This day in history.....

[Mare]

March 31st

Terri Schiavo Dies


1774: British Parliament responds to the Boston Tea Party by passing the Boston Port Act, which closes the port of Boston; Americans regard this as the first of the so-called "Intolerable Acts."

1870: Thomas Peterson Mundy of New Jersey becomes the first black man to cast a ballot after the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives blacks the right to vote.

1889: The Eiffel Tower, built for the Paris World's Fair, opens in France.

1949: Newfoundland becomes the 10th province in Canada.

1976: The New Jersey Supreme Court sets a precedent, ruling that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan can be taken off life support so she can "die with dignity."

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

1967: In London, Jimi Hendrix burned his first guitar on stage on this date.

 

[chcr]

1967: In London, Jimi Hendrix burned his first guitar on stage on this date.

" "Scuse me, while I kiss this guy. "

*snort, giggle, snort*

 

[Mare]

April 1st


1621: Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags, and John Carver, governor of Plymouth Colony, sign the first peace treaty between Native Americans and Pilgrims.

1789: The newly established U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting.

1972: The first major league baseball players strike in the U.S. begins.

1979: Following a referendum, Iran is declared an Islamic Republic by the Shiite Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

1984: R&B singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in Los Angeles.

1999: Nunavut becomes the third independent territory in Canada; it is the homeland of Canada's Inuit, who comprise the vast majority of the population of Nunavut.

 

[Mare]

April 2nd



1513: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, searching for the mythical fountain of youth, discovers Florida.

1792: Congress passes the Coinage Act, authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital.

1917: President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress to enter World War I, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy."

1932: In New York, aviator Charles Lindbergh pays a ransom to secure the return of his kidnapped infant son; the baby is later found murdered.

1982: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, a British dependency; Britain responds by sending in its armed forces to retake the islands.

2003: Special operations forces rescue U.S. soldier Jessica Lynch, who was captured in the early days fighting in Iraq.

 

[Mare]

April 3rd


1860: The legendary Pony Express begins mail service between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

1882: Jesse James, notorious U.S. bank and train robber, is shot in the back by a member of his own gang seeking to claim reward money.

1936: Bruno Richard Hauptmann, convicted of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh's baby, is executed by electrocution.

1991: The U.N. Security Council passes a cease-fire resolution to end the Persian Gulf War.

1996: Theodore Kaczynski is arrested on charges that he is the Unabomber, an anarchist whose homemade bombs killed three and wounded many others over 17 years.

 

[Mare]

April 4th


1818: Congress approves the U.S. flag with 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars; a star is to be added for each new state.

1850: Los Angeles is incorporated as a city the same year that California is admitted to the United States.

1949: NATO is formed by 12 western democratic nations, including the United States and Great Britain, to safeguard against Soviet aggression.

1964: The Beatles hold the top five spots on Billboard's Hot 100, setting an all-time record.

1968: American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee; in 1969 James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the shooting.

 

[Mare]

April 6th


1830: Joseph Smith founds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Church of Christ until 1834.

1896: The first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens, Greece.

1909: American explorer Robert Peary, his assistant Matthew Henson, and four Inuit guides are the first recorded people to reach the North Pole.

1917: The U.S. declares war on Germany and enters World War I.

 

[Mare]

April 7th


1919: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the first jazz band to record its music, makes its debut in London, England; its song “Tiger Rag” becomes popular.

1940: Educator Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American pictured on a U.S. postage stamp.

1948: The World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations dedicated to improving health worldwide, comes into existence.

1949: Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical play South Pacific, opens on Broadway; it wins a Pulitzer Prize the following year.

1980: U.S. president Jimmy Carter breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran during the hostage crisis.

1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda a day after an airplane, carrying the nation's president, Juvénal Habyarimana, was shot down.

 

[Mare]

April 9th



1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, paving the way for the end of the Civil War.

1959: NASA announces the selection of America's first seven astronauts, chosen to participate in the Mercury program, the nation's first manned space program.

1968: Slain American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., is buried in Atlanta, Georgia.

1970: Paul McCartney announces the official breakup of the Beatles.

 

[Mare]

April 10th



1790: The first U.S. patent law, protecting inventions against piracy, is approved.

1866: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York.

1912: The British luxury liner Titanic sets off on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean; five days later it sinks after hitting an iceberg.

1925: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is published; it will become one of the most important novels of the 20th century.

1974: Golda Meir, a founder of the state of Israel, announces that she is resigning as prime minister.

 

[Mare]

April 11th


1951: U.S. president Harry Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur from his commands during the Korean War after the general publicly criticized the administration's war policy.

1970: Apollo 13 blasts off toward the moon; an explosion two days later forces astronauts to abort the mission and make a daring return to earth.

1979: Idi Amin is overthrown as president of Uganda; during his brutal regime, an estimated 300,000 civilians were killed.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

April 9th 1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, paving the way for the end of the Civil War.

 

[Mare]

April 12th


1861: The American Civil War begins when Confederate troops open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay.

1945: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, recently elected to a record fourth term in office, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage; Vice President Harry Truman is sworn in as president.

1955: The polio vaccine prepared by U.S. physician Jonas E. Salk is released for general use in the United States.

1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, aboard Vostok 1, is the first man to travel to space; he makes one orbit of the earth during his 108-minute flight.

1999: A U.S. District Court judge cites President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for lying under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

 

[Mare]

April 13th


1796: The first known elephant brought to the United States arrives from Bengal, India.

1943: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1964: Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American actor to win an Academy Award, for his performance in Lilies of the Field.

1970: An oxygen tank explodes aboard the U.S. lunar landing mission Apollo 13 as it nears the moon, forcing the astronauts to return to Earth.

1997: Golfer Tiger Woods, 21, becomes the youngest person to win the Masters and the first African American and Asian American champion.

 

[Mare]

April 14th




1775: The first American society for the abolition of slavery is organized by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia.

1828: American lexicographer Noah Webster publishes the first edition of his dictionary under the title American Dictionary of the English Language.

1865: Confederate malcontent John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln dies early the next morning.

1910: President William Taft starts an American tradition, throwing out the first ball on opening day of the major league baseball season.

1912: The Titanic strikes an iceberg four days into its maiden voyage; over 1,500 passengers drown when the ship sinks early the next morning.

 

[Mare]

April 15th


1865: U.S. president Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous night at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as president.

1912: The British luxury liner Titanic sinks after colliding with an iceberg; it is among the worst maritime disasters in history, with over 1,500 dead.

1947: Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American in the 20th century to play in a major league baseball game.

1986: In retaliation for the terrorist bombing of a Berlin discotheque, the United States launches an air raid against Libya; nearly 40 people are killed.

1990: The enigmatic Swedish film actress Greta Garbo dies in New York.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

April 15th


1865: U.S. president Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous night at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.; Vice President Andrew Johnson is sworn in as president.

From Johnson's hometown newspaper, today's edition. The homestead is now a national park property here. Just in case anybody cares or something. Seems not everybody was proud of the local boy's accomplishments...

Lllliiinnk

 

[Gato_Solo]

So what would you call them (the grafitti artists)? Sore losers?

Here's a trivia question, SnP...and not an insult, so please don't take it that way...Why did the South lose the Civil war? They had better soldiers...better generals...etc...so what happened?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Now ask yourself...do you really want me to answer either of those questions?