Today in History: Wednesday, May 14, 2014

AP Highlight in History:  On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed as British rule in Palestine came to an end.   AP Photo
On this date in: 1643 Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 on the death of his father, Louis XIII. 1787 Delegates began gathering in Philadelphia for a convention to draw up the U.S. Constitution. 1796 English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox. 1804 The Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis. 1904 The first Olympic games to be held in the United States opened in St. Louis. 1942 Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" was first performed, by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. 1942 The Women's Auxiliary Army Corps was established. 1955 Representatives from the Soviet Union and seven other Communist bloc countries signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. 1973 The United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. AP Photo/NASA 1998 Singer Frank Sinatra died at age 82. 1998 The TV series "Seinfeld" aired its final episode. 2001 The Supreme Court ruled that there is no exception in federal law for people to use marijuana to ease their pain from cancer, AIDS or other illnesses. 2007 DaimlerChrysler said it was selling almost all of Chrysler to a private equity firm for $7.4 billion, backing out of a troubled 1998 takeover. 2007 The trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened in Miami. (Padilla was later convicted of terrorism conspiracy and sentenced to 17 years in prison.) 2008 The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species because of the loss of Arctic sea ice. 2011 Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund and potential candidate for president of France, was charged with sexually assaulting a Manhattan hotel maid. (He later resigned from the IMF; the charges against him were dropped.)		Video HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today's Birthdays: Director- producer George Lucas ("Star Wars" movies) turns 70 years old today. AP Photo/Evan Agostini Name Profession Age Byron Dorgan Former U.S. senator, D-N.D. 72 Tony Perez Baseball Hall of Famer 72 Jack Bruce Rock musician (Cream) 71 Robert Zemeckis Director 63 David Byrne Rock singer (Talking Heads) 62 Tom Donilon National security adviser 59 Tim Roth Actor 53 Cate Blanchett Actress 45 Sofia Coppola Director ("Lost in Translation") 43 Roy Halladay Baseball player 37 Dan Auerbach Rock musician-singer (The Black Keys) 35 Frank Gore Football player 31 Amber Tamblyn Actress 31 Miranda Cosgrove Actress ("iCarly," "Drake and Josh") 21 Founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg turns 30 years old today. AP Photo/Steven Senne