy and Air Force Secretary James Roche to replace the dismissed secretary of the Army, Thomas White. (However, McMillan died of an apparent suicide in July 2003, while Roche’s nomination languished in Congress before being withdrawn in March 2004.)

One year ago

President Bush welcomed Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to the White House, where he brought roars of laughter when he mistakenly started to say that the queen had helped the U.S. celebrate its bicentennial in “1776,” then quickly corrected himself to say “1976.” Six Muslims from the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East were arrested and accused of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J. Yahweh Ben Yahweh, a former cult leader in Miami linked to nearly two dozen gruesome killings in the 1980s, died at age 71.

Today’s Birthdays

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., is 76. Singer Jimmy Ruffin is 69. Singer Johnny Maestro is 69. Actress Robin Strasser is 63. Singer-songwriter Bill Danoff is 62. Rhythm-and-blues singer Thelma Houston is 62. Rock musician Bill Kreutzmann (The Dead) is 62. Rock musician Prairie Prince is 58. NBC newsman Tim Russert is 58. Actor Robert Hegyes is 57. Movie writer-director Amy Heckerling is 54. Actor Michael E. Knight is 49. Rock musician Phil Campbell (Motorhead) is 47. Country musician Rick Schell is 45. Rock singer-musician Chris O’Connor (Primitive Radio Gods) is 43. Actress Traci Lords is 39. Singer Eagle-Eye Cherry is 37. Actor Breckin Meyer is 34. Rock musician Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) is 22. Actor Taylor Abrahamse is 17.

Thought for Today

“Men tire themselves in pursuit of rest.” — Laurence Sterne, English author (1713-68)