Today is Sunday, May 27th, the 147th day of 2001. There are 218 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On May 27th, 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, was opened to the public. On this date: In 1647, the first recorded American execution of a "witch" took place in Massachusetts. In 1818, American reformer Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who popularized the garment that bears her name -- "bloomers" -- was born in Homer, New York. In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois. In 1935, the Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act. In 1936, the Cunard liner "Queen Mary" left England on its maiden voyage. In 1941, amid rising world tensions, President Roosevelt proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency." In 1941, the British navy sank the German battleship "Bismarck" off France, with a loss of 2300 lives. In 1964, independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died. In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification on the pact returning Hong Kong to the Chinese in 1997. In 1994, Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn returned to Russia to the emotional cheers of thousands after two decades in exile. Ten years ago: In a commencement speech at Yale University, President Bush announced he would ask Congress to extend most-favored-nation trade benefits to China for another year. Ethiopia ordered its troops to lay down their arms in the face of a rebel advance. Five years ago: Russian President Boris Yeltsin negotiated a cease-fire to the war in Chechnya in his first meeting with the rebels' leader. One year ago: Freight cars loaded with hazardous chemicals crashed and exploded in Eunice, Louisiana, forcing the evacuation of thousands. Today's Birthdays: Novelist Herman Wouk is 86. Actor Christopher Lee is 79. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 78. Actress Lee Meriwether is 66. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 66. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 62. Country singer Don Williams is 62. Actor Bruce Weitz is 58. Singer Cilla Black is 58. Senator Christopher Dodd (Democrat, Connecticut) is 57. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 56. Actor Richard Schiff ("The West Wing") is 46. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 44. Rock musician Eddie Harsch (The Black Crowes) is 44. Rock singer-musician Neil Finn (The Finn Brothers) is 43. Actress Peri Gilpin is 40. Actress Cathy Silvers is 40. Actor Todd Bridges is 36. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 35. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 32. Rock singer-musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 30. Rhythm-and-blues singer Left Eye (TLC) is 30. Rapper Dre (Outkast) is 27. "History is not, of course, a cookbook offering pretested recipes. It teaches by analogy, not by maxims. It can illuminate the consequences of actions in comparable situations, yet each generation must discover for itself what situations are in fact comparable." -- Henry Kissinger. (Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)