This Day in History

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Mar 29, 1973: U.S. withdraws from Vietnam </h2>Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America's direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end. In Saigon, some 7,000 U.S. Department of Defense civilian employees remained behind to aid South Vietnam in conducting what looked to be a fierce and ongoing war with communist North Vietnam.  Mar 29, 2009: White House ousts GM chief </h2>On March 29, 2009, Rick Wagoner, the chairman and chief executive of troubled auto giant General Motors (GM), resigns at the request of the Obama administration. During Wagoner's more than 8 years in the top job at GM, the company lost billions of dollars and in 2008 was surpassed by Japan-based Toyota as the world's top-selling maker of cars and trucks, a title the American automaker had held since the early 1930s.  Mar 29, 1951: Rosenbergs convicted of espionage </h2>In one of the most sensational trials in American history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II. The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953.  Mar 29, 1982: Earthquake and volcano do double damage in Mexico </h2>The combination of an earthquake and a volcanic eruption at El Chichon in southern Mexico converts a hill into a crater, kills thousands of people and destroys acres of farmland on this day in 1982. The eruptions, which continued for over a week, caught many of the area residents unaware and unprepared.  Mar 29, 1974: Mariner 10 visits Mercury </h2>The unmanned U.S. space probe Mariner 10, launched by NASA in November 1973, becomes the first spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury, sending back close-up images of a celestial body usually obscured because of its proximity to the sun.  Mar 29, 2006: Tom Jones is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II </h2>Tom Jones can apparently count among his many fans one Elizabeth Windsor of London, Englandknown professionally as Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen. A 38-year-old mother of four when the alluring Mr. Jones made his first great splash in March 1965, Her Majesty bestowed upon him four decades later one of the highest honors to which a British subject can aspire. On March 29, 2006, Queen Elizabeth II made the Welsh sensation Tom Jonesnow Sir Tom Jonesa Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.  Mar 29, 1929: Herbert Hoover has telephone installed in Oval Office </h2>On this day in 1929, President Herbert Hoover has a phone installed at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House. It took a while to get the line to Hoover's desk working correctly and the president complained to aides when his son was unable to get through on the Oval Office phone from an outside line. Previously, Hoover had used a phone located in the foyer just outside the office. Telephones and a telephone switchboard had been in use at the White House since 1878, when President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first one installed, but no phone had ever been installed at the president's desk until Hoover's administration.  Mar 29, 1982: Tar Heels win NCAA basketball championship </h2>On March 29, 1982, the University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels win the NCAA mens basketball championship with a 63-62 defeat of the Georgetown University Hoyas. It was the first title for Carolina coach Dean Smith, who would retire in 1997 as the most successful coach in NCAA Division I mens basketball history with 879 career wins. (Bobby Knight broke the record in 2006.)  Mar 29, 1973: Last U.S. troops depart South Vietnam </h2>Under the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords signed on January 27, 1973, the last U.S. troops depart South Vietnam, ending nearly 10 years of U.S. military presence in that country. The U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam headquarters was disestablished. Only a Defense Attache Office and a few Marine guards at the Saigon American Embassy remained, although roughly 8,500 U.S. civilians stayed on as technical advisers to the South Vietnamese.  history.com

 

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  Mar 30, 1981: President Reagan shot </h2>On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by a deranged drifter named John Hinckley Jr.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 2009: President Obama announces auto industry shakeup </h2> On this day in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama issues an ultimatum to struggling American automakers General Motors (GM) and Chrysler: In order to receive additional bailout loans from the government, he says, the companies need to make dramatic changes in the way they run their businesses. The president also announced a set of initiatives intended to assist the struggling U.S. auto industry and boost consumer confidence, including government backing of GM and Chrysler warranties, even if both automakers went out of business. In December 2008, GM (the world's largest automaker from the early 1930s to 2008) and Chrysler (then America's third-biggest car company) accepted $17.4 billion in federal aid in order to stay afloat. At that time, the two companies had been hit hard by the global economic crisis and slumping auto sales; however, critics charged that their problems had begun several decades earlier and included failures to innovate in the face of foreign competition and issues with labor unions, among other factors.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1980: Oil workers drown in North Sea </h2>A floating apartment for oil workers in the North Sea collapses, killing 123 people, on this day in 1980.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1855: Violence disrupts first Kansas election </h2>In territorial Kansas' first election, some 5,000 so-called Border Ruffians invade the territory from western Missouri and force the election of a pro-slavery legislature. Although the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in the territory, Kansas Governor Andrew Reeder reluctantly approved the election to prevent further bloodshed.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1870: 15th Amendment adopted </h2>Following its ratification by the requisite three-fourths of the states, the 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment reads, the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. One day after it was adopted, Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the authority of the 15th Amendment.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1820: Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty, is born </h2>Anna Sewell is born in Norfolk, England. The daughter of a successful children's book writer, she helped edit her mother's manuscripts from an early age but was not published herself until she was 57. Black Beauty, the first significant children's story in the English language to focus on animal characters, established the precedent for countless other works.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1974: John Denver has his first #1 hit with Sunshine On My Shoulders </h2>Of his many enormous hits in the 1970s, none captured the essence of John Denver better than his first #1 song, Sunshine On My Shoulders, which reached the top of the pop charts on this day in 1974.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1965: Bill Bradley scores 58 points for Princeton </h2>On this day in 1965, Princeton forward Bill Bradley sets an NCAA men's basketball record with 58 points in a game against Wichita State. Bradley was the dominant player in college basketball that year and won the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.  <em class="date">Mar 30, 1965: Bomb explodes outside U.S. Embassy in Saigon </h2>A bomb explodes in a car parked in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, virtually destroying the building and killing 19 Vietnamese, 2 Americans, and 1 Filipino; 183 others were injured. Congress quickly appropriated $1 million to reconstruct the embassy. Although some U.S. military leaders advocated special retaliatory raids on North Vietnam, President Lyndon B. Johnson refused.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Mar 31, 1889: Eiffel Tower opens </h2>On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard, a handful of other dignitaries, and 200 construction workers.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1931: Knute Rockne, Studebaker namesake, dies </h2>On this day in 1931, Knute Rockne, the legendary Notre Dame football coach and namesake of the Studebaker Rockne line of autos, is killed in a plane crash near Bazaar, Kansas, at the age of 43.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1973: Mississippi River reaches peak flood level </h2>The Mississippi River reaches its peak level in St. Louis during a record 77-day flood. During the extended flood, 33 people died and more than $1 billion in damages were incurred.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1492: Jews to be expelled from Spain </h2>In Spain, a royal edict is issued by the nation's Catholic rulers declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled from the country. Most Spanish Jews chose exile rather than the renunciation of their religion and culture, and the Spanish economy suffered with the loss of an important portion of its workforce. Many Spanish Jews went to North Africa, the Netherlands, and the Americas, where their skills, capital, and commercial connections were put to good use. Among those who chose conversion, some risked their lives by secretly practicing Judaism, while many sincere converts were nonetheless persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Muslims, or Moors, were ordered to convert to Christianity in 1502.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1836: First installment of The Pickwick Papers, Dickens' first novel </h2>The first monthly installment of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by 24-year-old writer Charles Dickens, is published under the pseudonym Boz. The short sketches were originally commissioned as captions for humorous drawings by caricaturist Robert Seymour, but Dickens' whimsical stories about the kindly Samuel Pickwick and his fellow club members soon became popular in their own right. Only 400 copies were printed of the first installment, but by the 15th episode, 40,000 copies were printed. When the stories were published in book form in 1837, Dickens quickly became the most popular author of the day.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1943: Oklahoma! premieres on Broadway </h2>The financial risk of mounting a Broadway musical is so great that few productions ever make it to the Great White Way without a period of tryouts and revisions outside of New York City. This was as true in the 1940s as it is today, and especially so during the war years, when the producers of an innovative little musical called Away We Go had real concerns about their show's commercial viability. Even with lyrics and music by two of theater's leading lights, Away We Go was believed by many to be a flop in the making. Indeed, an assistant to the famous gossip columnist Walter Winchell captured the prevailing wisdom in a telegram sent from New Haven, Connecticut, during the show's out-of-town tryout. His message read: No girls. No legs. No chance. This would prove to be one of the most off-base predictions in theater history when the slightly retooled show opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943 under a new titleOklahoma!and went on to set a Broadway record of 2,212 performances before finally closing more than 15 years later.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1975: Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden wins 10th national title </h2>On this day in 1975, the University of Southern California (UCLA) Bruins basketball team wins its 10th NCAA championship title under coach John Wooden. Following the game, in which UCLA defeated the University of Kentucky, Wooden, considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball, announced his retirement. In 27 seasons coaching the Bruins, he transformed UCLA into a basketball powerhouse and compiled a record of 620-147.      <em class="date">Mar 31, 1995: Longest strike in Major League Baseball history ends </h2>Major League Baseball players are sent back to work after the longest strike in baseball history ends on this day in 1995. Because of the strike, the 1994 World Series was cancelled; it was the first time baseball did not crown a champion in 89 years.  <em class="date">Mar 31, 1965: Johnson publicly denies actions contemplated in Vietnam </h2>Responding to questions from reporters about the situation in Vietnam, President Johnson says, I know of no far-reaching strategy that is being suggested or promulgated. Early in the month, Johnson had sent 3,500 Marines to Da Nang to secure the U.S. airbase there. These troops were ostensibly there only for defensive purposes, but Johnson, despite his protestations to the contrary, was already considering giving the authorization for the U.S. troops to go from defensive to offensive tactics. This was a sensitive area, since such an authorization could (and did) lead to escalation in the war and a subsequent increase in the American commitment to it.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 1, 1700: April Fools tradition popularized </h2>On this day in 1700, English pranksters begin popularizing the annual tradition of April Fools' Day by playing practical jokes on each other.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1993: The Polish Prince killed in plane crash </h2>On this day in 1993, race car driver and owner Alan Kulwicki, who won the 1992 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Winston Cup championship by one of the tightest margins in series history, is killed in a plane crash near Bristol, Tennessee, where he was scheduled to compete in a race the following day. The 38-year-old Kulwicki had been the first owner-driver to collect the championship since Richard Petty did so in 1979, as well as the first NASCAR champ to hold a college degree.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1946: Alaskan earthquake triggers massive tsunami </h2>On this day in 1946, an undersea earthquake off the Alaskan coast triggers a massive tsunami that kills 159 people in Hawaii.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1816: Jane Austen declines royal writing advice </h2>Jane Austen responds to a letter from the Prince Regent suggesting she write a historic romance, saying, I could not sit down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1984: Marvin Gaye is shot and killed by his own father </h2>At the peak of his career, Marvin Gaye was the Prince of Motownthe soulful voice behind hits as wide-ranging as How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) and Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology). Like his label-mate Stevie Wonder, Gaye both epitomized and outgrew the crowd-pleasing sound that made Motown famous. Over the course of his roughly 25-year recording career, he moved successfully from upbeat pop to message music to satin-sheet soul, combining elements of Smokey Robinson, Bob Dylan and Barry White into one complicated and sometimes contradictory package. But as the critic Michael Eric Dyson put it, the man who chased away the demons of millions...with his heavenly sound and divine art was chased by demons of his own throughout his life. That life came to a tragic end on this day 1984, when Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his own father one day short of his 45th birthday.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1877: Discoverer of Tombstone begins prospecting </h2>Ignoring the taunts of fellow miners who say he will only find his own tombstone, prospector Edward Schieffelin begins his search for silver in the area of present-day southern Arizona. Later that year, Schieffelin was not only alive and well, but he had found one of the richest silver veins in the West. He named it the Tombstone Lode.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1970: Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette ads on TV and radio </h2>On this day in 1970, President Richard Nixon signs legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. Nixon, who was an avid pipe smoker, indulging in as many as eight bowls a day, supported the legislation at the increasing insistence of public health advocates.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1985: Villanova beats Georgetown for NCAA basketball championship </h2>On this day in 1985, in one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history, the Villanova Wildcats beat the Georgetown Hoyas, 66-64, to win the NCAA Mens Division I tournament. The victory was Villanovas first-ever national championship.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1918: British Royal Air Force is founded </h2>On April 1, 1918, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) is formed as an amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). The RAF took its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military service with its own ministry.  <em class="date">Apr 1, 1945: U.S. troops land on Okinawa </h2>On this day in 1945, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops of the 10th Army, under the command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on the southwest coast of the Japanese island of Okinawa, 350 miles south of Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.  history.com

 

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Apr 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II Dies </h2>On this day in 2005, John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican. Six days later, two million people packed Vatican City for his funeral, said to be the biggest funeral in history.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1875: Walter Chrysler born </h2> Walter Percy Chrysler, the founder of the Chrysler Corporation, which for years was one of Americas Big Three automakers along with General Motors (GM) and Ford, is born on April 2, 1875, in Wamego, Kansas.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1992: Mob boss John Gotti convicted of murder </h2>A jury in New York finds mobster John Gotti, nicknamed the Teflon Don for his ability to elude conviction, guilty on 13 counts, including murder and racketeering. In the wake of the conviction, the assistant director of the FBIs New York office, James Fox, was quoted as saying, The don is covered in Velcro, and every charge stuck. On June 23 of that year, Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, dealing a significant blow to organized crime.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1979: Anthrax poisoning kills 62 in Russia </h2>The world's first anthrax epidemic begins in Ekaterinburg, Russia (now Sverdlosk), on this day in 1979. By the time it ended six weeks later, 62 people were dead. Another 32 survived serious illness. Ekaterinburg, as the town was known in Soviet times, also suffered livestock losses from the epidemic.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1513: Ponce de Leon discovers Florida </h2>Near present-day St. Augustine, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon comes ashore on the Florida coast, and claims the territory for the Spanish crown.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1972: Charlie Chaplin prepares for return to United States after two decades </h2>On this day in 1972, the great silent film actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin prepares for his first voyage to the United States since 1952, when he was denied a re-entry visa amid questions about his leftist politics.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1805: Hans Christian Andersen is born </h2>Hans Christian Andersen, one of the world's greatest storytellers, is born in Odensk, near Copenhagen.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1974: The Sting sweeps the Oscars and ragtime composer Scott Joplin gets his due </h2>The name Scott Joplin is now nearly synonymous with ragtimethe loose, syncopated musical style that swept the nation in the late-19th century and laid the groundwork for the emergence of jazz in the early 20th. Yet the most important figure in the history of ragtime was a virtual unknown as recently as the late 1960s. It was then that a grassroots ragtime revival began making Joplin and his music known within a growing community of dedicated enthusiasts. It took the star-making power of Hollywood, however, to transform him from a relatively minor cult figure into a household name. The transformation was completed on this day in 1974, when the musical score to The Sting earned Scott Joplin a share of an Oscar, more than five decades after his death in 1917.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1902: First woman judge dies in Wyoming </h2>Esther Morris, the first woman judge in American history, dies in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1917: Wilson asks for declaration of war </h2>On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I. In his address to Congress that day, Wilson lamented it is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. Four days later, Congress obliged and declared war on Germany.  <em class="date">Apr 2, 1977: Red Rum wins record third Grand National </h2>On this day in 1977, racehorse Red Rum wins a historic third Grand National championship at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England, after taking home victory in 1973 and 1974 and finishing second in 1975 and 1976. Red Rum remains the most successful horse in the history of the Grand National, which is considered by many to be the worlds toughest steeplechase race.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 3, 1860: Pony Express debuts </h2>On this day in 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet's arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. Although ultimately short-lived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated America's imagination and helped win federal aid for a more economical overland postal system. It also contributed to the economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an efficient transcontinental railroad.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1882: Jesse James is murdered </h2> One of America's most famous criminals, Jesse James, is shot to death by fellow gang member Bob Ford, who betrayed James for reward money. For 16 years, Jesse and his brother, Frank, committed robberies and murders throughout the Midwest. Detective magazines and pulp novels glamorized the James gang, turning them into mythical Robin Hoods who were driven to crime by unethical landowners and bankers. In reality, Jesse James was a ruthless killer who stole only for himself.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1974: Series of deadly twisters hits U.S. heartland </h2>On this day in 1974, 148 tornadoes hit the United States heartland within 16 hours. By the time the deadly storm ended, 330 people had died. This was the largest grouping of tornadoes recorded in its time, affecting 11 states and Ontario, Canada. At any one moment during the storm, there were as many as 15 separate tornadoes touching the ground.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1948: Truman signs Marshall Plan </h2>On April 3, 1948, U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs into law the Foreign Assistance Act, commonly known as the Marshall Plan. Named after U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the program channeled more than $13 billion in aid to Europe between 1948 and 1951. Meant to spark economic recovery in European countries devastated by World War II, the plan also saved the United States from a postwar recession by providing a broader market for American goods. However, because the USSR prevented countries like Poland and Czechoslovakia from participating, the plan also contributed to the raising of the Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1996: Unabomber arrested </h2>At his small wilderness cabin near Lincoln, Montana, Theodore John Kaczynski is arrested by FBI agents and accused of being the Unabomber, the elusive terrorist blamed for 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 during an 18-year period.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1955: ACLU says it will contest obscenity of HOWL </h2>The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1948: The Louisiana Hayride radio program premieres on KWKH-AM Shreveport </h2>Even the most ardent non-fans of country music can probably name the weekly live show and radio program that is regarded as country music's biggest stage: the Grand Ole Opry, out of Nashville, Tennessee. Yet even many committed country fans are unfamiliar with a program that, during its 1950s heyday, eclipsed even the Opry in terms of its impact on country music itself. From its premiere on this day in 1948 to its final weekly show in 1960, The Lousiana Hayride, out of Shreveport, Louisiana, launched the careers not only of several country-music giants, but also of a young, genre-crossing singer named Elvis Presley, the future King of Rock and Roll.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1988: Lemieux wins NHL scoring title, stops Gretzky streak </h2>Mario Lemieux wins the Art Ross Trophy as the National Hockey Leagues top scorer on this day in 1988. Lemieuxs 168 points bested Wayne Gretzky, who had dominated the league as the top scorer for an amazing seven seasons.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1969: Nixon administration will Vietnamize the war </h2>Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States is moving to Vietnamize the war as rapidly as possible. By this, he meant that the responsibility for the fighting would be gradually transferred to the South Vietnamese as they became more combat capable. However, Laird emphasized that it would not serve the United States' purpose to discuss troop withdrawals while the North Vietnamese continued to conduct offensive operations in South Vietnam. Despite Laird's protestations to the contrary, Nixon's Vietnamization program, as he would announce it in June, did include a series of scheduled U.S. troop withdrawals, the first of the war.  <em class="date">Apr 3, 1972: Nixon orders response to North Vietnamese invasion </h2>The United States prepares hundreds of B-52s and fighter-bombers for possible air strikes to blunt the recently launched North Vietnamese invasion. The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was sent from the Philippines to join the carriers already off the coast of Vietnam and provide additional air support.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 4, 1968: Dr. King is assassinated </h2>Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1933: Dirigible crash kills 73 </h2>On this day in 1933, a dirigible crashes in New Jersey, killing 73 people in one of the first air disasters in history. The Akron was the largest airship built in the United States when it took its first flight in August 1931. In its short life of less than two years, it was involved in two fatal accidents.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1841: President Harrison dies after one month in office </h2>Only 31 days after assuming office, William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, dies of pneumonia at the White House.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1949: NATO established </h2>The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established by 12 Western nations: the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Portugal. The military alliance, which provided for a collective self-defense against Soviet aggression, greatly increased American influence in Europe.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1960: Ben-Hur wins 11 Academy Awards </h2>Clocking in at three hours and 32 minutes, William Wylers Technicolor epic Ben-Hur is the behemoth entry at the 32nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on this day in 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Setting an Oscar record, the film swept 11 of the 12 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Charlton Heston).  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1928: Maya Angelou is born </h2>Poet and novelist Maya Angelou-born Marguerite Johnson-is born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she and her brother went to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. When she was eight, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. When she revealed what happened, her uncles kicked the culprit to death. Frightened by the power of her own tongue, Angelou chose not to speak for the next five years.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1913: Muddy Waters is born </h2>When Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, he permanently alienated a portion of his passionate fan base. When Muddy Waters went electric roughly 20 years earlier, he didn't have a fan base to be concerned about, and those who did go to his shows probably had no quarrel with his motivation for plugging in, which was simply to play loud enough to be heard inside a raucous nightclub. Little could those lucky Chicagoans have known that they were hearing the birth of a style of blues that would become a fundamental part of their city's cultural identity. Out of all the bluesmen plying their trade in the clubs of the Windy City in the late 40s and early 50s, none did more than Muddy Waters to create the Chicago Bluesthe hard-driving, amplified, distinctly urban sound with roots in the rural Mississippi Delta, where Waters was born on this day in 1913.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1865: Lincoln dreams about a presidential assassination </h2>According to the recollection of one of his friends, Ward Hill Lamon, President Abraham Lincoln dreams on this night in 1865 of the subdued sobs of mourners and a corpse lying on a catafalque in the White House East Room. In the dream, Lincoln asked a soldier standing guard Who is dead in the White House? to which the soldier replied, the President.he was killed by an assassin. Lincoln woke up at that point. On April 11, he told Lamon that the dream had strangely annoyed him ever since. Ten days after having the dream, Lincoln was shot dead by an assassin while attending the theater.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1982: Gretzky finishes season with 212 points </h2>On this day in 1982, hockey sensation Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers finishes the NHL season with 212 points, the first and only player in NHL history to break the 200-point barrier.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1967: Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks out against the war </h2>The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, delivers a speech entitled Beyond Vietnam in front of 3,000 people at Riverside Church in New York City. In it, he says that there is a common link forming between the civil rights and peace movements. King proposed that the United States stop all bombing of North and South Vietnam; declare a unilateral truce in the hope that it would lead to peace talks; set a date for withdrawal of all troops from Vietnam; and give the National Liberation Front a role in negotiations.  <em class="date">Apr 4, 1884: Yamamoto Isoroku, Japan's mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack, is born </h2>Yamamoto Isoroku, perhaps Japan's greatest strategist and the officer who would contrive the surprise air attack on U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor, is born on this day in 1884.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 5, 1614: Pocahontas marries John Rolfe </h2>Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Indian confederacy, marries English tobacco planter John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia. The marriage ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 1951: Rosenbergs sentenced to death for spying </h2>The climax of the most sensational spy trial in American history is reached when a federal judge sentences Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. Although the couple proclaimed their innocence, they died in the electric chair in June 1953.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 1994: Kurt Cobain commits suicide </h2>Modern rock icon Kurt Cobain commits suicide on this day in 1994. His body was discovered inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house. Despite indications that Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, killed himself, several skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death and pinned responsibility on his wife, Courtney Love.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 1936: Tornadoes devastate Tupelo and Gainesville </h2>On this day in 1936, two small towns in Mississippi and Georgia are devastated by tornadoes, killing 200 people in one of the deadliest spates of tornadoes in United States history. A total of 466 people were killed over four days of nearly continuous twisters. Another 3,500 people were injured.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 1992: Abortion rights advocates march on Washington </h2>A march and rally in support of abortion rights for women draws several hundred thousand people to demonstrations in Washington, D.C. One of the largest protest marches on the nation's capital, the pro-choice rally came as the U.S. Supreme Court was about to consider the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania state law that limited access to abortions. Many abortion rights advocates feared that the high court, with its conservative majority, might endorse the Pennsylvania law or even overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 2008: Charlton Heston dies </h2>Best known in his later years as the outspoken president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the actor Charlton Heston first earned a reputation in Hollywood for playing larger-than-life figures in epic movies such as The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. He died on this day in 2008, at the age of 84.   <em class="date">Apr 5, 1792: Washington exercises first presidential veto </h2>George Washington exercises the first presidential veto of a Congressional bill on this day in 1792. The bill introduced a new plan for dividing seats in the House of Representatives that would have increased the amount of seats for northern states. After consulting with his politically divided and contentious cabinet, Washington, who came from the southern state of Virginia, ultimately decided that the plan was unconstitutional because, in providing for additional representatives for some states, it would have introduced a number of representatives higher than that proscribed by the Constitution.     <em class="date">Apr 5, 1976: Howard Hughes dies </h2>Howard Robard Hughes, one of the richest men to emerge from the American West during the 20th century, dies while flying from Acapulco to Houston.  <em class="date">Apr 5, 1984: Abdul-Jabbar breaks points record </h2>On this day in 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores the 31,420th point of his career, breaking the NBA's all-time scoring record, which had been held by Wilt Chamberlain.  history.com -- Edited by PMM2008 on Thursday 5th of April 2012 09:43:46 AM

 

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<em class="date">Apr 6, 1896: First modern Olympic Games </h2>On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1776: Congress opens all U.S. ports to international trade </h2>On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress takes the first step toward American independence by announcing their decision to open all American ports to international trade with any part of the world that is not under British rule.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1970: Sam Sheppard dies </h2>On this day in 1970, Sam Sheppard, a doctor convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in a trial that caused a media frenzy in the 1950s, dies of liver failure. After a decade in prison, Sheppard was released following a re-trial. His story is rumored to have loosely inspired the television series and movie The Fugitive.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1950: Train falls off bridge in Brazil </h2>A train drops off a bridge in Tangua, Brazil, killing 110 people on this day in 1950. Twenty-two cars made up the Leopoldina Railways train that departed Rio de Janeiro for Victoria, Espirito Santo. The passenger cars were filled with people vacationing over the Easter holidays. The train left after midnight and had gone almost 60 miles when it approached the bridge over the Indios River at about 1:30 a.m.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1830: Mormon Church established </h2>In Fayette Township, New York, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, organizes the Church of Christ during a meeting with a small group of believers.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1917: America enters World War I </h2>Two days after the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany, the U.S. House of Representatives endorses the declaration by a vote of 373 to 50, and America formally enters World War I.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1895: Oscar Wilde arrested </h2>Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1974: The Eurovision song contest launches a bona fide star </h2>In Brighton, England, on April 6, 1974, the judges of the 19th Eurovision Song Contest crushed the hopes of tiny Luxembourg by denying that nation in its bid for a historic third straight victory at the pan-European musical event. Those judges did the rest of the world a favor, however, by selecting the Swedish entry as the winner instead. Which is not to say anything against the song Bye Bye I Love You as performed by Luxembourg's Irene Sheer. It's just that Sweden's entry was a song called Waterloo, performed by a group called ABBA, which went on to become something of a sensation. ABBA's win at the annual Eurovision Song Contest on this day in 1974 launched the group on its monumental international career, marking the first and still only time that the Eurovision Song Contest crowned a previously unknown winner destined for legitimate superstardom.  <em class="date">Apr 6, 1841: Tyler is inaugurated as 10th president </h2>On this day in 1841, John Tyler is sworn in as president. Tyler was elected as William Harrison's vice president earlier in 1841 and was suddenly thrust into the role of president when Harrison died one month into office. He was the first vice president to immediately assume the role of president after a sitting president's untimely exit and set the precedent for succession thereafter.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 7, 1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda </h2>On this day in 1994, Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers in a successful effort to discourage international intervention in the genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In approximately three months, the Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda brutally murdered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million innocent civilian Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the worst episode of ethnic genocide since World War II.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1947: Auto pioneer Henry Ford dies </h2>On this day in 1947, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, which developed the first affordable, mass-produced car--the Model T--and also helped pioneer assembly-line manufacturing, dies at his estate in Dearborn, Michigan, at the age of 83.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1990: Twin ferry accidents on opposite ends of world </h2>In a tragic coincidence, two separate ferry accidents in different areas of the world take the lives of a reported 325 people on this day in 1990. The first took place in Myanmar (formerly Burma) on the Gyaing River. Later in the day, Scandinavia was also rocked by tragedy.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1970: John Wayne wins Best Actor Oscar </h2>On this day in 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne wins his first--and only--acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the director Henry Hathaways Western True Grit.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1770: William Wordsworth is born </h2>William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic school of poetry, is born.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1961: JFK lobbies Congress to help save historic sites in Egypt </h2>On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy sends a letter to Congress in which he recommends the U.S. participate in an international campaign to preserve ancient temples and historic monuments in the Nile Valley of Egypt. The campaign, initiated by UNESCO, was designed to save sites threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.  <em class="date">Apr 7, 1873: John McGraw, second all-time winningest baseball manager, is born </h2>On April 7, 1873, John McGraw, one of the winningest managers in Major League Baseball history, is born in Truxton, New York. McGraws career total of 2,763 wins ranks second only to Connie Mack.  history.com

 

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<em class="date-loc">Easter, which celebrates Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, is Christianity's most important holiday. It has been called a moveable feast because it doesn't fall on a set date every year, as most holidays do. Instead, Christian churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox on March 21. Therefore, Easter is observed anywhere between March 22 and April 25 every year. Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar to calculate when Easter will occur and typically celebrate the holiday a week or two after the Western churches, which follow the Gregorian calendar. <em class="date">   <em class="date">   <em class="date">Apr 8, 1974: Aaron sets new home run record </h2>On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers' Al Downing. However, as Aaron was an African American who had received death threats and racist hate mail during his pursuit of one of baseball's most distinguished records, the achievement was bittersweet.  <em class="date">Apr 8, 2005: Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty </h2>Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to a series of bombings, including the fatal bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, in order to avoid the death penalty. He later cited his anti-abortion and anti-homosexual views as motivation for the bombings. Eric Robert Rudolph was born September 19, 1966, in Merritt Island, Florida. He served a brief stint in the U.S. Army and later supported himself by working as a carpenter. On July 27, 1996, a 40-pound pipe bomb exploded in Atlantas Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman and injuring over 100 people. A security guard named Richard Jewell was initially considered the prime suspect in the case. Then, on January 16, 1997, two bombs went off at an Atlanta-area medical clinic that performed abortions, injuring seven people. In February of that same year, a bomb detonated at a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta, injuring four people. On January 29, 1998, a bomb exploded at a Birmingham, Alabama, womens health clinic, killing a security guard and critically injuring a nurse.  <em class="date">Apr 8, 1916: California road race kills five </h2>On this day in 1916, at the Boulevard Race in Corona, California, an early racing car careens into a crowd of spectators, killing the driver and two others. At the time, racing events were still a relative rarity and the fatal accident helped encourage organizers to begin holding races on specially built tracks instead of regular streets. The first organized race of horseless carriages, as they were then called, was held in France in 1894. The winning speed was less than 10 miles per hour and the winner was disqualified because his steam-driven tractor was deemed not to be a practical vehicle. The first Grand Prix was held 12 years later.  <em class="date">Apr 8, 1955: Barbara Kingsolver is born </h2>American writer Barbara Kingsolver was born on this day near Annapolis, Maryland.  <em class="date">Apr 8, 1994: Kurt Cobain is found dead </h2>On April 8, 1994, rock star Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home outside Seattle, Washington, with fresh injection marks in both arms and a fatal wound to the head from the 20-gauge shotgun found between his knees. Cobain's suicide brought an end to a life marked by far more suffering than is generally associated with rock superstardom. But rock superstardom never did sit well with Kurt Cobain, a committed social outsider who was reluctantly dubbed the spokesman of his generation. Success to him seemed like, I think, a brick wall, said friend Greg Sage, a musical hero of Cobain's from the local punk rock scene of the 1980s. There was nowhere else to go but down.  <em class="date">Apr 8, 1935: FDR signs Emergency Relief Appropriation Act </h2>President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes almost $5 million to implement work-relief programs on this day in 1935. Hoping to lift the country out of the crippling Great Depression, Congress allowed the president to use the funds at his discretion. The act was unprecedented and remains the largest system of public-assistance relief programs in the nation's history.  hisotry.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 9, 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders </h2>At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1984: A husband attempts murder for money in England </h2>Margaret Backhouse turns the ignition of her husband's car, setting off a pipe bomb filled with nitroglycerine and shotgun pellets in the small farming community of Horton, England. Hundreds of pellets lacerated her body and practically tore away her legs, but she was relatively lucky in that most of the bomb's force was deflected away from her. Passersby found Backhouse and brought her to a local hospital, where she was treated and later recovered.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1947: Tornado reduces Oklahoma town to rubble </h2>The town of Woodward, Oklahoma, is nearly wiped off the map by a powerful tornado on this day in 1947. More than 100 people died in Woodward, and 80 more lost their lives elsewhere in the series of twisters that hit the U.S. heartland that day.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1959: First astronauts introduced </h2>On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 2005: Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles wed </h2>Nearly eight years after Princess Diana's death in a car crash was mourned the world over, Prince Charles, her widower and heir to the British throne, weds his longtime mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. The marriage, a private civil ceremony, took place at Windsory Guildhall, 30 miles outside of London. The ceremony was originally supposed to take place on April 8, but had to be rescheduled so as not to conflict with the funeral of Pope John Paul II.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1859: Mark Twain receives steamboat pilot's license </h2>On this day in 1859, a 23-year-old Missouri youth named Samuel Langhorne Clemens receives his steamboat pilot's license.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1881: Billy the Kid convicted of murder </h2>After a one-day trial, Billy the Kid is found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County, New Mexico, sheriff and is sentenced to hang.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1962: Kennedy throws first pitch at new D.C. stadium </h2>On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy throws out the ceremonial first pitch in Washington D.C.s new stadium, called simply D.C. Stadium. In doing so, he continued a long-standing tradition that began in 1910 when President William H. Taft threw out Major League Baseballs first opening-day pitch in Washington D.C.s old Griffith Stadium.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1978: Gervin beats Thompson in NBA scoring title duel </h2>On April 9, 1978, the San Antonio Spurs George Gervin scores 63 points in his final game of the regular season to edge out the Denver Nuggets David Thompson in one of the tightest contests for the NBA scoring crown in basketball history. Gervin went on to become the leagues top scorer again in 1979, 1980 and 1982, making him one of just three NBA players to ever capture four or more scoring titles.  <em class="date">Apr 9, 1969: Chicago Eight plead not guilty </h2>The Chicago Eight, indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, plead not guilty. The trial for the eight antiwar activists had begun in Chicago on March 20. The defendants included David Dellinger of the National Mobilization Committee (NMC); Rennie Davis and Thomas Hayden of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS); Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, founders of the Youth International Party ( Yippies ); Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers; and two lesser known activists, Lee Weiner and John Froines.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 10, 1866: ASPCA is founded </h2>On April 10, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by philanthropist and diplomat Henry Bergh, 54.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1963: Atomic submarine sinks in Atlantic </h2>On this day in 1963, the USS Thresher, an atomic submarine, sinks in the Atlantic Ocean, killing the entire crew. One hundred and twenty-nine sailors and civilians were lost when the sub unexpectedly plunged to the sea floor 300 miles off the coast of New England.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1942: Bataan Death March begins </h2>The day after the surrender of the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese, the 75,000 Filipino and American troops captured on the Bataan Peninsula begin a forced march to a prison camp near Cabanatuan. During this infamous trek, known as the Bataan Death March, the prisoners were forced to march 85 miles in six days, with only one meal of rice during the entire journey. By the end of the march, which was punctuated with atrocities committed by the Japanese guards, hundreds of Americans and many more Filipinos had died.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1972: Chaplin receives Oscar </h2>As part of his first visit to the United States in 20 years, British film pioneer Charlie Chaplin accepts an honorary Academy Award for his incalculable contribution to the art of filmmaking. Chaplin, once America's most successful movie star and director, had left the country under a storm of controversy in 1952.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1953: First color 3-D film opens </h2>On this day in 1953, the horror film The House of Wax, starring Vincent Price, opens at New Yorks Paramount Theater. Released by Warner Brothers, it was the first movie from a major motion-picture studio to be shot using the three-dimensional, or stereoscopic, film process and one of the first horror films to be shot in color.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1906: The Gift of the Magi is published </h2>O. Henry's second short story collection, The Four Million, is published. The collection includes one of his most beloved stories, The Gift of the Magi, about a poor but devoted couple who each sacrifice their most valuable possession to buy a gift for the other.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1970: Paul McCartney announces the breakup of the Beatles </h2>The legendary rock band the Beatles spent the better part of three years breaking up in the late 1960s, and even longer than that hashing out who did what and why. And by the spring of 1970, there was little more than a tangled set of business relationships keeping the group together. Each of the Beatles was pursuing his musical interests outside of the band, and there were no plans in place to record together as a group. But as far as the public knew, this was just a temporary state of affairs. That all changed on April 10, 1970, when an ambiguous Paul McCartney self-interview was seized upon by the international media as an official announcement of a Beatles breakup.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1933: FDR creates Civilian Conservation Corps </h2>On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt establishes the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), an innovative federally funded organization that put thousands of Americans to work during the Great Depression on projects with environmental benefits.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 2005: Tiger Woods wins fourth Masters </h2>Tiger Woods wins his fourth Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club after a 15-foot birdie on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff against Chris DiMarco on April 10, 2005. The victory was Woods ninth major championship on the PGA tour.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1970: Poll reveals that public approval of Vietnam policy is down </h2>A Gallup Poll shows that 48 percent of the public approves of President Nixon's policy in Vietnam, while 41 percent disapprove. In January, Nixon had a 65 percent approval rating. The drop reflected the growing dissatisfaction with Nixon's failure to end the war in Vietnam. He had been elected in 1968 largely because he claimed to have a plan to end the war, but after three months in office, there was still no announcement about when the plan would be enacted. His approval rating further plummeted later in April, when he announced that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces had crossed the border into Cambodia. This announcement set off a wave of antiwar demonstrations, including one at Kent State University that resulted in the killing of four students by Army National Guard troops. The Cambodian incursion, as it came to be called, angered many in Congress, who felt that Nixon was illegally widening the war; this resulted in a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives to severely limit the executive power of the president.  <em class="date">Apr 10, 1972: B-52s begin bombing North Vietnam </h2>Although the U.S. command refuses to confirm publicly the location of targets, U.S. B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam for the first time since November 1967. The bombers struck in the vicinity of Vinh, 145 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone. It was later acknowledged publicly that target priority during these attacks had been given to SAM-2 missile sites, which had made raids over North Vietnam increasingly hazardous. U.S. officials called Hanoi's SAM-2 defenses the most sophisticated air defenses in the history of air warfare. These defenses consisted of advanced radar and lethally accurate air defense missiles. history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 11, 1814: Napoleon exiled to Elba </h2>On this day in 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1968: Last survivors of ferry accident rescued </h2>Rescue workers pick up the last survivors of the Wahine ferry accident on this day in 1968. The ferry had capsized after hitting sharp rocks off the coast of Wellington, New Zealand, the previous day. Fifty-one of the more than 800 passengers and crew on board perished in the accident.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1970: Apollo 13 launched to moon </h2>On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, is successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The spacecraft's destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin and conduct geological experiments. After an oxygen tank exploded on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1931: Dorothy Parker resigns as drama critic for The New Yorker </h2>The witty and caustic Dorothy Parker resigns her job as drama critic for The New Yorker. However, she continues to write book reviews until 1933, which are published in 1971 as A Month of Saturdays.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1961: Bob Dylan plays his first major gig in New York City </h2>Who knows how many other young men arrived in New York City in the winter of 1961 looking like James Dean and talking like Jack Kerouac? It would have been difficult to pick Bob Dylan out of the crowd at first, considering how much he had in common with the other Bohemian kids kicking around Greenwich Village. Artistic ambition? Check. Antipathy toward mainstream culture? Yes. A desire to put his middle-class identity behind him? Definitely. But the singular creative vision that would separate Dylan from the rest of his peers and change the face of popular music wasn't really in evidence yet. What Bob Dylan did have, though, in addition to his guitar and harmonica, was a unique stage presence and a vast library of American folk songs in his repertoire. On April 11, 1961, he got his first real chance to put those on display with his first major gig in New York City, opening for bluesman John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1977: President Carter hosts White House Easter egg roll </h2>On this day in 1977, President Jimmy Carter, along with first lady Rosalynn Carter, hosts local children at the traditional White House Easter egg roll.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 2004: Phil Mickelson wins first major at Masters </h2>On this day in 2004, Phil Mickelson wins the Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, his first major championship in nearly 12 years as a professional golfer.  <em class="date">Apr 11, 1945: The U.S. army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp </h2>On this day in 1945, the American Third Army liberates the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, a camp that will be judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on its prisoners.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 12, 1861: The Civil War begins </h2>The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern insurrection.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies </h2>While on a vacation in Warm Springs, Georgia, President Roosevelt suffers a stroke and dies. His death marked a critical turning point in U.S. relations with the Soviet Union, as his successor, Harry S. Truman, decided to take a tougher stance with the Russians.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1908: Fire threatens Massachusetts oil refineries </h2>A fire in Chelsea, Massachusetts, leaves 12 dead, 85 missing and presumed dead and more than 17,000 homeless on this day in 1908. The fire nearly spread to nearby Boston and its large Standard Oil refinery, but was stopped just in time.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1961: First man in space </h2>On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. Vostok 1 orbited Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles and was guided entirely by an automatic control system. The only statement attributed to Gagarin during his one hour and 48 minutes in space was, Flight is proceeding normally; I am well.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1981: First launching of the space shuttle </h2>The space shuttle Columbia is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, becoming the first reusable manned spacecraft to travel into space. Piloted by astronauts Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young, the Columbia undertook a 54-hour space flight of 36 orbits before successfully touching down at California's Edwards Air Force Base on April 14.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1949: Legal thriller writer Scott Turow is born </h2>Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent (1987), is born on this day in Chicago.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1954: Bill Haley and the Comets record Rock Around The Clock </h2>On April 12, 1954 Bill Haley and the Comets recorded (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock. If rock and roll was a social and cultural revolution, then (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock was its Declaration of Independence. And if Bill Haley was not exactly the revolution's Thomas Jefferson, it may be fair to call him its John Han****.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1981: Lawrence Taylor drafted by NY Giants </h2>On April 12, 1981, the New York Giants draft University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor as their first-round pick and the second selection overall in the NFL Draft. Taylor went on to revolutionize the linebacker position and revitalize the Giants football franchise.  <em class="date">Apr 12, 1961: Rostow recommends escalation of effort </h2>Walt W. Rostow, senior White House specialist on Southeast Asia and a principal architect of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine, delivers a memorandum to President John F. Kennedy asserting that the time has come for gearing up the whole Vietnam operation. Rostow's proposals, almost all of which eventually became policy, included: a visit to Vietnam by the vice president; increasing the number of American Special Forces; increasing funds for South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem; and persuading Diem to move more rapidly to broaden the base of his government, as well as to decrease its centralization and improve its efficiency.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 13, 1997: Tiger Woods wins first major </h2>On this day in 1997, 21-year-old Tiger Woods wins the prestigious Masters Tournament by a record 12 strokes in Augusta, Georgia. It was Woods' first victory in one of golf's four major championshipsthe U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA Championship, and the Mastersand the greatest performance by a professional golfer in more than a century.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1360: Hail kills English troops </h2>On so-called Black Monday in 1360, a hail storm kills an estimated 1,000 English soldiers in Chartres, France. The storm and the devastation it caused also played a part in the Hundred Years' War between England and France.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1919: The Amritsar Massacre </h2>In Amritsar, India's holy city of the Sikh religion, British and Gurkha troops massacre at least 379 unarmed demonstrators meeting at the Jallianwala Bagh, a city park. Most of those killed were Indian nationalists meeting to protest the British government's forced conscription of Indian soldiers and the heavy war tax imposed against the Indian people.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1941: Japan and USSR sign nonaggression pact </h2>During World War II, representatives from the Soviet Union and Japan sign a five-year neutrality agreement. Although traditional enemies, the nonaggression pact allowed both nations to free up large numbers of troops occupying disputed territory in Manchuria and Outer Mongolia to be used for more pressing purposes.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1970: Apollo 13 oxygen tank explodes </h2>On April 13, 1970, disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1909: Eudora Welty is born </h2>Southern writer Eudora Welty is born in Jackson, Mississippi.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1742: Handel's Messiah premieres in Dublin </h2>Nowadays, the performance of George Friedrich Handel's Messiah oratorio at Christmas time is a tradition almost as deeply entrenched as decorating trees and hanging stockings. In churches and concert halls around the world, the most famous piece of sacred music in the English language is performed both full and abridged, both with and without audience participation, but almost always and exclusively during the weeks leading up to the celebration of Christmas. It would surprise many, then, to learn that Messiah was not originally intended as a piece of Christmas music. Messiah received its world premiere on this day in 1742, during the Christian season of Lent, and in the decidedly secular context of a concert hall in Dublin, Ireland.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1866: Butch Cassidy is born </h2>Butch Cassidy, the last of the great western train-robbers, is born on this day in Beaver, Utah Territory.  <em class="date">Apr 13, 1743: Thomas Jefferson is born </h2>Future President Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence and the nation's preeminent political theorist, is born on this day in 1743.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 14, 1865: Lincoln is shot </h2>On this day in 1865, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.  The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1950: President Truman receives NSC-68 </h2>President Harry S. Truman receives National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68). The report was a group effort, created with input from the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA, and other interested agencies; NSC-68 formed the basis for America's Cold War policy for the next two decades.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth shoots Abraham Lincoln </h2>President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth, shouted, Sic semper tyrannis! (Ever thus to tyrants!) The South is avenged, as he jumped onto the stage and fled on horseback. Lincoln died the next morning.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1944: Explosion on cargo ship rocks Bombay, India </h2>The cargo ship Fort Stikine explodes in a berth in the docks of Bombay, India, killing 1,300 people and injuring another 3,000 on this day in 1944. As it occurred during World War II, some initially claimed that the massive explosion was caused by Japanese sabotage; in fact, it was a tragic accident.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1912: RMS Titanic hits iceberg </h2>Just before midnight in the North Atlantic, the RMS Titanic fails to divert its course from an iceberg, ruptures its hull, and begins to sink.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1986: U.S. bombs Libya </h2>On April 14, 1986, the United States launches air strikes against Libya in retaliation for the Libyan sponsorship of terrorism against American troops and citizens. The raid, which began shortly before 7 p.m. EST (2 a.m., April 15 in Libya), involved more than 100 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft, and was over within an hour. Five military targets and terrorism centers were hit, including the headquarters of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1969: Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tie for Best Actress Oscar </h2>On this day in 1969, the 41st annual Academy Awards are broadcast live to a television audience in 37 nations. It was the first time the awards had been televised worldwide, as well as the first Oscar ceremony to be held in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1818: Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language is printed </h2>Noah Webster, a Yale-educated lawyer with an avid interest in language and education, publishes his American Dictionary of the English Language.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1935: Country legend Loretta Lynn is born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky </h2>If there's one thing nearly everyone knows about country-music legend Loretta Lynn, it's what her father, Ted Webb, did for a living. Like any man struggling to provide for a family during the Great Depression, he took work wherever he could find it, but his primary job was in the mines of the Consolidation Coal Company in the rugged mountains of eastern Kentucky. Ted and his wife, Ramey, raised eight children in their small wooden house in Johnson County, including the most famous coal miner's daughter in the world, who was born on this day in 1935.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1935: A major Dust Bowl storm strikes </h2>In what came to be known as Black Sunday, one of the most devastating storms of the 1930s Dust Bowl era swept across the region on this day. High winds kicked up clouds of millions of tons of dirt and dust so dense and dark that some eyewitnesses believed the world was coming to an end. The term dust bowl was reportedly coined by a reporter in the mid-1930s and referred to the plains of western Kansas, southeastern Colorado, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and northeastern New Mexico. By the early 1930s, the grassy plains of this region had been over-plowed by farmers and overgrazed by cattle and sheep. The resulting soil erosion, combined with an eight-year drought which began in 1931, created a dire situation for farmers and ranchers. Crops and businesses failed and an increasing number of dust storms made people and animals sick. Many residents fled the region in search of work in other states such as California (as chronicled in books including John Steinbeck s The Grapes of Wrath), and those who remained behind struggled to support themselves.  <em class="date">Apr 14, 1960: Montreal Canadiens win fifth consecutive Stanley Cup </h2>On April 14, 1960, the Montreal Canadiens defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup for a record fifth year in a row.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier </h2>On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African-American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. Exactly 50 years later, on April 15, 1997, Robinson's groundbreaking career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired from Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bud Selig in a ceremony attended by over 50,000 fans at New York City's Shea Stadium. Robinson's was the first-ever number retired by all teams in the league.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1912: Race car driver goes down with the Titanic </h2>On this day in 1912, Washington Augustus Roebling II, a 31-year-old race car engineer and driver, dies in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Roebling was named for his uncle, a civil engineer who helped build the Brooklyn Bridge.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1865: President Lincoln dies </h2>President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, dies from an assassins bullet. Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theater in Washington the night before, Lincoln lived for nine hours before succumbing to the severe head wound he sustained.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1959: Castro visits the United States </h2>Four months after leading a successful revolution in Cuba, Fidel Castro visits the United States. The visit was marked by tensions between Castro and the American government.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1912: Unsinkable Titanic sinks </h2>The RMS Titanic, billed as unsinkable, sinks into the icy waters of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage, killing 1,517 people.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1990: Greta Garbo dies </h2>On this day in 1990, the beautiful, enigmatic Swedish film star Greta Garbo dies at the age of 84, in New York City.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1940: English author and politician Jeffrey Archer is born </h2>Jeffrey Archer, bestselling novelist and politician, is born in Somerset, England.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1894: Bessie Smith is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee </h2>Despite the immense influence her records had on the shape and course of American popular music in the 20th century, the recorded legacy of Bessie Smith only captures part of her historical significance. Yes, her first recording, Downhearted Blues (1923) sold a then-astonishing 800,000 copies, and her subsequent Columbia Records releases throughout the 1920s earned her the title Empress of the Blues and influenced countless important musicians in the decades that followed. But by the time Bessie Smith made her first record, she was already a seasoned show-business veteranan actress, dancer, singer, all-around force of nature and, eventually, the highest-paid African-American performer in the world, by many accounts. A monumental figure in her own time and beyond, the great Bessie Smith was born on this day in 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  <em class="date">Apr 15, 1967: Antiwar protests held in New York and San Francisco </h2>Massive parades to protest Vietnam policy are held in New York and San Francisco. In New York, police estimated that 100,000 to 125,000 people listened to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock. Prior to the march, nearly 200 draft cards were burned by youths in Central Park. In San Francisco, black nationalists led a march, but most of the 20,000 marchers were white.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 16, 1943: Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered </h2>In Basel, Switzerland, Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist working at the Sandoz pharmaceutical research laboratory, accidentally consumes LSD-25, a synthetic drug he had created in 1938 as part of his research into the medicinal value of lysergic acid compounds. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations. In his notes, he related the experience: Last Friday, April 16, 1943, I was forced to interrupt my work in the laboratory in the middle of the afternoon and proceed home, being affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant, intoxicated-like condition characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1946: Arthur Chevrolet commits suicide </h2>On this day in 1946, Arthur Chevrolet, an auto racer and the brother of Chevrolet auto namesake Louis Chevrolet, commits suicide in Slidell, Louisiana.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 2007: Massacre at Virginia Tech leaves 32 dead </h2>On this day in 2007, in one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history, 32 students and teachers die after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by Seung Hui Cho, a student at the school who later dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. <em class="date">Apr 16, 1947: Fertilizer explosion kills 581 in Texas </h2>A giant explosion occurs during the loading of fertilizer onto the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas, on this day in 1947. Nearly 600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured when the ship was literally blown to bits.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1972: Apollo 16 departs for moon </h2>From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo 16, the fifth of six U.S. lunar landing missions, is successfully launched on its 238,000-mile journey to the moon. On April 20, astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke descended to the lunar surface from Apollo 16, which remained in orbit around the moon with a third astronaut, Thomas K. Mattingly, in command. Young and Duke remained on the moon for nearly three days, and spent more than 20 hours exploring the surface of Earth's only satellite. The two astronauts used the Lunar Rover vehicle to collect more than 200 pounds of rock before returning to Apollo 16 on April 23. Four days later, the three astronauts returned to Earth, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1922: Kingsley Amis is born </h2>British author Kingsley Amis is born to a lower-middle-class clerk and his wife.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1977: David Soul, of Starsky & Hutch, has the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts </h2>On April 16, 1977, David Soul's smash-hit single Don't Give Up On Us Baby reaches the top of the U.S. pop charts. But the story of a tough-but-sensitive TV detective's journey to crossover success began a full 10 years earlier.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1789: Washington leaves Mt. Vernon for his inauguration </h2>On this day in 1789, newly elected President George Washington leaves his Mount Vernon, Virginia, home and heads for New York, where he is sworn in as the first American president.  <em class="date">Apr 16, 1940: Bob Feller throws no-hitter </h2>On April 16, 1940, the Cleveland Indians Bob Feller pitches his first no-hitter. He went on to throw two more no-hitters in his career; only two other pitchers in baseball history have recorded more no-hitters.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 17, 1970: Apollo 13 returns to Earth </h2>With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1964: Ford Mustang debuts at World's Fair </h2>The Ford Mustang, a two-seat, mid-engine sports car, is officially unveiled by Henry Ford II at the Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, on April 17, 1964. That same day, the new car also debuted in Ford showrooms across America and almost 22,000 Mustangs were immediately snapped up by buyers. Named for a World War II fighter plane, the Mustang was the first of a type of vehicle that came to be known as a pony car. Ford sold more than 400,000 Mustangs within its first year of production, far exceeding sales expectations.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1961: The Bay of Pigs invasion begins </h2>The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1815: Volcanic eruption kills 80,000 </h2>Heavy eruptions of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia are letting up by this day in 1815. The volcano, which began rumbling on April 5, killed almost 100,000 people directly and indirectly. The eruption was the largest ever recorded and its effects were noted throughout the world.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1936: A single horsehair uncovers a murderer </h2>After a week of tracking down every conceivable lead, police finally find the evidence they need in order to break the case of Nancy Titterton's rape-murder in New York City. Titterton, a novelist and the wife of NBC executive Lewis Titterton, was raped and strangled in her upscale home on Beekman Place on the morning of April 10, 1936. The only clues left behind were a foot-long piece of cord that had been used to tie Titterton's hands and a single horsehair found on her bedspread.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1790: Benjamin Franklin dies </h2>On April 17, 1790, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1885: Isak Dinesen is born </h2>Karen Dinesen, Baroness Blixen-Finecke, better known by her pen name Isak Dinesen, is born in Rungsted, Denmark. Dinesen's memoir, Out of Africa, helped demystify the Dark Continent for millions of readers.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1960: Eddie Cochran dies, and Gene Vincent is injured, in a UK car accident </h2>Eddie Cochran, the man behind Summertime Blues and C'mon Everybody, was killed on this day in 1960 when the taxi carrying him from a show in Bristol, England, crashed en route to the airport in London, where he was to catch a flight back home to the United States. A raw and exciting rocker with a ****y, rebellious image, Eddie Cochran was very different from the polished and packaged idols being heavily marketed to American teenagers in the years between the rise of Elvis Presley and the arrival of the Beatles. And while he may have faded from popular memory in the years since his tragic and early death, his biggest hits have not.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1961: JFK waits for word on the Bay of Pigs invasion </h2>President John F. Kennedy waits for word on the success of a covert plan to overthrow Cuba's government on this day in 1961. Kennedy had authorized Operation Zapata, the attempt to overthrow Cuba's communist leader, Fidel Castro, on April 15. The failed coup became what many have called the worst foreign-policy decision of Kennedy's administration.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1976: Mike Schmidt hits four consecutive homers </h2>On this day in 1976, Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hits four consecutive home runs in a game against the Chicago Cubs. Schmidt was only the fourth player in the history of Major League Baseball to accomplish this feat.  <em class="date">Apr 17, 1972: First antiwar protest of the year is conducted </h2>The first major antiwar protest of 1972 is held. The demonstration, held at the University of Maryland, was organized to protest the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). Hundreds of students were arrested and 800 National Guardsmen were ordered onto the campus. Significant protests continued across the country in reaction to the increased bombing of North Vietnam, which had been initiated in response to the new communist offensive in South Vietnam.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 18, 1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake </h2>At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it topples numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1974: The Red Brigades terrorize Italy </h2>On this day in 1974, Italian prosecutor Mario Sossi is kidnapped by the Red Brigades. It was the first time that the left-wing terrorist group had directly struck the Italian government, marking the beginning of tensions that lasted for 10 years.   <em class="date">Apr 18, 1880: Missouri is ravaged by tornadoes </h2>Missouri is hit by a string of deadly tornadoes on this day in 1880. Statewide, 151 people were killed by the twisters, including 99 in the town of Marshfield.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1983: Suicide bomber destroys U.S. embassy in Beirut </h2>The U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is almost completely destroyed by a car-bomb explosion that kills 63 people, including the suicide bomber and 17 Americans. The terrorist attack was carried out in protest of the U.S. military presence in Lebanon.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1956: Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier marry </h2>American actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in a spectacular ceremony on this day in 1956.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1958: Federal court decides to release Ezra Pound </h2>A federal court rules that Ezra Pound should no longer be held at St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, D.C. Pound has been held for 13 years, following his arrest in Italy during World War II on charges of treason.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1906: Enrico Caruso survives the San Francisco earthquake </h2> You ask me to say what I saw and what I did during the terrible days which witnessed the destruction of San Francisco? Well, there have been many accounts of my so-called adventures published in the American papers, and most of them have not been quite correct. So began one of the most widely read firsthand accounts of the greatest natural disaster ever to befall a North American city. The words were those of the worlds greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, who along with the entire traveling company of New Yorks Metropolitan Opera, survived the devastating earthquake and fire that struck San Francisco on this day in 1906.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1961: JFK denies U.S. military intervention in Cuba </h2>On this day in 1961, President John F. Kennedy heats up Cold War rhetoric in a letter responding to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's claim that the U.S. was engaging in armed aggression against the communist regime in Cuba. Kennedy denied the allegations, told Kruschev he was under a serious misapprehension and stated that the U.S. intends no military intervention in Cuba. However, Kennedy insisted that he would support Cubans who wish to see a democratic system in an independent Cuba and that the U.S. would take no action to stifle the spirit of liberty.  <em class="date">Apr 18, 1983: Benoit wins Boston Marathon </h2>Joan Benoit wins her second Boston Marathon in the womens division with a time of 2:22:43 on April 18, 1983. The following year, she went on to win the first-ever womens marathon at the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles and became the first person to win Boston as well as Olympic gold.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 19, 1897: First Boston Marathon held </h2>On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York won the first Boston Marathon with a time of 2:55:10.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1775: The American Revolution begins </h2>At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town's common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment's hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the shot heard around the world was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1902: Earthquake rocks Guatemala </h2>The last and most powerful in a series of earthquakes rocks Western Guatemala on this day in 1902. More than 2,000 people were killed and 50,000 left homeless by the destruction.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1861: First blood in the Civil War </h2>On April 19, 1861, the first blood of the American Civil War is shed when a secessionist mob in Baltimore attacks Massachusetts troops bound for Washington, D.C. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1993: Branch Davidian compound burns </h2>At Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launches a tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound, ending a tense 51-day standoff between the federal government and an armed religious cult. By the end of the day, the compound was burned to the ground, and some 80 Branch Davidians, including 22 children, had perished in the inferno.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1995: Truck bomb explodes in Oklahoma City </h2>Just after 9 a.m., a massive truck bomb explodes outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The blast collapsed the north face of the nine-story building, instantly killing more than 100 people and trapping dozens more in the rubble. Emergency crews raced to Oklahoma City from across the country, and when the rescue effort finally ended two weeks later the death toll stood at 168 people killed, including 19 young children who were in the building's day-care center at the time of the blast.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1824: Lord Byron dies in Greece </h2>George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, dies in what is now Greece, where he had traveled to support the Greek struggle for independence from Turkey. Even today, he is considered a Greek national hero.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1975: The Captain and Tennille bring wedded bliss to the pop charts with their first hit record </h2>With divorce rates skyrocketing and the sexual revolution in full bloom, it seemed like dark days ahead for the American marriage in the mid-1970s. Even Sonny and CherAmerica's favorite husband and wifewere coming apart at the seams on national television, making an institution as old as society itself look very vulnerable indeed. And then along came the Captain and Tennille, just at the moment when it seemed America needed reminding that such a thing as wedded bliss might actually exist. Like a walking, talking, singing advertisement for the rewards of settled monogamy, Captain & Tennille burst onto the scene when their debut single, Love Will Keep Us Together, began its rapid climb up the U.S. pop charts on this day in 1975.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1876: Wyatt Earp dropped from Wichita police force </h2>A Wichita, Kansas, commission votes not to rehire policeman Wyatt Earp after he beats up a candidate for county sheriff.  <em class="date">Apr 19, 1971: Vietnam Veterans Against the War demonstrate </h2>As a prelude to a massive antiwar protest, Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, D.C. The generally peaceful protest, called Dewey Canyon III in honor of the operation of the same name conducted in Laos, ended on April 23 with about 1,000 veterans throwing their combat ribbons, helmets, and uniforms on the Capitol steps, along with toy weapons. Earlier, they had lobbied with their congressmen, laid wreaths in Arlington National Cemetery, and staged mock search and destroy missions.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 20, 1980: Castro announces Mariel Boatlift </h2>On April 20, 1980, the Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift. The first of 125,000 Cuban refugees from Mariel reached Florida the next day.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1777: New York adopts state constitution </h2>The first New York state constitution is formally adopted by the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York, meeting in the upstate town of Kingston, on this day in 1777.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 2008: Danica Patrick becomes first woman to win Indy race </h2>On April 20, 2008, 26-year-old Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Montegi in Montegi, Japan, making her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1861: Lee resigns from U.S. Army </h2>Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States army two days after he was offered command of the Union army and three days after his native state, Virginia, seceded from the Union.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1978: Korean Air Lines jet forced down over Soviet Union </h2>Soviet aircraft force a Korean Air Lines passenger jet to land in the Soviet Union after the jet veers into Russian airspace. Two people were killed and several others injured when the jet made a rough landing on a frozen lake about 300 miles south of Murmansk.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1999: A massacre at Columbine High School </h2>Two teenage gunmen kill 13 people in a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. At about 11:20 a.m., Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, dressed in long trench coats, began shooting students outside the school before moving inside to continue their rampage. By the time SWAT team officers finally entered the school at about 3:00 p.m., Klebold and Harris had killed 12 fellow students and a teacher, and had wounded another 23 people. Then, around noon, they turned their guns on themselves and committed suicide.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1906: San Francisco firefighters halt massive blaze </h2>On this day in 1906, firefighters finally halt the spread of flames in San Francisco after an earthquake two days earlier caused a substantial part of the city to burn. Nearly 700 people lost their lives from the earthquake and fires and 200,000 were left homeless.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1871: Ku Klux Act passed by Congress </h2>With passage of the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1926: New sound process for films announced </h2>On this day in 1926, Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T), and the Warner Brothers film studio officially introduce Vitaphone, a new process that will enable the addition of sound to film.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1841: First detective story is published </h2>Edgar Allen Poe's story, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, first appears in Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine. The tale is generally considered to be the first detective story.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1898: McKinley asks for declaration of war with Spain </h2>President William McKinley asks Congress to declare war on Spain on this day in 1898.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1986: Jordan scores 63 points in playoff game </h2>On April 20, 1986, the Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan scores 63 points in an NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics, setting a post-season scoring record. Despite Jordans achievement, the Bulls lost to the Celtics in double overtime, 135-131. Boston swept the three-game series and went on to win the NBA championship.  <em class="date">Apr 20, 1970: Nixon announces more troop withdrawals </h2>In a televised speech, President Nixon pledges to withdraw 150,000 more U.S. troops over the next year based entirely on the progress of the Vietnamization program. His program, which had first been announced in June 1969, included three parts. First, the United States would step up its effort to improve the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so that they could assume responsibility for the war against the North Vietnamese. As the South Vietnamese became more capable, U.S. forces would be withdrawn from South Vietnam. At the same time, U.S. negotiators would continue to try to reach a negotiated settlement to the war with the communists at the Paris peace talks. Nixon's new strategy and the continuing U.S. troop withdrawals represented a significant change in the nature of the American commitment to the war, as the primary responsibility for the fighting was transferred to the South Vietnamese armed forces. The first U.S. soldiers were withdrawn in the fall of 1969 and the withdrawals continued periodically through 1972. The remaining U.S. troops were withdrawn from South Vietnam in March 1973 as part of the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 21, 753 B.C.: Rome founded </h2>According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome's founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1967: GM celebrates 100 millionth U.S.-made car </h2>On April 21, 1967, General Motors (GM) celebrates the manufacture of its 100 millionth American-made car. At the time, GM was the world's largest automaker.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1992: Executions resume in California </h2>Robert Alton Harris is executed in California's gas chamber after 13 years on death row. This was California's first execution since former Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other state supreme court justices, Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso, had been rejected by California voters. From 1979 to 1986, the Bird court had reversed 64 out of the 68 death penalty cases on appeal. Supporters of capital punishment initiated a campaign against Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso, successfully ousting them from the court in 1986. Republican Governor George Deukmejian then appointed three justices in favor of the death penalty to take their places.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1930: Prisoners left to burn in Ohio fire </h2>A fire at an Ohio prison kills 320 inmates, some of whom burn to death when they are not unlocked from their cells. It is one of the worst prison disasters in American history.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1918: Red Baron killed in action </h2>In the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as The Red Baron, is killed by Allied fire.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1895: First movie projector demonstrated in United States </h2>On this day in 1895, Woodville Latham and his sons, Otway and Gray, demonstrate their Panopticon, the first movie projector developed in the United States.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1816: Charlotte Bronte born </h2>Charlotte Bronte, the only one of three novelist Bronte sisters to live past age 31, is born.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1973: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree tops the U.S. pop charts and creates a cultural phenomenon. </h2>The yellow ribbon has long been a symbol of support for absent or missing loved ones. There are some who believe that the tradition of the yellow ribbon dates back as far as the Civil War era, when a yellow ribbon in a woman's hair indicated that she was taken by a man who was absent due to service in the United States Army Cavalry. But research by professional folklorists has found no evidence to support that story. The Library of Congress itself traces the cultural ubiquity of this powerful symbol to the well-known song by Tony Orlando and Dawn: Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree, which topped the U.S. pop charts on this day in 1973.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1865: Lincoln's funeral train leaves D.C. </h2>On this day in 1865, a train carrying the coffin of assassinated President Abraham Lincoln leaves Washington, D.C. on its way to Springfield, Illinois, where he would be buried on May 4.  <em class="date">Apr 21, 1980: Rosie Ruiz fakes Boston Marathon win </h2>Rosie Ruiz, age 26, finishes first in the womens division of the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:31:56 on April 21, 1980. She was rewarded with a medal, a laurel wreath and a silver bowl; however, eight days later Ruiz is stripped of her victory after race officials learned she jumped into the race about a mile before the finish line.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 22, 1970: The first Earth Day </h2>Earth Day, an event to increase public awareness of the world's environmental problems, is celebrated in the United States for the first time. Millions of Americans, including students from thousands of colleges and universities, participated in rallies, marches, and educational programs.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1934: An FBI agent is killed in a gangster raid </h2>George Baby Face Nelson kills Special Agent W. Carter Baum during an FBI raid in northern Wisconsin. Nelson was holed up with notorious bank robber John Dillinger's gang at the Little Bohemia resort but didn't follow the planned escape route. As he was stealing a car to escape, he blasted several agents with two handguns. The famed gangster was born Lester Gillis but wanted to be known as Big George Nelson. Unfortunately for him, his youthful looks caused everyone to call him Baby Face, although one had to be careful about using the nickname within earshot of the gangster. After a typical teenage criminal career, Nelson joined Al Capone's gang in 1929, where he was known for his particularly brutal strong-arm tactics. In fact, his unpredictable violence got so out of hand that it eventually led to his expulsion from the gang.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1992: Sewers explode in Guadalajara </h2>Dozens of sewer explosions in Guadalajara, Mexico, kill more than 200 people and damage 1,000 buildings on this day in 1992. The series of explosions was caused by a gas leak, the warning signs of which were ignored by the Mexican government and the national oil company.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1915: Germans introduce poison gas </h2>On April 22, 1915, German forces shock Allied soldiers along the western front by firing more than 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions at Ypres, Belgium. This was the first major gas attack by the Germans, and it devastated the Allied line.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1873: Ellen Glasgow, Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, is born </h2>Southern writer Ellen Glasgow is born in Richmond, Virginia.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1978: The Blues Brothers make their world premiere on Saturday Night Live </h2>It was Marshall Checker, of the legendary Checker brothers, who first discovered them in the gritty blues clubs of Chicago's South Side in 1969 and handed them their big break nine years later with an introduction to music-industry heavyweight and host of television's Rock Concert,Don Kirshner. Actually, none of that is true, but it's the story that Saturday Night Live's Paul Shaffer told on April 22, 1978 as he announced the worldwide television debut of that night's musical guest, the Blues Brothersthe not-quite-real, not-quite-fake musical creation of SNL cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1889: The Oklahoma land rush begins </h2>At precisely high noon, thousands of would-be settlers make a mad dash into the newly opened Oklahoma Territory to claim cheap land.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1994: Former President Richard Nixon dies </h2>On this day in 1994, former President Richard M. Nixon dies after suffering a stroke four days earlier. In a 1978 speech at Oxford University, Nixon admitted he had screwed up during his presidency but predicted that his achievements would be viewed more favorably with time. He told the young audience, You'll be here in the year 2000, see how I am regarded then.  Apr 22, 2004: Pat Tillman killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan </h2>Pat Tillman, who gave up his pro football career to enlist in the U.S. Army after the terrorist attacks of September 11, is killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. The news that Tillman, age 27, was mistakenly gunned down by his fellow Rangers, rather than enemy forces, was initially covered up by the U.S. military.  <em class="date">Apr 22, 1945: Hitler admits defeat </h2>On this day in 1945, Adolf Hitler, learning from one of his generals that no German defense was offered to the Russian assault at Eberswalde, admits to all in his underground bunker that the war is lost and that suicide is his only recourse. Almost as confirmation of Hitler's assessment, a Soviet mechanized corps reaches Treuenbrietzen, 40 miles southwest of Berlin, liberates a POW camp and releases, among others, Norwegian Commander in Chief Otto Ruge.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 23, 1564: William Shakespeare born </h2>According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn. Shakespeare's date of death is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old and had retired to Stratford three years before.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1987: Chrysler buys luxury automaker Lamborghini </h2>On this day in 1987, the Chrysler Corporation purchases Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini, the Bologna, Italy-based maker of high-priced, high-performance cars. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the media reported that Chrysler paid $25 million for Lamborghini, which at the time was experiencing financial difficulties.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1969: Sirhan Sirhan receives death penalty </h2>On this day in 1969, Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to the death penalty after being convicted in the assassination of politician Robert F. Kennedy. In 1972, Sirhan's sentence was commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1967: Soviet cosmonaut is killed </h2>On this day in 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when his parachute fails to deploy during his spacecraft's landing.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1564: Birth and death of William Shakespeare celebrated </h2>Historians believe Shakespeare was born on this day in 1564, the same day he died in 1616.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1961: Judy Garland plays Carnegie Hall </h2>She was one of the biggest and most popular movie stars of all time, making her first film appearance at the age of seven and earning the first of three Oscar nominations at 17 for her starring role in what may well be the best-loved American movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz. She was also a prolific recording star, selling millions of records and winning five Grammy awards in a single year nearly three decades after starting out as one of the youngest performers ever signed to a major record label. These accomplishments alone would be enough to impress anyone who was somehow unfamiliar with her work, but to experience Judy Garland's full power, as the PBS series American Masters put it, one had to be in the auditorium when she brought her God-given gifts to bear on a suddenly unified collection of strangers. Never did Judy Garland so unify a collection of strangers than on this day in 1961 during the famous Carnegie Hall performance often called the greatest night in showbiz history.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1791: James Buchanan is born </h2>Future President James Buchanan is born in Cove Gap near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, on this day in 1791. Buchanan, remembered mostly for his administration's corruption and his failure to solve the country's crisis over slavery, also inspired salacious gossip abut his love life over the course of his career.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1954: Hank Aaron hits first home run of his MLB career </h2>On April 23, 1954, Hank Aaron knocks out the first home run of his Major League Baseball career. Twenty years later, Aaron becomes baseballs new home run king when he broke Babe Ruths long-standing record of 714 career homers.  <em class="date">Apr 23, 1975: Ford says that war is finished for America </h2>At a speech at Tulane University, President Gerald Ford says the Vietnam War is finished as far as America is concerned. Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war. This was devastating news to the South Vietnamese, who were desperately pleading for U.S. support as the North Vietnamese surrounded Saigon for the final assault on the capital city.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 24, 1916: Easter Rebellion begins </h2>On this day in 1916, on Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Assisted by militant Irish socialists under James Connolly, Pearse and his fellow Republicans rioted and attacked British provincial government headquarters across Dublin and seized the Irish capital's General Post Office. Following these successes, they proclaimed the independence of Ireland, which had been under the repressive thumb of the United Kingdom for centuries, and by the next morning were in control of much of the city. Later that day, however, British authorities launched a counteroffensive, and by April 29 the uprising had been crushed. Nevertheless, the Easter Rebellion is considered a significant marker on the road to establishing an independent Irish republic.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1983: German endurance driver killed in crash </h2>On this day in 1983, Rolf Stommelen, a four-time 24 Hours of Daytona champ as well as a Formula One driver, is killed at the age of 39 in a crash at California's Riverside International Raceway.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1922: Forensic evidence is introduced in Australia </h2>Colin Ross is hanged to death in Australia for the rape and murder of 13-year-old Alma Tirtschke. Ross was one of the first criminals in Australia to be convicted based on forensic evidence. On December 30, 1921, Tirtschke was reported missing in Melbourne. The next day, a constable patrolling Gun Alley, a well-known area for prostitutes, found the young schoolgirl's body bundled up in a blanket. Strangely, despite evidence of a brutal rape, there was no trace of blood found on her body.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1908: Tornado flattens towns in Louisiana and Mississippi </h2>A single tornado travels 150 miles through Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving 143 dead in its wake. In total, 311 people lost their lives to twisters during the deadly month of April 1908 in the southeastern United States. Another 1,600 were seriously injured.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1800: Library of Congress established </h2>President John Adams approves legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress, thus establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were stored in the U.S. Capitol, the library's first home. The first library catalog, dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Twelve years later, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol, including the then 3,000-volume Library of Congress.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1953: Churchill knighted </h2>Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1980: Hostage rescue mission ends in disaster </h2>On April 24, 1980, an ill-fated military operation to rescue the 52 American hostages held in Tehran ends with eight U.S. servicemen dead and no hostages rescued.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1982: Jane Fondas first Workout video released </h2>Hollywood royalty, fashion model, Oscar-winning actress, controversial anti-war activist. Jane Fonda fit all of these descriptions by the late 1970s and 1980s, when she emerged in her latest incarnation--exercise guru. On April 24, 1982, Fonda extended her reach into the home-video market with the release of Workout, the first of her many bestselling aerobics tapes.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1940: Sue Grafton is born </h2>Bestselling mystery novelist Sue Grafton, creator of tough, divorced private eye Kinsey Millhone, was born on this day in 1940. Starting with A Is for Alibi in 1982, Grafton reached U Is for Undertown, the 21st book featuring Millhone, in 2009.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1962: Patti LaBelle makes her debut on the pop charts, sort of </h2>Blessed with a fine voice and an engaging stage presence, Patti LaBelle has earned countless hits on the R&B charts as a solo artist, as well as a pair of crossover #1 pop hits in On My Own (1986, sung with Michael McDonald) and the timeless Lady Marmalade (1975, with the group Labelle). If there is any asterisk that belongs in an assessment of a career that began when her first single hit the pop charts nearly five decades ago, it is this: Patti LaBelle and her group the Blue Belles had never even been in a recording studio when their debut single, I Sold My Heart to the Junkman, entered the Billboard Hot 100 on this day in 1962. In a move that was far from unprecedented at this timethe same thing happened with The Crystals' He's A Rebel (1961), for instancePatti and her cohorts were credited with a hit record they had nothing to do with creating.  <em class="date">Apr 24, 1996: Penguins defeat Capitals in marathon hockey game </h2>On this day in 1996, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2, in 139 minutes and 15 seconds of total game play, making it the fifth-longest match in the history of the National Hockey League.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 25, 1983: Andropov writes to U.S. student </h2>On this day in 1983, the Soviet Union releases a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his country. Andropov's letter came in response to a note Smith had sent him in December 1982, asking if the Soviets were planning to start a nuclear war. At the time, the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War enemies.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1989: A father is exonerated after 21 years </h2>James Richardson walks out of a Florida prison 21 years after being wrongfully convicted of killing his seven children. Special prosecutor Janet Reno agreed to the release after evidence showed that the conviction resulted from misconduct by the prosecutor. In addition, neighbor Betsy Reese had confessed to the crime to a nursing home employee.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1980: Air tragedy hits Canary Islands </h2>A Dan-Air Boeing 727 carrying British tourists to the Canary Islands crashes and kills all 146 on board on this day in 1980. This terrible crash came just three years after another even deadlier accident at the Canary Islands airport.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1859: Ground broken for Suez Canal </h2>At Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal, an artificial waterway intended to stretch 101 miles across the isthmus of Suez and connect the Mediterranean and the Red seas. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who organized the colossal undertaking, delivered the pickax blow that inaugurated construction.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1990: Space telescope in orbit </h2>The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1719: Robinson Crusoe is published </h2>Daniel Defoe's fictional work The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe is published. The book, about a shipwrecked sailor who spends 28 years on a deserted island, is based on the experiences of shipwreck victims and of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who spent four years on a small island off the coast of South America in the early 1700s.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1917: Ella Fitzgerald is born </h2>On April 25, 1917, jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald is born in Newport News, Virginia.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1964: Maple Leafs win third Stanley Cup in a row </h2>On April 25, 1964, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-0, and win the National Hockey Leagues Stanley Cup championship, four games to three. The victory marked the Maple Leafs third consecutive Stanley Cup victory.  <em class="date">Apr 25, 1947: Truman inaugurates White House bowling alley </h2>President Harry S. Truman officially opens the first White House bowling alley on this day in 1947. The two-lane bowling alley, situated in the West Wing, had been constructed earlier that year.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 26, 1954: Polio vaccine trials begin </h2>On this day in 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, begin at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo. On April 12, 1955, researchers announced the vaccine was safe and effective and it quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America. In the ensuing decades, polio vaccines would all but wipe out the highly contagious disease in the Western Hemisphere.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 2009: Chrysler and autoworkers' union agree to a deal </h2>On this day in 2009, Chrysler and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union reach a tentative deal that meets government requirements for the struggling auto manufacturer to receive more federal funding.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1865: Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth dies </h2>John Wilkes Booth is killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1986: Nuclear explosion at Chernobyl </h2>On this day in 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident to date occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in Ukraine. The full toll from this disaster is still being tallied, but experts believe that thousands of people died and as many as 70,000 suffered severe poisoning. In addition, a large area of land may not be livable for as much as 150 years. The 18-mile radius around Chernobyl was home to almost 150,000 people who had to be permanently relocated.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1937: Nazis test Luftwaffe on Guernica </h2>During the Spanish Civil War, the German military tests its powerful new air force--the Luftwaffe--on the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1888: Anita Loos is born </h2>The novelist and screenwriter Anita Loos is born on this day in Mt. Shasta, California, in 1888.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1977: Studio 54 opens </h2>The crowd outside 254 West 54th Street in New York City on this day in 1927 would have been waiting for the curtain of a Puccini opera. On this day in 1957 or 67, they would have been waiting for a filming of an episode of Password or maybe Captain Kangaroo. On this day in 1977, however, the crowd gathered outside that Midtown address was waiting and hoping for a chance to enter what would soon become the global epicenter of the disco craze and the most famous nightclub in the world: Studio 54, which opened its doors for the very first time on April 26, 1977.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1918: Olympic track star Fanny Blankers-Koen is born </h2>On April 26, 1918, Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four Olympic gold medals in track and field events at the 1948 Summer Games, is born in the Netherlands. Blankers-Koens Olympic achievements are all the more remarkable because they came at a time when many people believed women shouldnt compete in sports.  <em class="date">Apr 26, 1972: Nixon announces additional troop withdrawals </h2>President Nixon, despite the ongoing communist offensive, announces that another 20,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Vietnam in May and June, reducing authorized troop strength to 49,000. Nixon emphasized that while U.S. ground troops were being withdrawn, sea and air support for the South Vietnamese would continue. In fact, the U.S. Navy doubled the number of its fighting ships off Vietnam.  history.com

 

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<em class="date">Apr 27, 4977 B.C.: Universe is created, according to Kepler </h2>On this day in 4977 B.C., the universe is created, according to German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, considered a founder of modern science. Kepler is best known for his theories explaining the motion of planets.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 2009: GM announces plans to phase out Pontiac </h2>On this day in 2009, the struggling American auto giant General Motors (GM) says it plans to discontinue production of its more than 80-year-old Pontiac brand.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1997: Cunanan begins his killing spree </h2>Andrew Cunanan kills Jeffrey Trail by beating him to death with a claw hammer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Trail's murder set Cunanan off on a killing spree that ended in July when he killed himself on a houseboat in Miami Beach.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1865: Civil War vets are caught in steamboat explosion </h2>On this day in 1865, an explosion on a Mississippi River steamboat kills an estimated 1,547 people, mostly Union soldiers returning home after the Civil War. Although this disaster near Memphis took a huge toll, it was barely noticed against the backdrop of the end of the Civil War, a conflict in which tens of thousands had died.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1994: South Africa holds first multiracial elections </h2>More than 22 million South Africans turn out to cast ballots in the country's first multiracial parliamentary elections. An overwhelming majority chose anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela to head a new coalition government that included his African National Congress Party, former President F.W. de Klerk's National Party, and Zulu leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party. In May, Mandela was inaugurated as president, becoming South Africa's first black head of state.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1993: D.A. announces negligence caused Brandon Lees death </h2>As a nearly month-long police investigation draws to a close, North Carolina District Attorney Jerry Spivey announces on this day in 1993 that the death of 28-year-old Brandon Lee on March 31 of that same year during filming of The Crow was due to negligence on the part of the films crew, not foul play.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1667: John Milton sells the copyright to Paradise Lost </h2>Blind poet John Milton sells the copyright to his masterpiece Paradise Lost (1667) for a mere 10 pounds.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1963: High school freshman Little Peggy March earns a #1 hit with I Will Follow Him </h2>On April 27, 1963, Margaret Annemarie Battavio's very first single, I Will Follow Him, reached #1 on the U.S. pop charts. With her 15th birthday only six weeks behind her, and three more years of high school ahead of her, the singer better known as Little Peggy March became the youngest female performer ever to top the Billboard Hot 100, but she'd never crack the top 10 again. Financial exploitation by an unscrupulous manager and a string of disappointing singles thwarted Peggy's efforts to capitalize on her early success, but if this sounds like the familiar start of a depressing episode of VH1's Behind the Music, think again. Her domestic career may have peaked while she was still in pigtails, but Little Peggy March pulled herself up by her bootstraps to build a career of impressive proportions in the parallel universe of Europop.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1822: President Grant is born </h2>Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War leader and 18th president of the United States, is born on this day in 1822.  <em class="date">Apr 27, 1956: Rocky Marciano retires as world heavyweight champion </h2>On April 27, 1956, world heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano retires from boxing at age 31, saying he wants to spend more time with his family. Marciano ended his career as the only heavyweight champion with a perfect record--49 wins in 49 professional bouts, with 43 knockouts.  history.com