16 May History
- 1770 - Marie Antoinette marries future King Louis XVI of France.
- 1863 - At the Battle of Champion's Hill, Union General Ulysess S. Grant repulses the Confederates, driving them into Vicksburg.
- 1868 - President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during Senate impeachment, by one vote, cast by Edmund G. Ross.
- 1879 - The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England sets up the Afghan state.
- 1920 - Joan of Arc is canonized in Rome.
- 1928 - The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood.
- 1943 - A specially trained and equipped Royal Air Force squadron destroys two river dams in Germany.
- 1951 - Chinese Communist Forces launch second step, fifth-phase offensive and gain up to 20 miles of territory.
- 1960 - A Big Four summit in Paris collapses because of the American U-2 spy plane affair.
- 1963 - After 22 Earth orbits, Gordon Cooper returns to Earth, ending the last mission of Project Mercury.
16 May Birthdays
- 1801 - William Henry Seward, U.S. Secretary of State (1861-1869).
- 1804 - Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, founder of the first U.S. kindergarten.
- 1824 - Edmund Kirby-Smith, Confederate general during the American Civil War.
- 1850 - Johannes von Mikulica-Radecki, Polish surgical pioneer.
- 1886 - Douglas Southall Freeman, journalist, historian, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer.
- 1905 - Henry Fonda, American actor (Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond).
- 1912 - Studs Terkel, author and historian.
- 1913 - Woody Herman, jazz bandleader.
- 1929 - Betty Carter, jazz singer.
- 1929 - Adrienne Rich, poet (Diving into the Wreck).
- 1955 - Olga Korbut, Olympic gymnast.