The TIME Magazine Vault

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May 31, 1996: Timothy Leary Dies

"It's a little too easy to dismiss the gaunt and frail-looking 75-year-old suffering from prostate cancer as just another artifact from the psychedelic era," TIME noted at the end of his life. "There was a time, after all, when 'tune in, turn on, drop out' was the mantra of a generation. People have forgotten how influential his International Foundation for Internal Freedom (pronounced If, If) was and how dangerous the government considered him. LEARY IS GOD was almost as popular a button on campus as peyote was in the mid-'60s."

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May 29, 1995

Ancient Secrets

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May 28, 1937: Opening the Golden Gate

It was 82 years ago that the bridge that TIME called "the world's greatest by practically every measurement—length of span, height, difficulty of achievement" opened to the public. The Golden Gate Bridge, still an iconic feat of engineering, had been decades in the making. Predictably, its opening was cause for celebration. "At 6 a. m. when a foghorn snorted, 18.000 people started a mass dash," TIME reported, "each eager to be first across the Golden Gate between San Francisco and the Marin County mainland."

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May 25, 1998

Remembering Frank Sinatra

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Susan Sarandon And Geena Davis In 'Thelma & Louise'

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May 24, 1991: Thelma & Louise

When the fugitive road-trip film was first released, TIME's critic could tell right away that it was destined to appeal to a wider audience than might be supposed. "The '60s gave us Bonnie and Clyde, Butch and Sundance," Richard Schickel wrote. "The '70s gave us The Sugarland Express and Badlands. Maybe one of the troubles with the '80s was that its movies were singularly lacking in truly memorable outlaw couples. Thelma & Louise is a sign that things are looking up in the '90s."

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