The first recorded reference of the phrase being used to refer to the date was on Thursday May 3, 1979, the day of the 1979 United Kingdom general election, in which Margaret Thatcher was elected as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. To express their support before the votes were counted, her political party, the Conservatives, purchased a half-page advertisement on page 13 of the London Evening News reading "Dear Maggie, May the Fourth Be with You. Your Party Workers."
