May 25 in History

Delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia abandoned their original mandate to revise the Articles of Confederation and instead began drafting an entirely new constitution on May 25, 1787. George Washington was unanimously elected president of the convention. The Articles had created a weak central government that could not tax, regulate commerce, or enforce its own laws. James Madison arrived with a detailed blueprint, the Virginia Plan, proposing a bicameral legislature with representation based on population. Smaller states countered with the New Jersey Plan for equal representation. The Great Compromise, proposed by Roger Sherman, created the House of Representatives (proportional) and the Senate (equal). The Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation, embedding slavery into the constitutional structure.

Jesse Owens set three world records and tied a fourth in 45 minutes at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on May 25, 1935. He equaled the 100-yard dash record (9.4 seconds) at 3:15 PM, set a world record in the long jump (26 feet 8.25 inches) at 3:25 PM, set a world record in the 220-yard dash (20.3 seconds) at 3:45 PM, and set a world record in the 220-yard low hurdles (22.6 seconds) at 4:00 PM. The long jump record stood for 25 years. Owens competed with a back injury so severe he could barely bend over. He went on to win four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, embarrassing Hitler's claims of Aryan superiority. Despite his Olympic triumphs, Owens returned to a segregated America where he could not eat in the same restaurants as white athletes.

The United States detonated a 15-kiloton nuclear artillery shell, codenamed "Grable," at the Nevada Test Site on May 25, 1953, as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. The shell was fired from a 280mm M65 atomic cannon (nicknamed "Atomic Annie") and detonated 524 feet above the ground after traveling 7 miles. The test proved that tactical nuclear weapons could be delivered by conventional artillery, a concept that terrified Soviet military planners and accelerated the arms race. The M65 weighed 83 tons and required two tractors to move, making it impractical for battlefield use. Twenty M65 cannons were deployed to Europe and Korea between 1953 and 1963 before being replaced by more portable nuclear delivery systems. The Grable test was the only time a nuclear projectile was fired from a cannon.

Star Wars opened in 32 theaters on May 25, 1977, and grossed $775 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in history at that time. George Lucas had been rejected by every major studio before 20th Century Fox agreed to finance it for $11 million. Lucas negotiated to keep merchandising and sequel rights, which the studio considered worthless. Those rights generated billions. The film's groundbreaking visual effects, created by Lucas's new company Industrial Light & Magic, transformed cinema. John Williams' orchestral score revived the use of symphonic music in film. The merchandising model Lucas created became the dominant revenue stream for Hollywood blockbusters. Fox's stock price tripled. The franchise has since generated over $70 billion in total revenue across films, TV, toys, games, and theme parks.

The Israel Defense Forces completed their withdrawal from southern Lebanon on May 24, 2000, ending a 22-year occupation that began with Operation Litani in 1978 and expanded during the 1982 Lebanon War. Israel had maintained a self-declared "security zone" along the border, staffed by Israeli troops and the South Lebanon Army militia. Hezbollah's increasingly effective guerrilla campaign, including sophisticated ambushes and roadside bombs, raised Israeli casualties to politically unacceptable levels. Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the withdrawal, which was completed six weeks ahead of schedule after the SLA collapsed. Lebanon designated May 25 as "Resistance and Liberation Day." Israel retained control of the Shebaa Farms area, which Hezbollah used as justification for continued armed resistance, contributing to the 2006 Lebanon War.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds on May 25, 2020, while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down on the pavement. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, repeatedly said "I can't breathe" before losing consciousness. Bystander Darnella Frazier, 17, recorded the encounter on her phone. The video went viral within hours. Protests erupted in Minneapolis that night and spread to over 2,000 cities across all 50 states and at least 60 countries, making it the largest protest movement in American history. Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 22.5 years. Minneapolis voted to create a Department of Public Safety. The moment catalyzed a global reckoning with police violence and systemic racism.