On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the last of the original 13 British colonies to ratify the Constitution. It joined the newly re-formed union as the 13th State of the federation. On the same date in 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
Hong Kong’s General Chamber of Commerce was founded on this date in 1861. In other commerce news — or, history — the pharmacist John Pemberton placed his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal on May 29, 1886.
Parisian ballet-goers rioted at the premiere of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on the spring day of May 29 in 1913. The caricature, above, was drawn at the time to portray the event, which is a cultural landmark of the 20th century.
In 1990, the Russian parliament elected Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
May 29th birthdays include
* 1736 – Patrick Henry, American lawyer and politician, first Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)
* 1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, and playwright (d. 1936)
* 1906 – T. H. White, Indian-English writer, author of The Once and Future King (d. 1964)
* 1917 – John F. Kennedy, American lieutenant and politician, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
* 1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher and academic, author of On Bulshit (2005)