This day in history.....

On April 17, 1790, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84.

1961 The Bay of Pigs invasion begins

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.

1975 Cambodia falls to the Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh and government forces surrender. The war between government troops and the communist insurgents had been raging since March 1970, when Lt. Gen. Lon Nol had ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a bloodless coup and proclaimed the establishment of the Khmer Republic.

1982 Canada adopts its constitution :canada:
 
April 18th


1775: Paul Revere begins his legendary midnight ride to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, to warn patriots that British troops were approaching.


1906: A devastating earthquake and subsequent fires ravage San Francisco, California, destroying most of the city's downtown.


1949: Eire formally withdraws from the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland.


1980: The southern African nation of Rhodesia is renamed Zimbabwe after it is granted black majority rule.


1982: Queen Elizabeth II signs the Constitution Act of 1982, which replaces the British North America Act of 1867 as Canada's Constitution.
 
April 19th


1775: The "shot heard 'round the world" is fired by British troops at Lexington, Massachusetts, beginning the American Revolution.


1956: American movie star Grace Kelly becomes Princess Grace when she marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.


1982: American astronaut Sally Ride is the first woman selected for the NASA program.


1993: After a 51-day siege, U.S. federal agents storm the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas; a fire breaks out killing at least 80 Branch members and leader David Koresh.

1995: A truck bomb blows up outside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; 168 people are killed.
 
April 20th

1812: George Clinton is the first vice president of the United States to die in office.


1841: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," considered the first detective story, is published in Philadelphia.


1902: Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium.


1968: Pierre Elliot Trudeau is sworn in as Canada's new prime minister.
 
April 21st


1836: Shouting, "Remember the Alamo," General Sam Houston and his army of Texans defeat Mexican forces in the Battle of San Jacinto, winning independence for Texas.
Learn more about the Battle of San Jacinto.

1910: Mark Twain, author of the American classics The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, dies.


1918: Germany's World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious Red Baron, is shot down behind British lines.


1960: Three years after construction of Brasília began, the city replaces the crowded Rio de Janeiro as the capital of Brazil.


753 BC: According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of the god Mars, found the ancient city of Rome.
 
April 22nd

1864: Congress authorizes the use of the phrase, "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins.


1889: A gunshot signals the start of the government-sponsored Oklahoma Land Rush; thousands of Americans rush into the territory to claim land.


1915: At the Second Battle of Pyres during World War I, German troops release deadly chlorine gas on Allied troops; it is the first major use of chemical weapons.

1915: The New York Yankees debut their famous pinstripes and hat-in-the-ring logo.


1970: Earth Day, an event intended to increase public awareness of environmental issues and to promote conservation of the world's resources, was first celebrated.


1976: Barbara Walters signs a record $1 million contract with ABC and becomes the first female nightly news anchor in the United States.
 
April 25th


1859: Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt; it opens in 1869.


1945: Delegates from 50 nations meet in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.


1950: Basketball player Chuck Cooper becomes the first African American in the NBA when he is drafted by the Boston Celtics.


1956: Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" hits number one on the music charts.


1967: Governor John Love of Colorado signs the first law legalizing abortion in the United States.
 
April 26th

1607: A group of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, land at Cape Henry, Virginia, where they will establish the first permanent English settlement in the New World.


1865: Nearly two weeks after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth is cornered by a posse of U.S. soldiers; he is either shot or commits suicide.


1983: The Dow Jones Industrial average breaks the 1,200 mark for the first time.

1986: The world's worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl' plant in the Soviet Union; hundreds of thousands are exposed to dangerous levels of radioactive debris.


1989: Actress and comedian Lucille Ball, star of the popular television series I Love Lucy, dies in Los Angeles.
 
1865: Nearly two weeks after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln, actor John Wilkes Booth is cornered by a posse of U.S. soldiers; he is either shot or commits suicide.
Click to expand...

They'd have found him faster if he had been a pocket watch in Atlanta. :grumpy:
 
April 27th


1861: After Virginia secedes from the United States, West Virginia secedes from Virginia and forms its own state.


1937: In the United States, the first social security checks were distributed.


1950: Following the institution of apartheid in 1948, South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, formally segregating the country's racial groups.
 
April 28th


1789: Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on the British ship Bounty; Captain William Bligh and 18 loyal crew members were set adrift on a small boat.


1945: Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist dictator, is shot by the Italian Resistance in Dongo, Italy; his mistress, Clara Petacci, and members of his entourage are also shot.


1960: French president Charles de Gaulle resigns after his proposals for constitutional reforms are defeated in a national referendum.


1967: World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army for religious reasons; he is later convicted of draft evasion and stripped of his title.
 
1967: World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army for religious reasons; he is later convicted of draft evasion and stripped of his title.
Click to expand...

AKA Cassius Clay...
 
April 28th


1429: Joan of Arc, a 17-year-old French peasant convinced she has a divine mission to expel the British from France, leads troops into the besieged city of Orléans.


1945: German dictator Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker; the following day they commit suicide.


1980: British-born director Alfred Hitchcock, best known for psychological suspense films such as Psycho, dies at 80.

1984: Britain announces that its administration of Hong Kong will cease in 1997, when it will return the colony to China.


1992: One of the worst riots in U.S. history erupts in Los Angeles, California, when a jury acquits four white police officers of beating black motorist Rodney King.
 
April 29th

1789: George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States in New York City.


1803: The United States more than doubles its size with the Louisiana Purchase, a vast territory bought from France for $15 million.


1812: The Territory of Orleans enters the Union as the 18th state, the state of Louisiana.

1939: Franklin D. Roosevelt is the first U.S. president to appear on television when NBC begins regular broadcasting with live coverage of the opening of the New York World's Fair.


1945: Refusing to surrender after Germany is defeated by Allied forces at the end of World War II, German dictator Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his Berlin bunker.

1975: The Vietnam War ends when Duong Van Minh, president of South Vietnam, surrenders unconditionally to North Vietnamese communist forces.
 
I've always loved how all we wanted was New Orleans, for its port, and France threw in pretty much the whole midwest for free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top