Hard to believe that it has been one full year already. There have been quite a few changes in format over that span, as well. The very first format, which I am shocked by how short it was, is posted right down below. I have added the lengthier version, as well, below that.
I will continue to work on these and try to improve them over time, make them more uniquely my own. But it takes a lot of work, frankly. So much work, that I would be lying if I told you that I enjoyed doing them, or even had time to really read and review some of the undeniably fascinating things that have happened each day in history.
Still, nonetheless, I continue, because it seems rewarding to post in it's own right, and many people seem to appreciate these things. So, they will continue.
That said, I am glad, at least, that these finally reached the year marker, so that I have something already to post pretty much everyday from now on. Believe it or not, that makes a difference, pyschologically, just being able to have something substantive to print, with minimal work. Most of the blog entries that I have posted take quite a bit of work and crafting, at least on some level. There are some that are truly minimalist, with basically a connection to a link or something, and few, if any, words to accompany them. Most of the log entries, I am proud to say, are relatively substantive.
Here was the first ever posting of "On This Day in History", which was first published a year ago, on April 15, 2013:
I have been thinking about incorporating a new section on this blog. Essentially summing up some of the most important events to have happened on any given day in history, and perhaps adding my own special, personal landmarks whenever appropriate.
This is by no means meant to be an extensive, or all-encompassing history, but just a brief synopsis of some interesting events that transpired on this day in the past.
So, let me try it out, and see how well it works (or not so much, perhaps).
Important historical events on April 15:
1450 - France defeats Britain in the Battle of Formigny during the Hundred Years War
1784 - The first balloon was flown over Ireland
1794 - The "Courier Francais" became the first French daily newspaper printed in the United States
1858 - Emile Durkheim, a prominent French sociologist, was born
1861 - Following the attack on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln declares a state of insurrection and Union troops begin to move, effectively starting the Civil War
1865 - President Abraham Lincoln dies from gunshot wounds that he received from John Wilkes Booth
1912 - The Titanic sank from contact with an iceberg on it's maiden voyage, in what turned out to be the final voyage for it, as well.
1945 - British and Canadian forces liberate Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, while US forces occupy Nazi concentration camp Colditz. Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his home estate at Hyde Park.
1947 - Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and scored the winning run. 50 years later on this date, he was honored by having his number, 42, retired.
1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, noted author and existentialist philosopher dies.
1989 - Chinese students protest in Tiananmen Square, in Beijing, protest for greater rights and democracy.
1991 - European nations lift most of the sanctions that had been imposed on the apartheid regime in South Africa, as the process of reform continues.
1998 - Pol Pot, the former leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, died.
Sources:
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-15
http://www.historyorb.com/day/april/15
http://www.on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr15.htm
Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Apr 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
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.
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, to a family of sharecroppers. Growing up, he excelled at sports and attended the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was the first athlete to letter in four varsity sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. After financial difficulties forced Robinson to drop out of UCLA, he joined the army in 1942 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. After protesting instances of racial discrimination during his military service, Robinson was court-martialed in 1944. Ultimately, though, he was honorably discharged.
After the army, Robinson played for a season in the Negro American League. In 1945, Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, recruited Robinson, who was known for his integrity and intelligence as well as his talent, to join one of the club's farm teams. In 1947, Robinson was called up to the Majors and soon became a star infielder and outfielder for the Dodgers, as well as the National League's Rookie of the Year. In 1949, the right-hander was named the National League's Most Valuable Player and league batting champ. Robinson played on the National League All-Star team from 1949 through 1954 and led the Dodgers to six National League pennants and one World Series, in 1955. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility.
Despite his talent and success as a player, Robinson faced tremendous racial discrimination throughout his career, from baseball fans and some fellow players. Additionally, Jim Crow laws prevented Robinson from using the same hotels and restaurants as his teammates while playing in the South.
After retiring from baseball in 1957, Robinson became a businessman and civil rights activist. He died October 24, 1972, at age 53, in Stamford, Connecticut.
Apr 15, 1865: Lincoln is pronounced dead
On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln succumbs to a gunshot wound inflicted by an assassin the night before; he is pronounced dead at 7:22 am.
An angry Confederate actor, John Wilkes Booth, shot Lincoln in the back of the head while the president, first lady Mary Todd Lincoln and another couple were attending a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth managed to escape during the ensuing pandemonium. A 23-year-old doctor named Charles Leale was in the audience and rushed up to the presidential box immediately upon hearing the shot and Mrs. Lincoln's scream. He found the president slumped in his chair, paralyzed and struggling to breathe. Several soldiers carried Lincoln to a house across the street and placed him on a bed. When the surgeon general arrived at the house, he concluded that Lincoln could not be saved and would die during the night.
Vice President Andrew Johnson, members of Lincoln's cabinet and several of the president's closest friends stood vigil by Lincoln's bedside until he was officially pronounced dead at 7:22 am. The first lady lay on a bed in an adjoining room with her eldest son Robert at her side, overwhelmed with shock and grief.
The president's body was placed in a temporary coffin, draped with a flag and escorted by armed cavalry to the White House, where surgeons conducted a thorough autopsy. Edward Curtis, an Army surgeon in attendance, later wrote that, during the autopsy, while he removed Lincoln's brain, a bullet dropped out through my fingers into a basin with a clatter. The doctors stopped to stare at the offending bullet, the cause of such mighty changes in the world's history as we may perhaps never realize. During the autopsy, Mary Lincoln sent the surgeons a note requesting they cut a lock of Lincoln's hair for her.
News of the president's death traveled quickly and, by the end of the day, flags across the country flew at half-staff, businesses were closed and people who had recently rejoiced at the end of the Civil War mourned Lincoln's shocking assassination.
Apr 15, 1920: The Sacco-Vanzetti case draws national attention
A paymaster and a security guard are killed during a mid-afternoon armed robbery of a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Out of this rather unremarkable crime grew one of the most famous trials in American history and a landmark case in forensic crime detection.
Both Fred Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli were shot several times as they attempted to move the payroll boxes of their New England shoe company. The two armed thieves, identified by witnesses as "Italian-looking," fled in a Buick. The car was found abandoned in the woods several days later. Through evidence found in the car, police suspected that a man named Mike Boda was involved. However, Boda was one step ahead of the authorities, and he fled to Italy.
Police did manage to catch Boda's colleagues, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were each carrying loaded weapons at the time of their arrest. Sacco had a .32 caliber handgun--the same type as was used to kill the security guards--and bullets from the same manufacturer as those recovered from the shooting. Vanzetti was identified as a participant in a previous robbery attempt of a different shoe company.
Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, believing that social justice would come only through the destruction of governments. In the early 1920s, mainstream America developed a fear of communism and radical politics that resulted in a anti-communist, anti-immigrant hysteria. Sacco and Vanzetti, recognizing the uphill battle ahead, tried to put this fear to their advantage by drumming up support from the left wing with claims that the prosecution was politically motivated. Millions of dollars were raised for their defense by the radical left around the world. The American embassy in Paris was even bombed in response to the Sacco-Vanzetti case; a second bomb intended for the embassy in Lisbon was intercepted.
The well-funded defense put up a good fight, bringing forth nearly 100 witnesses to testify on the defendants' behalf. Ultimately, eyewitness identification wasn't the crucial issue; rather, it was the ballistics tests on the murder weapon. Prosecution experts, with rather primitive instruments, testified that Sacco's gun was the murder weapon. Defense experts claimed just the opposite. In the end, on July 14, 1921, Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty; they were sentenced to death.
However, the ballistics issue refused to go away as Sacco and Vanzetti waited on death row. In addition, a jailhouse confession by another criminal fueled the controversy. In 1927, Massachusetts Governor A. T. Fuller ordered another inquiry to advise him on the clemency request of the two anarchists. In the meantime, there had been many scientific advances in the field of forensics. The comparison microscope was now available for new ballistics tests and proved beyond a doubt that Sacco's gun was indeed the murder weapon.
Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927, but even the new evidence didn't completely quell the controversy. In October 1961, and again in March 1983, new investigations were conducted into the matter, but both revealed that Sacco's revolver was indeed the one that fired the bullet and killed the security guards. On August 23, 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had not received a fair trial.
Apr 15, 1998: Pol Pot dies
Pol Pot, the architect of Cambodia's killing fields, dies of apparently natural causes while serving a life sentence imposed against him by his own Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge, organized by Pol Pot in the Cambodian jungle in the 1960s, advocated a radical communist revolution that would wipe out Western influences in Cambodia and set up a solely agrarian society. In 1970, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, Khmer Rouge guerrillas began a large-scale insurgency against Cambodian government forces, soon gaining control of nearly a third of the country.
By 1973, secret U.S. bombings of Cambodian territory controlled by the Vietnamese communists forced the Vietnamese out of the country, creating a power vacuum that was soon filled by Pol Pot's rapidly growing Khmer Rouge movement. In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, overthrew the pro-U.S. regime, and established a new government, the Kampuchean People's Republic.
As the new ruler of Cambodia, Pol Pot set about transforming the country into his vision of an agrarian utopia. The cities were evacuated, factories and schools closed, and currency and private property was abolished. Anyone believed to be an intellectual, such as someone who spoke a foreign language, was immediately killed. Skilled workers were also killed, in addition to anyone caught in possession of eyeglasses, a wristwatch, or any other modern technology. In forced marches punctuated with atrocities from the Khmer Rouge, the millions who failed to escape Cambodia were herded onto rural collective farms.
Between 1975 and 1978, an estimated two million Cambodians died by execution, forced labor, and famine. In 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, capturing Phnom Penh in early 1979. A moderate communist government was established, and Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreated back into the jungle.
In 1985, Pol Pot officially retired but remained the effective head of the Khmer Rouge, which continued its guerrilla actions against the government in Phnom Penh. In 1997, however, he was put on trial by the organization after an internal power struggle ousted him from his leadership position. Sentenced to life imprisonment by a "people's tribunal," which critics derided as a show trial, Pol Pot later declared in an interview, "My conscience is clear." Much of the international community hoped that his captors would extradite him to stand trial for his crimes against humanity, but he died of apparently natural causes while under house arrest in 1998.
Apr 15, 1944: Soviets capture Tarnopol in Poland
On this day in 1944, the Soviet Red Army occupies Tarnopol, one of the principal cities of Eastern Galicia, across the former Polish border.
Tarnopol, traditionally a part of Poland, then part of the Soviet Union, had become German-occupied territory in the great German offensive eastward in June 1941. One hundred and eighty Jews were shot in Tarnopol early in the German occupation; tens of thousands of Polish Jews would be slaughtered as German forces occupied larger swaths of the former eastern Poland. The Red Army naturally represented liberation for the Jewish survivors of German totalitarianism—although, Jews would eventually find their communist liberators to represent a totalitarianism of another stripe.
Also on this day in 1944, the U.S. plans Operation Wedlock, an invasion of the Kurile Islands of northern Japan. American and Canadian troops, aided by the Ninth Fleet and American bombers ordered to bomb the islands every day, prepare to occupy the islands long disputed between Japan and Russia.
The plan was a fiction. There was no invasion—or a Ninth Fleet. It was all a ruse to divert Japanese attention away from the Marianas Islands, the Allies' true target. Operation Forager, the real thing, was launched on June 15, 1944, with a landing on Saipan, one of the three Marianas Islands. It was a U.S. success, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Japanese—both from combat and ritual suicide—including that of the Japanese commander, Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito.
Apr 15, 1959: Castro visits the United States
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.
On January 1, 1959, Castro's revolutionary forces overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. From the beginning of the new regime in Cuba, U.S. officials worried about the bearded revolutionary. Castro's anti-American rhetoric, his stated plans to nationalize foreign properties in Cuba, and his association with a number of suspected leftists (including his second-in-command, Che Guevara) prompted American diplomats to keep a wary eye on him. Though he worried politicians, American reporters adored him--his tales of the days spent fighting a guerrilla war in Cuba, the fatigues and combat boots he favored, and his bushy beard cut a striking figure. In April 1959, Castro accepted an invitation from the American Society of Newspaper Editors to visit the U.S.
The trip got off to an inauspicious start when it became clear that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had no intention of meeting with Castro. Instead, Eisenhower went to the golf course to avoid any chance meeting with Castro. Castro gave a talk to the Council on Foreign Affairs, a New York-based group of private citizens and former government officials interested in U.S. international relations. Castro was confrontational during the session, indicating that Cuba would not beg the United States for economic assistance. Angered by some of the questions from the audience, Castro abruptly left the meeting. Finally, before departing for Cuba, Castro met with Vice President Richard Nixon. Privately, Nixon hoped that his talk would push Castro "in the right direction," and away from any radical policies, but he came away from his discussion full of doubt about the possibility of reorienting Castro's thinking. Nixon concluded that Castro was "either incredibly naive about communism or under communist discipline-my guess is the former."
Relations between the United States and Castro deteriorated rapidly following the April visit. In less than a year, President Eisenhower ordered the CIA to begin arming and training a group of Cuban exiles to attack Cuba (the disastrous attack, known as the Bay of Pigs invasion, was eventually carried out during the Kennedy administration). The heated Cold War animosity between America and Cuba would last for over 40 years.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
69 - Battle at Bedriacum, North-Italy
1205 - Battle at Adrianople: Bulgaria beats Emp Boudouin of
Constantinople
1250 - Pope Innoncent III refuses Jews of Cordova Spain to
build a synagogue
1450 - French defeat English at Battle of Formigny in 100
Years' War
1493 - -20/4 Barcelona] Columbus meets with King Ferdinand
& Isabella
1581 - Cortes van Thomar accepts Philip II as king of
Portugal
1594 - Fleming Pieter Stevens appointed royal painter of
Rudolf II (Prague)
1621 - Hugo the Great arrives in France
1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat
Count Tilly of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
1654 - England & Netherlands signs peace treaty
1689 - French king Louis XIV declares war on Spain
1697 - Charles XII succeeds Charles XI as King of Sweden
1715 - Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee
War in colonial South Carolina.
1716 - Russian & Prussian troops occupy Wismar
1729 - Johann S Bachs "Mattheus Passion" premieres
in Leipzig
1738 - Bottle opener invented
1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by
George Frideric Handel.
1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language
published in London.
1776 - Duchess of Kingston found guilty of bigamy
Composer George Friedrich HandelComposer George Friedrich
Handel 1788 - England, Netherlands & Prussia sign peace treaty
1793 - Bank of England hands out 1st £5 note
1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a
"long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered
Lonely as a Cloud.
1817 - 1st American school for the deaf opens (Hartford
Conn)
1850 - City of San Francisco incorporated
1851 - Earl G Andressy sentenced to death in Hungary
1853 - Protestant church questions king Willem III RC
bishops
1858 - Battle of Azimghur, Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists
1861 - Federal army (75,000 volunteers) mobilized by US
President Lincoln
1864 - General Steeles' Union troops occupies Camden,
Arkansas
1865 - Otto von Bismarck elevated to rank of Count of
Bismarck-Schönhausen
1870 - Last day US silver coins allow to circulate in Canada
1874 - NY legislature passes compulsory education law
1877 - 1st telephone installed: Boston-Somerville, Mass
1878 - Harley Procter introduces Ivory Soap
Politician Otto Von BismarckPolitician Otto Von Bismarck
1892 - General Electric Company, forms & is incorporated in NY
1895 - Josephine Blatt (US) makes hip-and-harness lift of
3564 lb (record)
1896 - 1st Olympic games close at Athens, Greece
1900 - Exposition Universelle/World Fair opens in Paris
(till 12th Nov)
1900 - An early 50 mile race is won by an electric car in
over 2 hrs
1901 - 1st British motorized burial
1902 - Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Church in US"
1906 - The Armenian organization AGBU is established.
1909 - NY Giant Red Ames 2nd no-hitter, loses in 13 on a 7
hitter to Dodgers
1910 - Taft is 1st pres to throw out a 1st ball at a
baseball game
1911 - Jack Lawrence Theater (Playhouse) opens at 137 W 48th
St NYC
1911 - Walter Johnson pitches a record tying 4 strike outs
in an inning
1912 - Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as band
plays on
1915 - Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo,"
premieres in Madrid
1915 - NY Giant Rube Marquard no-hits Bkln, 2-0
1918 - Clemenceau publishes secret French/Austrian documents
1920 - New Canadian small cent coin is released
1921 - Black Friday- Labour Party strike of mine workers
fails
1922 - Banting, MacLeod & Best discover insulin
1922 - Poodle Dog Restaurant closes
1923 - 1st sound on film public performance shown at Rialto
Theater (NYC)
1923 - Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics
1924 - Flemish-Walloon riots in Louvain Belgium, 1 dead
1924 - WHO-AM in Des Moines Iowa begins radio transmissions
1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
1925 - NHL's NY Americans (formerly Hamilton Tigers) 1st
game, lose 3-1
Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1927 - Babe
Ruth hits 1st of 60 HRs of season (off A's Howard Ehmke)
1927 - Switzerland & USSR agree to diplomatic relations
1928 - Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf (SF) forms
1931 - 1st walk across American backwards begins
1937 - Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings beat NY Rangers, 3
games to 2
1939 - Albert Lebrun elected president of France
1940 - British troops land at Narvik, Norway
1941 - 1st helicopter flight of 1 hr duration, Stratford, Ct
1942 - George VI awards George Cross to people of Malta
1943 - Metropolitan Life Insurances issues a $225 million
check to Chase
1945 - British Army liberates Nazi concentration camp,
Bergen-Belsen
1945 - FDR buried on grounds of Hyde Park home
1945 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Communium
interpretes dolorum
1945 - US troops occupy concentration camp Colditz
1947 - Jackie Robinson goes hitless in his major league
debut
Baseball Player Jackie RobinsonBaseball Player Jackie
Robinson 1947 - Operations begin at Radio Netherlands World radio
1948 - 1st Jewish-Arab military battle, arabs defeated
1948 - Indian territory of Himachal Pradesh created
1948 - KCPX (now KTVX) TV channel 4 in Salt Lake City, UT
(ABC) 1st broadcast
1949 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Redemptoris nostri
1951 - Michael Gorsira is 1st person in charge of Curacao
1952 - 1st B-52 prototype test flight
1952 - Franklin National Bank issues 1st bank credit card
1952 - Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings sweep Montreal
Canadiens in 4 games
1952 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1952 - The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress
1953 - Malans National Party wins South African elections
1953 - WHP TV channel 21 in Harrisburg, PA (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1954 - KARK TV channel 4 in Little Rock, AR (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1954 - Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1
1954 - WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins
broadcasting
1954 - Yankees dedicate a plaque to Edward Barrow
MacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray KrocMacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray
Kroc 1955 - Ray Kroc starts McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants
(Illinois)
1955 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1956 - Marlene Bauer wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf
Open
1957 - Congress gives Post Office $41M; restoring Saturday
mail delivery
1957 - KTVI TV channel 2 in Saint Louis, MO (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1957 - Saturday mail delivery restored after Congress givs
PO $41 million
1958 - 10th Emmy Awards: Gunsmoke, Robert Young & Jane
Wyatt win
1958 - 1st baseball game in California, SF Giants beat LA
Dodgers, 8-0
1959 - Fidel Castro begins US goodwill tour
1959 - US Sect of States John Foster Dulles resigns
1960 - Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
organizes at Shaw U
1961 - "Music Man" closes at Majestic Theater NYC
after 1375 performances
1962 - US national debt above $300,000,000,000
1963 - "Sophie" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC
for 8 performances
1964 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge opens (world's longest)
Cuban President Fidel CastroCuban President Fidel Castro
1964 - Ian Smith becomes premier of Rhodesia
1965 - James Baldwin's "Amen Corner," premieres in
NYC
1965 - NFL changes penalty flag from white to bright gold
1966 - KHET TV channel 11 in Honolulu, HI (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1966 - Rolling Stones release "Aftermath"
1967 - "Wait A Minim!" closes at John Golden
Theater NYC after 457 perfs
1968 - Houston Astros beat NY Mets, 1-0, in 24 innings
1969 - North Korea shoots at US airplane above Japanese sea
1970 - "Cry for Us All" closes at Broadhurst
Theater NYC after 8 performances
1970 - Libyan leader Gadaffi launches "Green
Revolution"
1970 - WMGZ TV channel 16 in Mayaguez, PR ([M]) begins
broadcasting
1970 - WPSJ TV channel 14 in Ponce, PR ([P]) begins
broadcasting
1971 - "70, Girls, 70" opens at Broadhurst Theater
NYC for 35 performances
1971 - 43rd Academy Awards - "Patton," George C Scott
& Glenda Jackson win
1972 - Barbra Striesand, James Taylor, Carole King &
Quincy Jones perform at a benefit for George McGovern for President
Composer & Singer Quincy Jones JrComposer & Singer
Quincy Jones Jr 1973 - 2nd Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Mickey
Wright
1973 - Walt Disney Story opens
1974 - 3rd Boston Women's Marathon won by Miki Gorman of
California in 2:47:11
1974 - 78th Boston Marathon won by Neil Cusack of Ireland in
2:13:39
1974 - Military coup in Niger, president Diori Hamani
deposed
1975 - 1st appearance of San Diego Chicken
1975 - Gabon amends constitution
1975 - Penguins 3-Isles 1-Quarterfinals-Penguins hold 2-0
lead
1976 - Yankee stadium reopens, Yanks beat Twins after
trailing 4-0
1977 - 1st baseball game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium
1978 - 43 die as 2 express trains collide head-on south of
Bologna, Italy
1978 - Great Britain performs nuclear test
1979 - 43rd Golf Masters Championship: Fuzzy Zoeller wins,
shooting a 280
1979 - A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) on Montenegro
coast.
1981 - Janet Cooke says her Pulitzer award 8-year-old heroin
addict story is a lie, Wash Post relinquishes Pulitzer Prize on fabricated
story
1982 - Apollo Computer announces DN400, DN420, &
landscape display
1983 - Rangers 0-Isles 5-Patrick Div Finals-Isles hold 2-0
lead
1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opens
1984 - "Human Comedy" closes at Royale Theater NYC
after 13 performances
1984 - 48th Golf Masters Championship: Ben Crenshaw wins,
shooting a 277
1984 - Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA J&B Scotch Pro-Am Golf
Tournament
1984 - Extremist Sikhs plunder 40 stations in Punjab India
1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1985 - 14th Boston Women's Marathon won by Lisa Larsen
Weidenbach in 2:34:06
1985 - 89th Boston Marathon won by Geoff Smith of Great
Britain in 2:14:05
1985 - Challenger moves to launch pad for 51-B missing
1986 - US air raids Libya, responding to La Belle disco,
Berlin bombing
1986 - Viv Richards century off 56 balls v England in Antigua
Test Cricket
1986 - The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon
against Libya.
1987 - "Barbara Cook: A Concert..." opens at
Ambassador NYC for 13 perfs
1987 - Alfred Uhry's "Driving Miss Daisy,"
premieres in NYC
1988 - Meteorite explode above Indonesia
1988 - Wendy Wasserstein's "Heidi Chronicles,"
premieres in NYC
1989 - 95 crushed to death at Sheffield Soccer Stadium in
England
1989 - Students in Beijing pro-democracy protests
1989 - Sue Marchiano wins 3rd World Cup female marathon
(2:30:48)
1989 - Then largest lottery in North America ($69M) drawn in
Illinois
1990 - "In Living Color" premieres on FOX-TV
1990 - Greenidge & Haynes make 298 opening stand (v
Eng), their best
1991 - "Secret Garden" opens at St James Theater
NYC for 706 performances
1991 - 20th Boston Women's Marathon won by Wanda Panfil of
Poland in 2:24:18
1991 - 95th Boston Marathon won by Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya
in 2:11:06
1991 - East-Europe Bank forms in London
1991 - Europe foreign ministers lift most remaining
sanctions against S Afr
1991 - Former child actor Adam Rich charged with burglary
1991 - Magic Johnson sets NBA record for career assistswith
9,898
1991 - Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $280
per week
1991 - Sacramento Kings set NBA record, losing 35th
consecutive game on road
1991 - Ton Sijbrands improves world record blind checker
games (15 wins)
1992 - Billionaire Leona Helmsly is sent to jail for tax
evasion
1992 - Jay Leno's final appearance as permanent guest host
of Tonight
1992 - Lincoln Hospital in Bronx loses its accreditation
1992 - NY Islander, Al Arbour, coaches most NHL games
(1,438)
Actor William ShatnerActor William Shatner 1992 - William
Shatner, Leonard Nimoy & DeForest Kelley inducted into National Association
of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
1992 - The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992
Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1994 - Indians loses 1st game at Jacobs Field, KC wins 2-1
1994 - WMMS-FM's Jeff & Flash, & entire station
staff, are fired
1996 - "Apple Doesn't Fall" closes at Lyceum
Theater NYC after 1 performance
1996 - 100th Boston Marathon won by Moses Tanui of Kenya in
2:09:15.9
1996 - 25th Boston Women's Marathon won by Uta Pippig of
Germany in 2:27:12.6
1997 - America On Line, begins service in Japan
1997 - Baseball honors Jackie Robinson by retiring #42 for
all teams
1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Charlotte NC on
WXRC 95.7 FM
1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the
Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes
into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.
2010 - Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in
Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.
2012 - 400 Islamist Militants escape from a Pakistan prison
after an insurgent attack
2012 - China loosens monetary policy and allows the Yuan to
fluctuate up to 1% against the US dollar
2012 - US Secret Service inappropriate conduct scandal
begins with at least 11 people implicated
2013 - 3 people are killed and 183 are injured after two
explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon
2013 - 33 people are killed and 163 are injured in a wave of
bombings across Iraq
2013 - Nicolás Maduro is narrowly elected President of
Venezuela
1784 - The first balloon was flown in Ireland. 1794 - "Courrier Francais" became the first French daily newspaper to be published in the U.S. 1813 - U.S. troops under James Wilkinson attacked the Spanish-held city of Mobile that would be in the future state of Alabama. 1817 - The first American school for the deaf was opened in Hartford, CT. 1850 - The city of San Francisco was incorporated. 1858 - At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeated Spanish loyalists. 1861 - U.S. President Lincoln mobilized the Federal army. 1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln died from injuries inflicted by John Wilkes Booth. 1871 - "Wild Bill" Hickok became the marshal of Abilene, Kansas. 1880 - William Gladstone became Prime Minister of England. 1892 - The General Electric Company was organized. 1899 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Portland Cement Company. 1912 - The ocean liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg the evening before. 1,517 people died and more than 700 people survived. 1917 - The British defeated the Germans at the battle of Arras. 1919 - British troops killed 400 Indians at Amritsar, India. 1923 - Insulin became generally available for people suffering with diabetes. 1934 - In the comic strip "Blondie," Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead welcomed a baby boy, Alexander. The child would be nicknamed, Baby Dumpling. 1940 - French and British troops landed at Narvik, Norway. 1945 - During World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. 1947 - Jackie Robinson played his first major league baseball game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Previously he had only appeared in exhibition games. 1948 - The Arabs were defeated in the first Jewish-Arab battle. 1951 - The first episode of the "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" radio show aired. 1952 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed the official Japanese peace treaty. 1952 - The first B-52 prototype was tested in the air. 1953 - In Buenos Aires, six people were killed by a bomb at a rally addressed by President Peron. 1953 - Pope Pius XII gave his approval of psychoanalysis but warned of possible abuses. 1953 - Charlie Chaplin surrendered his U.S. re-entry permit rather than face proceedings by the U.S. Justice Department. Chaplin was accused of sympathizing with Communist groups. 1956 - The worlds’ first, all-color TV station was dedicated. It was WNBQ-TV in Chicago and is now WMAQ-TV. 1956 - General Motors announced that the first free piston automobile had been developed. 1959 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro began a U.S. goodwill tour. 1960 - The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized at Shaw University. 1967 - Richard Speck was found guilty of murdering eight student nurses. 1983 - Tokyo Disneyland opened. 1984 - Ten members of a family were found murdered in their home in New York City. An infant was found crawling among the corpses. 1986 - U.S. F-111 warplanes attacked Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5, 1986. 1987 - In Northhampton, MA, Amy Carter, Abbie Hoffman and 13 others were acquitted on civil disobedience charges related with a CIA protest. 1987 - In New York City, Mbongeni Ngema's "Asinamali!" opened as the first South African play on Broadway. 1989 - Students in Beijing launched a series of pro democracy protests upon the death of former Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang. The protests led to the Tienanmen Square massacre. 1989 - In Sheffield, England, 96 people were killed and hundreds were injured at a soccer game at Hillsborough Stadium when a crowd surged into an overcrowded standing area. Ninety-four died on the day of the incident and two more later died from their injuries. 1994 - The World Trade Organization was established. 1997 - Christopher Reeve received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1998 - Pol Pot died at the age of 73. The leader of the Khmer Rouge regime thereby evaded prosecution for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians. 1999 - In Algeria, former Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected president. All of the opposition candidates claimed that the vote was fraudulent and withdrew from the election. 1999 - In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, a panel of two Lahore High Court judges convicted former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, of corruption. 2000 - 600 anti-IMF (International Monetary Fund) protesters were arrested in Washington, DC, for demonstrating without a permit.
1755 Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language. 1817 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet opened the first free American school for the deaf in Hartford, Conn. 1861 In response to the attack on Fort Sumter three days earlier, President Abraham Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops. 1912 Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland on its maiden voyage after it struck an iceberg. 1920 A paymaster and guard were murdered in Braintree, Mass. Sacco and Vanzetti were accused of the crime. 1945 Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen was liberated by Canadian and British forces. 1947 Jackie Robinson made his Brooklyn Dodger debut and scored the game-winning run. On April 15, 1997, his number, 42, was retired. 1955 Ray Kroc acquired McDonald's and opened his first restaurant in Des Plaines, Ill., today the official McDonald’s Corporate Museum. 1996 The 100th Boston Marathon was won by Moses Tanui of Kenya. 1998 Cambodian despot Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, died. 2013 Two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing 3 and injuring at least 170 others.
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/apr15.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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