Todayis Friday, May 10, the 130th day of 2002. There are 235 days left in the year.

On this date

<*In 1774, Louis XVI ascended the throne of France.

In 1899, movie musical star Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Neb.

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was given the job of FBI director.

In 1933, the Nazis staged massive public book burnings in Germany.

In 1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.

In 1968, preliminary Vietnam peace talks began in Paris.

In 1977, actress Joan Crawford died in New York.

In 1994, the state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.

Thought for Today

<*“Creative minds always have been known to survive any kind of bad training.” — Anna Freud, Austrian-born psychoanalyst (1895-1982).