On May 3, 1469, Italian philosopher and writer Niccolo Machiavelli was born. Machiavelli became one of the fathers of modern political theory, writing “The Prince” in 1532.
On May 3, 1940, David Koch, a billionaire businessman, who ran for Vice-President in 1980 as the Libertarian Party candidate, was born in Wichita, Kansas. Koch continues to fund numerous groups working toward libertarian goals.
On May 3, 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first modern air-naval battle, began. Though Imperial Japan won the battle and went on to occupy all of the Solomon Islands, it was a Pyrrhic victory. Japan lost 70 planes to 66 lost by the U.S., but unlike the U.S., the Japanese could not replace their lost pilots, forcing them to pull back other attack plans in the Pacific.