| May 19th, 1991 | Event | Croatian s vote for independence at their independence referendum. |
| May 19th, 1971 | Event | Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union. |
| May 19th, 1962 | Event | A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe s infamous rendition of Happy Birthday. |
| May 19th, 1961 | Event | Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data). |
| May 19th, 1943 | Event | World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather). |
| May 19th, 1922 | Event | The Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established. |
| May 19th, 1921 | Event | The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration. |
| May 19th, 1919 | Event | Mustafa Kemal Ataturk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what was later termed the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is the official date of commemoration of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Greece and Cyprus. |
| May 19th, 1897 | Event | Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol. |
| May 19th, 1864 | Event | American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends. |
