Today in history–May 7

1832: After more than 300 years of Ottoman rule, and with military support from Britain, France, and Russia, Greece formally becomes independent.

1847: One of the world’s most successful cartels, the American Medical Association, is founded in Philadelphia.

1868: Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, the brilliant barrister and Lord Chancellor who helped lead to the fight to abolish slavery, dies at age 90 at Nice.

1915: The Cunard Liner Steamship Co.’s RMS Lusitania is torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the coast of Ireland.

1941: Glenn Miller and his Orchestera record Chattanooga Choo-Choo at the Victor Recording Studios in Hollywood.  It is said to be the first million-selling record.

1946: Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita found Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, with about 20 employees.  They later want to change the name, but their first choice, “TTK,” is taken.  So they choose “Sony.”

1947: Looking to promote its new aerosol cheese product, “Cheez Whiz,” Kraft Foods launches Kraft Television Theater, an anthology series that will run for 11 years.

1950: Tim Russert (Cleveland-Marshall Law 1976), who will leave work as an aide to Mario Cuomo and Daniel Patrick Moynihan to join NBC News, is born at Buffalo, New York.

1958: Pianist Van Clibern signs his first recording contract with RCA Victor Records.

1983: One of the great product placement hits of all time rides high on the Country charts: Shelly West’s Jose Cuervo.(You Are a Friend of Mine).

1992: Two hundred and three years after it is introduced, Michigan becomes the final state to ratify the 27th amendment to the U.S Constitution, barring congressional representatives from voting themselves raises.

1996: Pepsico rejects John Leonard’s attempt to buy $700,000 worth of Pepsi Points and redeem them for a Harrier jet.

1998: Germany’s Daimler Benz buys Chrysler Corp. for $40 billion, in what is billed as the largest industrial merger to date.