Moments in time

• On May 1, 1926, Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week. In early 1914, Ford had announced it would pay workers a minimum wage of $5 per eight-hour day, upped from a previous rate of $2.34 for nine hours.

• On April 30, 1939, the New York World’s Fair opens in New York City on a 1,200-acre site at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. Among the new technology exhibited was FM radio, robotics, fluorescent lighting and a crude fax machine.

• On May 3, 1946, in Tokyo, the International Military Tribunals begins hearing the case against 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of committing war crimes during World War II. The trial ended with 25 of 28 Japanese defendants being found guilty. Of the three other defendants, two had died during the trial, and one was declared insane.

• On May 5, 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) becomes a sovereign state when the United States, France and Great Britain end their military occupation, which had begun in 1945. With this action, West Germany was given the right to rearm and become a full-fledged member of the western alliance against the Soviet Union.

• On May 2, 1964, an explosion of a charge assumed to have been placed by Viet Cong terrorists sinks the USNS Card at its dock in Saigon. No one was injured and the ship was eventually raised and repaired. The Card had arrived in Saigon two days earlier.

• On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, students protesting the Vietnam War torch the ROTC building on campus, and Ohio Gov. James Rhodes called in the National Guard to restore order. The Guardsmen fired into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11. They were later brought to trial for the shootings, but found not guilty.

• On April 29, 1986, in a game against the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park, Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox becomes the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game. Ten years later, Clemens repeated the feat.

(c) 2013 King Features Synd., Inc.