At Promontory, Utah --- a golden spike is driven into the ground, completing the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

1933，Months after taking power in Germany, the Nazis stage massive public burnings of books considered to have “un-German” ideas.

1941,During World War Two, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy in Nazi Germany, parachutes into Scotland. Hess claims he's on a peace mission. But he's treated as a prisoner of war and spends the rest of his life behind bars.

1994,Nelson Mandela takes the oath of office to become South Africa's first black president after the end of apartheid. Also that same year: In Illinois, serial killer John Wayne Gacy is executed by lethal injection for murdering 33 young men and boys during the 1970s. And, 1960“I can live, with or without you.” Rock musician Bono, frontman of the group U-2 and an anti-poverty activist, is born in Dublin, Ireland.

Today in History, May 10th, Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.