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April in History
April 1,
1789
- The US House of Representatives held its first full meeting, in New York
City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House
Speaker
April
2, 1513
- Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon sighted Florida and claimed it for the
Spanish Crown after landing at the site of present day St. Augustine, now
the oldest city in the continental U.S.
April 2,
1792
- Congress approved the Coinage Act, authorizing the first US Mint.
Constructed in Philadelphia, the Mint's original coins were made of gold,
silver, and copper.
April
2, 1863
- A bread riot occurs in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, as
angry people demanded bread from a bakery wagon then wrecked nearby shops.
The mob dispersed only after Confederate President Jefferson Davis made a
personal plea and threatened to use force.
April
2, 1865
- Gen. Robert E. Lee informed Confederate President Jefferson Davis that
he must evacuate the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Davis and
his cabinet then fled by train.
April
2, 1982
- The beginning of the Falkland Islands War as troops from Argentina
invaded and occupied the British colony located near the tip of South
America. The British retaliated and defeat the Argentineans on June 15,
1982, after ten weeks of combat, with about 1,000 lives lost.
* April 3,
1776
- George Washington received an honorary doctor of laws degree from
Harvard College.
April
3, 1860
- In the American West, the Pony Express service began as the first rider
departed St. Joseph, Missouri. For $5 an ounce, letters were delivered
2,000 miles to California within ten days. The famed Pony Express riders
each rode from 75 to 100 miles before handing off to the next rider. There
were a total of 190 way stations located about 15 miles apart. The service
lasted less than two years until the completion of the overland telegraph.
April
3, 1865
- The Confederate capital of Richmond surrendered to Union forces after
the withdrawal of Gen. Robert E. Lee's troops.
April
3, 1944
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that African Americans can not be
barred from voting in the Texas Democratic primaries. The Court stated
that discrimination against blacks violates the 15th Amendment and that
political parties are not private associations.
April
3, 1948
- President Harry S. Truman signs the European Recovery Program, better
known as the Marshall Plan, to stop the spread of Communism and restore
the economic life of European countries devastated by World War II. Over
four years, the program distributed $12 billion to the nations of Western
Europe. The program was first proposed by Secretary of State George C.
Marshall during a historic speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947.
April
3, 1995
- Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to
preside over the Court, sitting in for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
who was out of town.
* April 4,
1818
- Congress adopted a new flag for the United States, with thirteen stripes
and twenty stars. It was also decided that another star would be added to
the flag for every new state admitted to the union, but that the number
and pattern of stripes would remain the same (the same as in the original
East India Company flag from which it may have been derived).
April
4, 1949
- Twelve nations signed the treaty creating NATO, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. The nations united for common military defense
against the threat of Soviet expansion in Western Europe.
April
4, 1968
- Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed by a
sniper in Memphis, Tennessee. As head of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, he championed non-violent resistance to end racial oppression
and had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He is best remembered
for his I Have a Dream speech delivered at the 1963 Civil Rights
March on Washington. That march and King's other efforts helped the
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1986, Congress established the third Monday in January as a national
holiday in his honor.
April 5,
1614
- American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe
in Virginia.
April 5,
1621
- The "Mayflower" sailed from Plymouth, Massachusetts, on a return trip to
England.
April
5, 1986
- A bomb exploded at a popular discotheque frequented by American military
personnel in West Berlin, killing two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman.
U.S. intelligence attributed the attack to Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya. On
April 14, President Reagan ordered a retaliatory air strike against Libya.
*
April 6, 1896
- After a break of 1500 years, the first Olympics of the modern era was
held in Athens, Greece.
April
6, 1917
-
Following a vote by Congress approving a declaration of war, the U.S.
entered World War I in Europe.
April
6, 1994
- The beginning of genocide in Rwanda as a plane carrying the presidents
of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down. They had been meeting to discuss ways
of ending ethnic rivalries between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. After their
deaths, Rwanda descended into chaos, resulting in genocidal conflict
between the tribes. Over 500,000 persons were killed with two million
fleeing the country.
April
7, 1712
- In New York City, 27 black slaves rebelled, shooting nine whites as they
attempted to put out a fire started by the slaves. The state militia was
called out to capture the rebels. Twenty one blacks were executed and six
committed suicide.
April 7,
1827
- The first matches were sold in Stockton, England, by their inventor,
chemist John Walker.
April 8,
1838
- Isambard Brunel's steamship Great Western set off on its first voyage,
from Bristol to New York; the journey took 15 days.
April
8
- Among Buddhists, celebrated as the birthday of Buddha (563-483 B.C.). An
estimated 350 millions persons currently profess the Buddhist faith.
April
8, 1952
- President Harry S. Truman seized control of America's steel mills to
prevent a shutdown by strikers. However, on April 29, the seizure was
ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court. Workers immediately began
a strike lasting 53 days, ending it when they received a 16 cents per hour
wage increase and additional benefits.
April
8, 1913
- The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified requiring
direct popular election of U.S. senators. Previously, they had been chosen
by state legislatures.
April
8, 1990
- Ryan White died at age 18 of complications from AIDS. As a young boy,
White, a hemophiliac, contracted Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome from
a blood transfusion. At age ten, he was banned from school. He then moved
with his mother to Cicero, Indiana, where he was accepted by the students.
As his plight was publicized, he gained international celebrity status and
helped promote understanding of the dreaded disease.
April 9,
1682
- French explorer Robert La Salle reached the Mississippi River.
April
9, 1865
- After 500,000 American deaths, the U.S. Civil War effectively ended as
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the village of
Appomattox Court House. The surrender occurred in the home of Wilmer
McLean. Terms of surrender, written by Gen. Grant, allowed Confederates to
keep their horses and return home. Officers were allowed to keep their
swords and side arms.
April
9, 1866
- Despite a veto by President Andrew Johnson, the Civil Rights Bill of
1866 was passed by Congress granting blacks the rights and privileges of
U.S. citizenship.
April 10,
1790
- The first circumnavigation of the globe by a US vessel was completed.
Captain Robert Gray had departed Boston three years earlier aboard the
"Columbia," and sailed to the Pacific Northwest. From there he sailed to
China with a cargo of sea otter skins. He continued around Asia and
Africa, and then returned to Boston.
April 10,
1633
- Bananas, never seen before in England, went on sale in a London shop.
April 10,
1841
- The US newspaper New York Tribune was first published.
April
10, 1942
- During World War II in the Pacific, the Bataan Death March began as
American and Filipino prisoners were forced on a six day march from an
airfield on Bataan to a camp near Cabanatuan. 76,000 Allied POWs including
12,000 Americans were forced to walk 60 miles under a blazing sun without
food or water to the POW camp, resulting in over 5,000 American deaths.
April
10, 1945
- The Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald was liberated by U.S. troops.
Located near Weimar in Germany, Buchenwald was established in July of 1937
to hold criminals and was one of the first major concentration camps. It
later included Jews and homosexuals and was used as a slave labor center
for nearby German companies. Of a total of 238,980 Buchenwald inmates,
56,545 perished. Following its liberation, Supreme Allied Commander,
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and other top U.S. commanders visited the
subcamp at Ohrdruf. U.S. Troops also forced German civilians from nearby
towns into the camp to view the carnage.
April
10, 1998
- Politicians in Northern Ireland reached an agreement aimed at ending 30
years of violence which had claimed over 3,400 lives. Under the agreement,
Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland would govern together in a
new 108-member Belfast assembly, thus ending 26 years of ''direct rule''
from London.
April 11,
1855
- Britain's first pillar-boxes (receptacles for mail) were installed on
the streets of London; there were just six of them, and they were painted
green.
April
11, 1968
- A week after the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights
Act of 1968 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The law
prohibited discrimination in housing, protected civil rights workers and
expanded the rights of Native Americans.
*
April 11, 1970
- Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy at 2:13 p.m. Fifty six hours
into the flight an oxygen tank exploded in the service module. Astronaut
John L. Swigert saw a warning light that accompanied the bang and said,
"Houston, we've had a problem here." Swigert, James A. Lovell and Fred W.
Haise then transferred into the lunar module, using it as a "lifeboat" and
began a perilous return trip to Earth, splashing down safely on April 17.
April
11, 1983
- Harold Washington became the first African American mayor of Chicago,
receiving 51 percent of the vote. Re-elected in 1987, he suffered a fatal
heart attack at his office seven months later.
*
April 12, 1861
- The U.S. Civil War began as Confederate troops under the command of Gen.
Pierre Beauregard opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on Fort Sumter in Charleston,
South Carolina.
April
12, 1945
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly at Warm Springs, Georgia.
He had been President since March 4, 1933, elected to four consecutive
terms and had guided America out of the Great Depression and through World
War II.
April
12, 1981
- The first space shuttle flight occurred with the launching of
Columbia with astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen aboard.
Columbia spent 54 hours in space, making 36 orbits, then landed at
Edwards Air Force Base in California.
April
14, 1775
- In Philadelphia, the first abolition society in American was founded as
the 'Society for the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage.'
It wasn't until nearly a century later that the first anti-slavery
organization was formed. Again the place was Philadelphia, and the
organizers were Quakers.
April 14,
1828
- The second and most renowned American English dictionary was published.
Improving on an earlier version, Noah Webster published "An American
Dictionary of the English Language."
The new
dictionary included, for the first time, Americanisms such as skunk,
hickory, and chowder. It also contained his orthography (eg humor instead
of humour). Webster's spelling system was not thoroughgoing, resulting in
many anomalies in present-day American.
April
14, 1865
- President Abraham Lincoln
was shot and mortally wounded
while watching a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's
Theater in Washington. He was taken to a
nearby house and
died the following morning at 7:22 a.m.
April
14, 1986
- U.S. warplanes, on orders from President Ronald Reagan, bombed the
Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghaze in retaliation for the April 5
terrorist bombing of a discotheque in West Berlin in which two American
soldiers were killed. Among the 37 person killed in the air raid was the
infant daughter of Muammar al-Qaddafi, head of state.
April 15, 1755 - English lexicographer Dr Samuel Johnson
published his Dictionary; he had taken eight years to compile it.
*
April 15, 1912
- In the icy waters off Newfoundland, the luxury liner Titanic with
2,224 persons on board sank at 2:27 a.m. after striking an iceberg just
before midnight. Over 1,500 persons drowned while 700 were rescued by the
liner Carpathia which arrived about two hours after Titanic
went down.
April
16, 1862
- Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia and appropriated
$1 million to compensate owners of freed slaves.
April
16, 1995
- Iqbal Masih, the young boy from Pakistan who spoke out against child
labor, was shot to death. At age four, he had been sold into servitude as
a carpet weaver and spent the next six years shackled to a loom. At age
ten, he escaped and began speaking out, attracting worldwide attention as
a speaker at an international labor conference in Sweden.
Iqbal Masih Web site
April 17,
1524
- Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano was probably the first European
to navigate the New York harbor waters and the Hudson River. He sailed his
ship La Dauphine past New Jersey's Sandy Hook and into the mouth of the
Hudson River.
April
17, 1989
- The Polish labor union Solidarity was granted legal status after nearly
a decade of struggle, paving the way for the downfall of the Polish
Communist Party. In the elections that followed, Solidarity candidates won
99 out of 100 parliamentary seats and eventually forced the acceptance of
a Solidarity government led by Lech Walesa.
April
18, 1775
- The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes occurred as the two
men rode out of Boston about 10 p.m. to warn patriots at Lexington and
Concord of the approaching British.
April 18,
1881
- The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, was opened. It
is now part of a complex of museums, along with the Science Museum, The
Geological Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Victoria &
Albert Museum.
April
18, 1906
- The San Francisco Earthquake struck at 5:13 a.m. followed by a massive
fire from overturned wood stoves and broken gas pipes. The fire blazed for
three days resulting in the destruction of over 10,000 acres of property
and 4,000 lives lost.
April
19, 1775
- At dawn in Massachusetts, about 70 armed militiamen stood face to face
on Lexington Green with a British advance guard unit. An unordered 'shot
heard around the world' began the American Revolution. A volley of British
rifle fire followed by a charge with bayonets left eight Americans dead
and ten wounded.
April
19, 1943
- Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto staged an armed revolt against Nazi SS troops
attempting to forcibly deport them to death camps.
April
19, 1989
- Forty seven U.S. sailors were killed by an explosion in a gun turret on
the USS Iowa during gunnery exercises in the waters off Puerto
Rico.
April
19, 1993
- At Waco, Texas, the compound of the Branch Davidian religious cult
burned to the ground with 82 persons inside, including 17 children. The
fire erupted after federal agents battered buildings in the compound with
armored vehicles following a 51 day standoff.
April
19, 1995
- At 9:02 a.m., a massive car-bomb explosion destroyed the entire side of
a nine story federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 persons,
including 19 children inside a day care center. A decorated Gulf War
veteran was later convicted for the attack.
April
20, 1999
- The deadliest school shooting in U.S. history occurred in Littleton,
Colorado, as two students armed with guns and explosives stormed into the
high school at lunch time then killed 12 classmates and a teacher and
wounded more than 20 other persons before killing themselves.
April 21,
1759
- Sir William Johnson convened an Indian council at Canajoharie NY, and
rallied the Iroquois to attack the French at Fort Niagara. The Seneca,
dependent on the British for ammunition and trade goods, agreed to an
alliance with them.
April
21, 1836
- The Battle of San Jacinto between Texans led by Sam Houston and Mexican
forces led by Santa Anna took place near present day Houston. The Texans
decisively defeated the Mexican forces thus achieving independence.
April
21, 1918
- During World War I, the Red Baron (Manfred von Richtofen) was shot down
and killed during the Battle of the Somme. He was credited with 80 kills
in less than two years, flying a red Fokker triplane. Allied pilots
recovered his body and buried him with full military honors.
* April 22,
1793
- Washington signed a Proclamation of Neutrality in Philadelphia. By
proclaiming the United States to be "friendly and impartial" toward the
belligerent powers, it cleverly and effectively dissolved the 1778 treaty
with France that had made American independence possible. The Proclamation
warned American citizens against any involvement in the European
hostilities.
The
Proclamation of Neutrality was very unpopular in the US and it soured the
last years of Washington's presidency. Three and a half years later, in
his Farewell Address to the Nation, Washington warned against America's
entanglement in permanent alliances.
April 22,
1838
- The British steamship "Sirius" became the first to cross the Atlantic
from Great Britain to New York solely on steam power. The journey from
Cork to New York took a record 18 days, 10 hours. Unlike the steamship
"Great Western," which arrived the following day, Sirius did not carry any
passengers.
*
April 22, 1864
- "In God We Trust" was included on all newly minted U.S. coins by an Act
of Congress.
April 23,
1616
- Death of William Shakespeare
April 23,
1662
- Connecticut was declared a British colony.
April 23,
1838
- The first transatlantic steamship service began with the arrival in New
York of the English steam ship Great Western. The ship had departed 15
days earlier from Bristol, England transporting 660 tons of coal and seven
passengers.
April
23
- Established by Israel's Knesset as Holocaust Day in remembrance of the
estimated six million Jews killed by Nazis.
April 24,
1704
- The Boston News-Letter, the first continuously-printed newspaper in the
British colonies, was first published. John Campbell, its first editor,
published the weekly newspaper on a single, double-sided page. During its
first years, most of its news focused on European events.
* April 24,
1800
- President John Adams signed a law establishing the Library of Congress
in Washington DC. Initially designed as a library for congressional
research, it has since amassed one of the largest collections of
manuscripts and printed material in the world with more than 100 million
items.
April
24, 1915
- In Asia Minor during World War I, the first modern-era genocide began
with the deportation of Armenian leaders from Constantinople and
subsequent massacre by Young Turks. In May, deportations of all Armenians
and mass murder by Turks began, resulting in the complete elimination of
the Armenians from the Ottoman Empire and all of the historic Armenian
homelands. Estimates vary from 800,000 to over 2,000,000 Armenians
murdered.
April 25, 1859 - Work began on the Suez Canal, supervised by
the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who designed it.
April
25, 1967
- The first law legalizing abortion was signed by Colorado Gov. John Love,
allowing abortions in cases in which a panel of three doctors unanimously
agrees.
April 26,
1607
- An expedition of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, went
ashore at Cape Henry, Virginia, to establish the first permanent English
settlement in the Western Hemisphere
April
26, 1937
- During the Spanish Civil War, the ancient town of Guernica was attacked
by German warplanes. After destroying the town in a three hour bombing
raid, the planes machine-gunned fleeing citizens.
April
26, 1944
- Federal troops seized the Chicago offices of Montgomery Ward and removed
its chairman after his refusal to obey President Roosevelt's order to
recognize a CIO union. The seizure ended when unions won an election to
represent the company's workers.
April
26, 1986
- At the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine, an explosion
resulted in a meltdown of the nuclear fuel and a radioactive cloud
spreading into the atmosphere, eventually covering most of Europe. A 300
square mile area around the plant was evacuated. Thirty one persons were
reported to have died with an additional thousand cases of cancer
expected. The plant was then encased in a concrete tomb to prevent the
release of further radiation.
April
26, 1994
- Multiracial elections were held for the first time in the history of
South Africa. With approximately 18 million blacks voting, Nelson Mandela
was elected president and F.W. de Klerk vice president.
April 27,
1749
- The first official performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks
finished early due to the outbreak of fire!
April
27, 1865
- On the Mississippi River, the worst steamship disaster in U.S. History
occurred as an explosion aboard the Sultana killing nearly 2,000
passengers, mostly Union solders who had been prisoners of war and were
returning home.
*
April 28, 1789
- On board the British ship Bounty, Fletcher Christian led a mutiny
against Captain William Bligh, setting him and 18 loyal crew members
adrift in a 23 foot open boat. Bligh survived a 47 day voyage sailing over
3,600 miles before landing on a small island. Christian sailed the
Bounty back to Tahiti, eventually settling on Pitcairn Island and
burning the ship.
April
28, 1945
- Twenty three years of Fascist rule in Italy abruptly ended as Italian
partisans shot Benito Mussolini. Other leaders of the Fascist Party and
friends of Mussolini were also killed along with his mistress, Clara
Petacci. The bodies were then hung upside down and pelted with stones by
jeering crowds in Milan.
April 29,
1429
- Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a victory over
the English
April
29, 1992
- Riots erupted in Los Angeles following the announcement that a jury in
Simi Valley, California, failed to convict four Los Angeles police
officers accused in the videotaped beating of an African American man.
*
April 30, 1789
- George Washington became the first U.S. President as he was administered
the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall at the corner of Wall
and Broad Streets in New York.
April 30,
1803
- The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France.
April
30, 1948
- Palestinian Jews declared their independence from British rule and
established the new state of Israel. The country became a destination for
tens of thousands of Nazi Holocaust survivors and a strong U.S. ally.
April
30, 1967
- Boxer Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing
championship after refusing to be inducted into the American military. He
had claimed religious exemption.
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