http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Apr 7, 1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda & the Rwandan Slaughter
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. The Tutsis, a minority group that made up about 10 percent of Rwanda's population, received no assistance from the international community, although the United Nations later conceded that a mere 5,000 soldiers deployed at the outset would have stopped the wholesale slaughter.
The immediate roots of the 1994 genocide dated back to the early 1990s, when President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began using anti-Tutsi rhetoric to consolidate his power among the Hutus. Beginning in October 1990, there were several massacres of hundreds of Tutsis. Although the two ethnic groups were very similar, sharing the same language and culture for centuries, the law required registration based on ethnicity. The government and army began to assemble the Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") and prepared for the elimination of the Tutsis by arming Hutus with guns and machetes. In January 1994, the United Nations forces in Rwanda warned that larger massacres were imminent.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down. It is not known if the attack was carried out by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi military organization stationed outside the country at the time, or by Hutu extremists trying to instigate a mass killing. In any event, Hutu extremists in the military, led by Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, immediately went into action, murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus within hours of the crash.
The Belgian peacekeepers were killed the next day, a key factor in the withdrawal of U.N. forces from Rwanda. Soon afterward, the radio stations in Rwanda were broadcasting appeals to the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsis in the country. The army and the national police directed the slaughter, sometimes threatening Hutu civilians when persuasion didn't work. Thousands of innocent people were hacked to death with machetes by their neighbors. Despite the horrific crimes, the international community, including the United States, hesitated to take any action. They wrongly ascribed the genocide to chaos amid tribal war. President Bill Clinton later called America's failure to do anything to stop the genocide "the biggest regret" of his administration.
It was left to the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, to begin an ultimately successful military campaign for control of Rwanda. By the summer, the RPF had defeated the Hutu forces and driven them out of the country and into several neighboring nations. However, by that time, an estimated 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda had been murdered.
Apr 7, 1954: Eisenhower gives famous "domino theory" speech
President Dwight D. Eisenhower coins one of the most famous Cold War phrases when he suggests the fall of French Indochina to the communists could create a "domino" effect in Southeast Asia. The so-called "domino theory" dominated U.S. thinking about Vietnam for the next decade.
By early 1954, it was clear to many U.S. policymakers that the French were failing in their attempt to re-establish colonial control in Indochina (Vietnam), which they lost during World War II when the Japanese took control of the area. The Vietnamese nationalists, led by the communist Ho Chi Minh, were on the verge of winning a stunning victory against French forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. In just a few weeks, representatives from the world's powers were scheduled to meet in Geneva to discuss a political settlement of the Vietnamese conflict. U.S. officials were concerned that a victory by Ho's forces and/or an agreement in Geneva might leave a communist regime in control of all or part of Vietnam. In an attempt to rally congressional and public support for increased U.S. aid to the French, President Eisenhower gave an historic press conference on April 7, 1954.
He spent much of the speech explaining the significance of Vietnam to the United States. First was its economic importance, "the specific value of a locality in its production of materials that the world needs" (materials such as rubber, jute, and sulphur). There was also the "possibility that many human beings pass under a dictatorship that is inimical to the free world." Finally, the president noted, "You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the 'falling domino' principle." Eisenhower expanded on this thought, explaining, "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is a certainty that it will go over very quickly." This would lead to disintegration in Southeast Asia, with the "loss of Indochina, of Burma, of Thailand, of the Peninsula, and Indonesia following." Eisenhower suggested that even Japan, which needed Southeast Asia for trade, would be in danger.
Eisenhower's words had little direct immediate impact--a month later, Dien Bien Phu fell to the communists, and an agreement was reached at the Geneva Conference that left Ho's forces in control of northern Vietnam. In the long run, however, Eisenhower's announcement of the "domino theory" laid the foundation for U.S. involvement in Vietnam. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson both used the theory to justify their calls for increased U.S. economic and military assistance to non-communist South Vietnam and, eventually, the commitment of U.S. armed forces in 1965.
Apr 7, 1939: Italy invades Albania
On this day in 1939, in an effort to mimic Hitler's conquest of Prague, Benito Mussolini's troops, though badly organized, invade and occupy Albania.
Although the invasion of Albania was intended as but a prelude to greater conquests in the Balkans, it proved a costly enterprise for Il Duce. Albania was already dependent on Italy's economy, so had little to offer the invaders. And future exploits in neighboring nations, in Greece in particular, proved to be disastrous for the Italians.
Apr 7, 1963: Tito is made president for life
On April 7, 1963, a new Yugoslav constitution proclaims Tito the president for life of the newly named Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Formerly known as Josip Broz, Tito was born to a large peasant family in Croatia in 1892. At that time, Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and in 1913 Broz was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army. After the outbreak of World War I, he fought against Serbia and in 1915 was sent to the Russian front, where he was captured. In the prisoner-of-war camp, he converted to Bolshevism and in 1917 participated in the Russian Revolution. He fought in the Red Guard during the Russian Civil War and in 1920 returned to Croatia, which had been incorporated into the multinational but Serb-dominated kingdom of Yugoslavia.
He joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY) and was an effective organizer before his arrest as a political agitator in 1928. Released from prison in 1934, he rapidly rose in the ranks of the CPY and took the name Tito, which was a pseudonym he used in underground Party work. He went to the USSR to work with Comintern--the Soviet-led international Communist organization--and in 1937-38 survived Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's purge of the CPY leadership. In 1939, Tito became secretary-general of the CPY.
In 1941, Axis forces invaded and occupied Yugoslavia, and Tito and his communist partisans emerged as the leaders of the anti-Nazi resistance. In 1944, Soviet forces liberated Yugoslavia, and in March 1945 Marshal Tito was installed as head of a new federal Yugoslav government. Non-communists were purged from the government, and in November 1945 Tito was elected Yugoslav premier in an election limited to candidates from the communist-dominated National Liberation Front. The same month, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising the Balkan republics of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Macedonia, was proclaimed under a new constitution.
Although the Yugoslav republics were granted autonomy over some of their affairs, Tito held the ultimate power and ruled dictatorially, suppressing opposition to his rule. He soon came into conflict with Moscow, which disapproved of his independent style, especially in foreign affairs, and in early 1948 Joseph Stalin attempted to purge the Yugoslav leadership. Tito maintained control, and later in 1948 the CPY was expelled from Cominform, the confederation of Eastern European communist parties. Isolated from the USSR and its satellites, Yugoslavia was courted by the West, which offered aid and military assistance, including an informal association with NATO. After Stalin's death in 1953, Yugoslav-Soviet relations gradually improved, but Tito was critical of the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and attempted to develop common policies with countries unaligned with the United States or the USSR, such as Egypt and India.
In 1953, Tito was elected Yugoslav president and was repeatedly re-elected until 1963, when his term was made unlimited. Although he used his secret police to purge political opponents, the average Yugoslavian enjoyed more freedoms than the inhabitants of any other communist country in Eastern Europe. Tito died in May 1980, just a few days before his 88th birthday.
After the collapse of communism in 1989, ethnic tensions resurfaced, and in 1991 the Yugoslav federation broke apart, leaving only Serbia and Montenegro remaining in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, civil war erupted over Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's attempts to keep ethnically Serbian areas in other republics under Yugoslav rule. In March 1999, NATO began airstrikes against the Milosevic regime in an attempt to end genocide in Kosovo and enforce the area's autonomy. In October 2000, Milosevic was ousted in a popular revolution. He was then arrested and charged with crimes against humanity and genocide. He died on March 11, 2006, in prison in the Hague, before his trial ended.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
30 - Scholars' estimate Jesus crucified by Roman troops in
Jerusalem
451 - Attila's Hun's plunder Metz
529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental
work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
1118 - Pope Gelasius II excommunicated Henry V, Holy Roman
Emperor
1348 - Prague U, 1st university in central Europe, formed by
Charles IV
1456 - Louis van Burbon becomes prince-bishop of Luik
1498 - Crowd storms Savonarola's convent San Marco Florence,
Italy
1509 - France declares war on Venice
1521 - Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens bans Lutheran books
1521 - Magelhaes' fleet reaches Cebu
1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the
Portuguese East Indies.
1584 - Ieper surrenders to duke Van Parma
1625 - Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed German supreme
commander
1645 - Michael Cardozo becomes 1st Jewish lawyer in Brazil
1652 - Dutch establish settlement at Cape Town, South Africa
1655 - Fabio Chigi replaces Pope Innocent X as Alexander VII
1712 - Slave revolt (NYC)
1724 - Johann S Bach's "John Passion" premieres in
Leipzig
1739 - Dick Turpin executed in England for horse stealing
Composer Johann Sebastian BachComposer Johann Sebastian Bach
1776 - Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
1788 - 1st settlement in Ohio, at Marietta
1795 - France adopts the metre as the basic measure of
length.
1798 - Mississippi Territory organized
1805 - Premiere of Beethoven's "Eroica" (conducted
by himself)
1818 - General Andrew Jackson conquers St Marks Fla from
Seminole indians
1827 - English chemist John Walker invents wooden matches
1831 - Dom Pedro abdicates to son, Dom Pedro II crowned
emperor of Brazil
1860 - Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe
1862 - Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tenn,
Island #10 falls
1863 - Battle of Charleston SC, failed Federal fleet attack
on Fort Sumter
1865 - Battle of Farmville VA
1868 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of
Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian
political assassinations, and only federal politician.
1888 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Yellow
Face" (BG)
1890 - Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
US President & General Andrew JacksonUS President &
General Andrew Jackson 1891 - Nebraska introduces 8 hour work day
1901 - SDAP demands general voting right/abolishing First
Chamber
1902 - Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
1906 - Act of Algeciras drawn between Moroccan police &
banking business
1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1917 - De Falla's ballet "El Sombrero de tres
Picos," premieres in Madrid
1917 - James Barries' "Old Lady Shows Her,"
premieres in London
1919 - 1st parcel of land is purchased for Cleveland
Metroparks
1922 - Naval Reserve #3, "Teapot Dome," leased to
Harry F Sinclair
1923 - 1st brain tumor operation under local anesthetic
performed (Beth Israel Hospital in NYC) by Dr K Winfield Ney
1923 - Workers Party of America (NYC) becomes official
communist party
1926 - Forest fire burns 900 acres & kills 2 (San Luis
Obispo California)
1926 - Mussolini's Irish wife breaks his nose
1927 - Using phone lines TV is sent from Wash DC to NYC
1928 - 44-yr old NY Ranger GM Lester Patrick replaces his
injured goaltender in a Stanley Cup game, & beats Montreal Maroons 2-1
Italian Dictator Benito MussoliniItalian Dictator Benito
Mussolini 1931 - Seals Stadium opens in SF
1933 - 1st 2 NAZI anti-Jewish laws, bars Jews from legal
& public service
1933 - Prohibition ends, Utah becomes 38th state to ratify
21st Amendment
1933 - University Bridge, Seattle opens for traffic
1934 - In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspended his campaign of
civil disobedience
1939 - Italy invades Albania
1940 - 1st black to appear on US stamp (Booker T.
Washington)
1940 - 7th Golf Masters Championship: Jimmy Demaret wins,
shooting a 280
1941 - British generals O'Connor & Neame captured in
North Africa
1942 - Heavy German assault on Malta
1943 - Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini met for an Axis
conference in Salzburg
1943 - British/US troops make contact at Wadi Akarit,
South-Tunisia
1943 - Lt colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded
at allied air raid
1943 - NFL adopts free substitution rule
1944 - General Montgomery speaks to generals about invastion
plan
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1945 - 1st & last assault of German Rammkommando on US
bombers
1945 - US B-17's bombs range at Luneburg
1945 - US planes intercept Japanese fleet heading for
Okinawa on a suicide superbattleship Yamato & four destroyers were sunk
1946 - 10th Golf Masters Championship: Herman Keiser wins,
shooting a 282
1946 - Part of East Prussia incorporated into Russian SFSR
1946 - Syria's independence from France is officially
recognised.
1948 - World Health Organization forms by UN
1948 - A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China,
leaving twenty monks dead.
1949 - "South Pacific" opens at Majestic Theater
NYC for 1928 performances
1951 - 15th Golf Masters Championship: Ben Hogan wins,
shooting a 280
1951 - American Bowling Congress begins 1st masters
tournament
1951 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1953 - 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight
1953 - Dag Hammarskjoeld of Sweden elected 2nd UN
general-secretary
1954 - German government refuses to recognize DDR
1954 - Pres Eisenhower fears "domino-effect" in
Indo-China
1954 - WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins
broadcasting
1956 - 10th NBA Championship: Ph Warriors beat Ft Wayne
Pistons, 4 games to 1
1956 - Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco
1957 - 21st Golf Masters Championship: Doug Ford wins,
shooting a 283
1957 - Last of NY's electric trolleys completes its final
run
1958 - Dodgers erect 42-foot screen in left field at LA
Coliseum to cut down on home runs, since it is only 250 feet down the line
1959 - Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
1959 - Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford Calif
1962 - Umrigar slams 172* v WI at Port-of-Spain in 248
minutes
1962 - Yugoslav ex-president Milovan Djilas returns to jail
Golfer Jack NicklausGolfer Jack Nicklaus 1963 - 27th Golf
Masters Championship: Jack Nicklaus wins, shooting a 286
1963 - Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic
1963 - Public stock offering of 115,000 shares in Milwaukee
Braves withdrawn after only 13,000 shares are sold to 1,600 new investors
1964 - IBM announces the System/360.
1965 - Bevan Congdon makes a stumping as 12th man NZ v
Pakistan
1966 - US recovers lost H-bomb from Mediterranean floor
(whoops!)
1967 - Israeli/Syrian border fights
1967 - Tom Donahue, SF dj begins new radio format -
Progressive (KMPX-FM)
1969 - Dodgers' Bill Singer is credited with 1st official
save, against Reds
1969 - Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private
possession of obscene material
1969 - Ted Williams begins managing Wash Senators, they lose
to Yanks 8-4
1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of
RFC 1.
1970 - "Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon
Marigolds," premieres in NYC
1970 - 42nd Academy Awards - "Midnight Cowboy,"
John Wayne & Maggie Smith win
1970 - Milwaukee Brewers (former Seat Pilots) 1st game, lose
to Angels 12-0
Actor John WayneActor John Wayne 1971 - Dismissal of Curt
Flood's suit against baseball is upheld by
1971 - Pres Nixon orders lt Calley (Mi Lai) free
1971 - WCJB TV channel 20 in Gainesville, FL (ABC/NBC)
begins broadcasting 3-judge US Circuit Court of Appeals
1973 - Cleveland sets day-game & opening-game attendance
records of 74,420
1973 - Doug Walters' best Test Cricket bowling, 5-66 v WI
Georgetown
1974 - Herb Gardner's "Thieves," premieres in NYC
1976 - Chinese Politburo fires vice-premier Deng Xiaoping
1977 - Consumer Product Safety Comn bans "TRIS"
flame-retardant
1977 - Toronto Blues Jays 1st game, they beat Chicago 9-5
1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his
driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 - Guttenberg bible sold for $2,000,000 in NYC
1978 - Pres Carter defers production of neutron bomb
1978 - US Court of Appeals upholds Commissioner Kuhn's
voiding of attempted player sales by A's owner Charlie Finley in June 1976
1979 - Henri La Mothe dives 28' into 12 3/8" of water
1979 - Houston Astro Ken Forsch no-hits Atlanta Braves, 6-0
Chinese Communist Party Leader Deng XiaopingChinese
Communist Party Leader Deng Xiaoping 1979 - Islander's Mike Bossy scores 4
goals against Flyers
1980 - Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during
hostage crisis
1981 - Belgium Eyskens government forms
1981 - Willem Klein mentally extracts 13th root of a
100-digit # in 29 sec
1982 - Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
1982 - Penguins 1-Isles 8-Preliminary-Isles hold 1-0 lead
1983 - Caps 4-Isles 2-Patrick Div Semifinals-series tied 1-1
1983 - Oldest human skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered
in Egypt
1983 - STS-6 specialist Story Musgrave & Don Peterson
1st STS spacewalk
1983 - WIBC Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, attracts
75,480 women bowlers for 83-day event
1984 - Detroit Tiger Jack Morris no-hits Chicago White Sox,
4-0
1985 - 14th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by
Alice Miller
1985 - 1st live telecast of Easter Parade
1985 - NJ General Hershel Walker runs for USFL record 233
yards
1986 - Wrestlemania II at 3 locations, Hulk Hogan beats King
Kong Bundy
WWF Wrestler Hulk HoganWWF Wrestler Hulk Hogan 1987 -
National Museum of Female Physician opens in Wash DC
1987 - Al Campanis, Dodger executive for more than 40 years,
resigns, after making racial remarks on "Nightline"
1988 - Devils 3-2 over Isles, 1st round tied 1-1
1988 - Gerrit John Heijns murderer, arrested
1988 - Russia announced it would withdraw its troops from
Afghanistan
1988 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1989 - Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen
deaths
1989 - NY Supreme Court takes America's Cup away from SD
Yacht Club for using a catamaran against NZ. Appeals court eventually overrules
1990 - BPAA US Open by Ron Palombi Jr
1990 - Farm Aid IV concert
1990 - John Poindexter (Natl Sec Advisor) found guilty on
Iran-Contra scandal
1990 - Michael Milken pleads innocent to security law
violations
1990 - NY Rangers beat NY Islanders 5-2, Rangers lead 2-0 in
preliminary
1990 - Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated
event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma
1991 - "Big Love" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC
after 41 performances
1991 - "Shadowlands" closes at Brooks Atkinson
Theater NYC after 169 perfs
1991 - 3rd Seniors Golf Tradition: Jack Nicklaus
1991 - Chris Johnson wins LPGA Ping/Welch's Golf
Championship
1991 - Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth
1991 - George Washington Bridge raises toll from $3.00 to
$4.00
1991 - Wrestlemania VII scheduled in LA, actually performed
03/24
1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.
1993 - Dante Bichette hits the 1st Colo Rockie HR (Shea
Stadium NY)
1994 - "Medea" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for
82 performances
1994 - 1st night game at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, Indians 6
Seattle 2
1994 - NY Yankees beat Texas Rangers 18-6
1994 - Singer Percy Sledge pleads guilty to tax evasion
1994 - Vatican acknowledges Holocaust (Nazis killing Jews)
for 1st time
1995 - Baseball exhibition season begins late due to strike
1996 - 8th Seniors Golf Tradition: Jack Nicklaus
1996 - Jayasuriya hits fastest ODI fifty off 17 balls v Pak,
Singapore
1996 - Kelly Robbins wins Sacramento 12 Bridges LPGA Golf Classic
1996 - Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to win Singer Cup in
Singapore
1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Ft Myers FL on
WRXK 96.1 FM
1999 - The World Trade Organisation rules in favor of the
United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over
bananas.
2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
Iraqi President Saddam HusseinIraqi President Saddam Hussein
2003 - U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days
later.
2003 - 37th CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards: Toby Keith
& Martina McBride wins
2005 - The Head of government of the Federal District,
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, faces an impeachment process at the Mexican
Congress.
2009 - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is
sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by
security forces.
2012 - Joyce Banda becomes President of Malawi
2012 - 130 Pakistani Army soldiers are buried in an
avalanche near the Siachen Glacier
2013 - 15 people, including 9 children, are killed by an air
strike on Aleppo by the Syrian Air Force
2013 - Sweden wins the 2013 World Men's Curling Championship
defeating Canada
1712 - A slave revolt broke out in New York City. 1798 - The territory of Mississippi was organized. 1862 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, TN. 1864 - The first camel race in America was held in Sacramento, California. 1888 - P.F. Collier published a weekly periodical for the first time under the name "Collier’s." 1922 - U.S. Secretary of Interior leased Teapot Dome naval oil reserves in Wyoming. 1927 - The first long-distance TV transmission was sent from Washington, DC, to New York City. The audience saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. 1930 - The first steel columns were set for the Empire State Building. 1933 - Prohibition ended in the United States. 1940 - Booker T. Washington became the first black to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp. 1943 - British and American armies linked up between Wadi Akarit and El Guettar in North Africa to form a solid line against the German army. 1945 - The Japanese battleship Yamato, the world’s largest battleship, was sunk during the battle for Okinawa. The fleet was headed for a suicide mission. 1948 - The musical "South Pacific" by Rogers and Hammerstein debuted on Broadway. 1948 - The United Nations' World Health Organization began operations. 1953 - The Big Four met for the first time in 2 years to seek an end to their air conflicts. 1953 - IBM unveiled the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. It was IBM's first commercially available scientific computer. 1957 - The last of New York City's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan. 1963 - At the age of 23, Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Green Jacket at the Masters Tournament. 1963 - Yugoslavia proclaimed itself a Socialist republic. 1963 - Josip Broz Tito was proclaimed to be the leader of Yugoslavia for life. 1966 - The U.S. recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain. 1967 - Israel reported that they had shot down six Syrian MIGs. 1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material. 1970 - John Wayne won his first and only Oscar for his role in "True Grit." He had been in over 200 films. 1971 - U.S. President Nixon pledged to withdraw 100,000 more men from Vietnam by December. 1980 - The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran and imposed economic sanctions in response to the taking of hostages on November 4, 1979. 1983 - Specialist Story Musgrave and Don Peterson made the first Space Shuttle spacewalk. 1983 - The Chinese government canceled all remaining sports and cultural exchanges with the U.S. for 1983. 1985 - In Goteborg, Sweden, China swept all of the world table tennis titles except for men's doubles. 1985 - In Sudan, Gen. Swar el-Dahab took over the Presidency while President Gaafar el-Nimeiry was visiting the U.S. and Egypt. 1985 - The Soviet Union announced a unilateral freeze on medium-range nuclear missiles. 1987 - In Oklahoma a 16-month-old baby was killed by a pit bull. On the same day a 67-year-old man was killed by another pit bull in Dayton, OH. 1988 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to final terms of a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet troops began leaving on May 16, 1988. 1988 - In Fort Smith, AR, 13 white supremacists were acquitted on charges for plotting to overthrow the U.S. federal government. 1989 - A Soviet submarine carrying nuclear weapons sank in the Norwegian Sea. 1990 - In the U.S., John Poindexter was found guilty of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. The convictions were later reversed on appeal. 1990 - At Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center a display of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs went on display. On the same day the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges. The charges resulted in acquittal. 1994 - Civil war erupted in Rwanda between the Patriotic Front rebel group and government soldiers. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the months that followed. 1998 - Mary Bono, the widow of Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term. 1999 - Yugoslav authorities sealed off Kosovo's main border crossings to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving. 2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000. The bill reversed a Depression-era law and allows senior citizens to earn money without losing Social Security retirement benefits. 2002 - The Roman Catholic archdiocese announced that six priests from the Archdiocese of New York were suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct. 2009 - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
1862 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh. 1913 5,000 suffragists march to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. , seeking the vote for women. 1927 U.S. secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover’s Washington speech was seen and heard in New York in the first long-distance television transmission. 1948 The World Health Organization, a UN agency, was founded. 1949 Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s Pulitzer Prize winner, South Pacific opened on Broadway. 1994 Hutu extremists in Rwanda began massacring ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus. In 100 days of killing, an estimated 800,000 are murdered. 2003 Cécile de Brunhoff, creator of Babar the elephant, died. 2009 Vermont becomes the fourth U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, just days after Iowa becomes the third.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr07.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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