May 11th in History: Notable Events and Celebrity Birthdays

Today is May 11, 2026, marking the 131st day of the year with 234 days remaining. On this day in history, Claus Barbie, the infamous Nazi Gestapo chief, stood trial in Lyon for crimes against humanity. The Rural Electrification Administration was established in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives. In 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in France to aid postwar Europe. A devastating tornado hit Waco, Texas, in 1953, claiming 114 lives. Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960. The espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo concluded in 1973. Reggae legend Bob Marley passed away in 1981. A tragic plane crash in 1996 took the lives of all 110 people on board. The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Celebrity birthdays today include rock singer Eric Burdon (85), actor Frances Fisher (74), former MTV VJ Martha Quinn (67), Olympic boxing gold medalist Mark Breland (63), actor Tim Blake Nelson (62), basketball Hall of Famer Lauren Jackson (45), model Blac Chyna (38), former NFL quarterback Cam Newton (37), Latin pop singer Prince Royce (37), actor Lana Condor (29), singer-actor Sabrina Carpenter (27), and race car driver Yuki Tsunoda (26).