April 5th: A Dark Anniversary For Seattle, Anniversary of the Deaths of Kurt Cobain & Layne Staley On This Day

 

Today, April 5th, is a very dark day in Seattle music history. Former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died on this day back in 1994. Then, eight years later, former Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley died on this day in 2002. Years later, Chris Cornell also died, although that would be later in the springtime, in 2017. More recently, Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees and numerous other musical projects also died, just a few weeks ago as I write this, in fact. Yes, the Seattle music scene seems to have had a darkness to it, which was confirmed tragically with each of these deaths, even many years later. 

Sometimes, news stories have an immediate and profound impact, and you remember where you were when you heard about it. That was how people described the JFK assassination throughout my childhood, and I wondered what a huge, inescapable news story like that would feel like to live through. Then, of course, I found out for myself, along with everyone else, on September 11th. 

There were other huge news stories that were enormous, and where the countries involved surely also remember where they were when the news broke. The Chernobyl tragedy, for example. The Berlin Wall falling,, which was a more positive story.. Or Nelson Mandela being released from prison, which was another positive one, although those tend to be few and far between. The massive tsunami in 2004, or the Japanese one in 2011, which included Fukushima. There were news stories like that in recent  memory in this country as well, such as for the invasion of Iraq, or the election of Donald Trump, neither of which were good news, for this country or for the world in general. 

Well, sometimes, other kids of stories have a profound impact on you, as well, and touch your life in a different way. It is not always the life-altering implications of a 9/11, or a huge storm like Sandy or Katrina, or when you realized that Donald J. Trump, of all people, was going to be the next president. 

One such instance for me came on this day 31 years ago, when my mom told me that grunge/punk rocker Kurt Cobain had killed himself. I remember feeling stunned, as if someone had slapped me in the face, hard. 

I was kind of late to the whole Seattle grunge thing, and had assumed - wrongly - that those guys out there were the same old same old. Boy, was I wrong! It would take me a while to finally learn that, but by the spring of 1993, I had fully embraced the whole so-called "Seattle sound," which in fact, did not actually exist. Those bands were the first to tell you that there was no such thing as the "Seattle sound."

Still, it cannot be overlooked that all of these great bands were suddenly coming from one relatively small corner of the country, and were changing the direction of music. When I really started fully embracing it, by spring of 1993, I remember feeling that it seemed fitting, because it felt like a whole new era, with new possibilities. Unfortunately, that was - again - a mistaken impression on my part. True, some things were new. The United States finally had a Democrat in office, for the first time in my lifetime that I could remember (I was too young to remember Jimmy Carter, unfortunately). And there were all sorts of new bands that were coming out and doing incredibly interesting things, and it was hard to ignore the explosion of creativity. Plus, I myself had begun college, and had joined the Environmental Club, which was great, but while also provided me with the mistaken illusion that there was a whole new conscience that younger people were awakening to.

The Seattle bands seemed to reinforce that. One of the things that attracted me to them was the strange, unorthodox way that they dressed. Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder wearing shorts and boots together, for example (something that would become all too common later in the decade, and lose all originality in the process). And those strange hats and ways of dressing, particularly by Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament. But they had a political and cultural  conscience, as well, and that really appealed to me. Suddenly, some of the macho bands that I had been into felt a bit outdated and almost Neanderthal-like, such as Metallica. Up to the end of 1992, I thought Metallica would always mean something special to me. By the summer of 1993, Metallica was already fading fast for me, on almost every level. 

Now, I said that I was late to the whole "Seattle sound" thing, but that is not entirely true. You see, I was still unfortunately resisting Seattle bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains in 1992, but had fully embraced Nirvana by then. It was hard not to. After all, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was everywhere, and impossible to ignore. I can still remember the first time that I heard that song, sometime late in 1991. It came on the radio - yes, we listened to radio even in our homes back then - and I was blown away. I remember thinking, "Who are these guys?"

But I missed the name, and regretted it. Then, some months later, that same band came on Saturday Night Live, and I found out. The band was Nirvana, and the lead singer was a strange looking guy. His name was Kurt Cobain, and he had this bizarre reddish hair, although that was deceptive, because that was a one time thing. These guys were so good, even my father was impressed. Shortly after that memorable live television performance, that song was everywhere, and so was Nirvana more generally.

Here's the funny thing: lyrics mean a lot to me. That was a large part of the reason I got into some of the bands that I got into some of the bands that I got into, including Metallica (it's complicated), the Dead Kennedys (who had disbanded before I really got into them), Anthrax, and Voivod, to name a few. That was what attracted me to some of the grunge bands, particularly Pearl Jam. Later, I would gain a huge appreciation for the more subtle approach lyrically taken by Chris Cornell, and I should just make a small note here that his suicide hit me very hard, as well. At least as hard as Cobain's did, but I already wrote about that on this blog shortly after it happened. 

In the case of Cobain and Nirvana, I could not even really tell what the lyrics were about. Yet, somehow, the music spoke to me. It was angry, to be sure, and it had a lot of energy. But those were two things that I could definitely relate to back then, and quite a bit, at that. While the lyrics were a bit strange, the feeling was definitely not. And Cobain was far from a mindless rock star like, say, Axel Rose, who was all about himself and the dollar bills that he felt made him stand out. Cobain had something to say, and this was expressed in his music, even if it was not immediately obvious when you studied his lyrics. 

So, before I embraced all of the Seattle bands, I embraced Nirvana. They really spoke to me, and I think that they might have been my favorite band, or pretty close to it, sometime late in 1992 and early in 1993. I know I would have loved to see them in concert with Kurt Cobain, although I never did. I would see them - once - many years later, with Paul McCartney, but that was entirely different. 

Still, the music remains. I embraced them long before the other Seattle bands, even though all of those Seattle bands would come to mean a lot to me. They seemed to represent something new, something different and, perhaps most importantly, the potential for a new world, a new way of thinking. It did not come to pass, regrettably, although I feel that it should have. Young people should have been more aware and more active, and they should not merely embrace bands like that simply because they are the next big thing. Unfortunately, that was the case with the Seattle bands, a fact that hardly pleased the two biggest Seattle bands, Nirvana and Pearl Jam. 

The Seattle bands I came to fully embrace, and more than just the big, obvious four, either. I came to like other Seattle bands, like Mudhoney and the Screaming Trees. But the first was Nirvana, going back to my high school days.

When Kurt Cobain died, from his own hands, I was stunned. It was not just the music aspect, but rather, I myself had been struggling with contemplating suicide. A high school classmate had killed himself during my senior year, and he was the first person that I knew who had done that. It kind of opened up a can of worms for me in that regard, a kind of thinking that if he could do it, so could I.

So, Cobain's suicide hit me especially hard, on several different fronts. And although I personally overcame that suicidal phase, I recognize that music was an important part in helping me cope with a lot of that, and that includes Nirvana.

Kurt Cobain took his own life. Up to that point, the Seattle music scene seemed to be at it's peak. Cobain's suicide kind of signaled the beginning of the end of that, however. Within a couple of years, it felt that the scene was already mostly dead, as other bands and music scenes had emerged to cast the remaining Seattle bands mostly in the shadow. Then, Soundgarden broke up a few years later. A few years after that, Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley also died (ironically, also on this date, April 5th, in 2002), although the cause of death there was overdose. Many years later, of course, came the death by suicide of Chris Cornell, who I was only beginning to fully appreciate now as a full-grown adult (at least, officially), with a kid of my own.

I grew up with these guys, and their music. And it would not have been possible, necessarily, without the explosion of Nirvana in 1991 and 1992.

He died by his own hand in 1994, and it really is a crying shame. He was missed immediately, and is still missed.

RIP, Kurt Cobain, who died 31 years ago on this date.

RIP, also, to Layne Staley, the voice of Alice in Chains throughout the nineties, and one of the most iconic names and faces and voices of when Seattle ruled the airwaves. 





25 YEARS AGO + 17 YEARS AGO: NIRVANA’S KURT COBAIN + ALICE IN CHAINS’ LAYNE STALEY DIE ON APRIL 5 JON WIEDERHORNApril 5, 2019:

https://loudwire.com/nirvana-kurt-cobain-alice-in-chains-layne-staley-death-anniversaries/?fbclid=IwAR15AevWh6Wz6HDEkVzdKM28U5LpO_vLO3MS_iB09gstf1s69YpD671J0Dw

April 5th: This Day in History

 

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

On this day in 456, St. Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop. In 823 on this day, Pope Peschalis I crowned Lotharius I as the co-Emperor of France. Bishop John "Minchio," [domkop] was elected as Pope Benedictus X on this day in 1058. In 1242 on this day, Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeated the Teutonic Knights. On this day in 1609, Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completed his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa. George Washington exercised the first presidential veto in American history on this day in 1792. It blocked a bill that would have given greater numbers to Northern state in the House of Representatives. The first performance of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony in D was on this day in 1803. On this day in 1818 during the war for Chile's independence, the Battle of Maipú was fought. Led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, the patriots scored a decisive victory over Spanish forces commanded by General Mariano Osorio, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. On this day in 1859, British naturalist and botanist Charles Darwin sent his first three chapters of The Origin of Species to his publisher. In 1862 on this day during the American Civil War, the Siege of Yorktown began. Chile declared war on Bolivia and Peru on this day in 1879, marking the beginning of the War of the Pacific. In 1881 on this day, Transvaal regained some measure of independence under British suzerainty. The first stage of the German spring offensive ended on this day in 1918 during the latter stages of the Great War, now more commonly known as World War I. In 1919 on this day, the Polish Army executed 35 young Jews. On this day in 1945, Yugoslav partisan leader Tito signed a "friendship treaty" with Soviet Union, which permitted a "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory." The climax of the most sensational spy trial in American history was reached on this day in 1951 when a federal judge sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. In 1969 on this day during the Vietnam War, there were massive antiwar demonstrations which took place in many cities across the United States. In 1974 on this day, the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York City opened. At 110 stories, they were then the world's tallest buildings, although they would only briefly keep that title. Grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain committed suicide on this day in 1994. His body was discovered inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house. On this day in 2009, North Korea launched its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which in turn prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 456, St. Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop.

• In 823 on this day, Pope Peschalis I crowned Lotharius I as the co-Emperor of France.

• Bishop John "Minchio," [domkop] was elected as Pope Benedictus X on this day in 1058.

• In 1242 on this day, Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeated the Teutonic Knights.

1566 - 200 Brussel nobles offer Margaretha of Parma a petition

1585 - Clemens Crabbeels becomes bishop of Hertogenbosch

1603 - New English king James I departs Edinburgh for London

• On this day in 1609, Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completed his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.

1614 - 2nd parliament of King James I begin session (no enactments)

1621 - Mayflower sails from Plymouth on a return trip to England

1648 - Spanish troops/feudal barons strike down people's uprising in Naples

1722 - Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island

1739 - French emperor Karel VI sign secret treaty

1751 - Adolf Frederik of Holstein-Gottorp crowns himself king of Sweden

1762 - British take Grenada, West Indies, from French

1768 - 1st US Chamber of Commerce forms (NYC)

Statue of George Washington in Morristown, New Jersey

• George Washington exercised the first presidential veto in American history on this day in 1792. It blocked a bill that would have given greater numbers to Northern state in the House of Representatives.

Bust of iconic German composer and musician Ludwig van Beethoven

• The first performance of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony in D was on this day in 1803.

1804 - High Possil Meteorite: The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil.

First US President George WashingtonFirst US President George Washington 1806 - Isaac Quintard patents apple cider

1812 - Brits storm Badajoz fortress, held by French & Spanish

1814 - Netherlands Bank issues it's 1st banknotes

1815 - Eruption of Tambora volcano (Sumbawa Java)

Flag of Chile

• On this day in 1818 during the war for Chile's independence, the Battle of Maipú was fought. Led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, the patriots scored a decisive victory over Spanish forces commanded by General Mariano Osorio, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.

British Botanist Charles Darwin

• On this day in 1859, British naturalist and botanist Charles Darwin sent his first three chapters of The Origin of Species to his publisher. Naturalist Charles Darwin sends his publishers the first three chapters of Origin of Species, which will become one of the most influential books ever published.    Knowing the fates of scientists who had published radical theories and been ostracized or worse, Darwin held off publishing his theory of natural selection for years. He secretly developed his theory during two decades of surreptitious research following his return from a five-year voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle as the ship's unpaid botanist.    Darwin, the privileged and well-connected son of a successful English doctor, had been interested in botany and natural sciences since his boyhood, despite the discouragement of his early teachers. At Cambridge, he found professors and scientists with similar interests and with their help began participating in scientific voyages, including the HMS Beagle's trip. By the time Darwin returned, he had developed an outstanding reputation as a field researcher and scientific writer, based on his many papers and letters dispatched from South America and the Galapagos Islands, which were read at meetings of prominent scientific societies in London.    Darwin began publishing studies of zoology and geology as soon as he returned from his voyage, while secretly working on his radical theory of evolution. Meanwhile, he married and had seven children. He finally published The Origin of Species after another scientist began publishing papers with similar ideas. When the book appeared in November 1859, it sold out immediately. By 1872, six editions had been published. It laid the groundwork for modern botany, cellular biology, and genetics. Darwin died in 1882.

1861 - Federals abandon Ft Quitman, Tx

1862 - Siege of Yorktown VA

• In 1862 on this day during the American Civil War, the Siege of Yorktown began.  Union forces under General George McClellan arrive at Yorktown, Virginia, and establish siege lines instead of directly attacking the Confederate defenders.    This was the opening of McClellan's Peninsular campaign. He sailed his massive Army of the Potomac down Chesapeake Bay and landed on the James Peninsula southeast of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. He reasoned that this would bring him closer to Richmond, and the Confederates would have a difficult time gathering their scattered forces to the peninsula. The first resistance came at Yorktown, the site of George Washington's decisive victory over Lord Cornwallis to end the American Revolution 91 years earlier.    McClellan was discouraged by what he thought was a substantial force resting inside of strong and well-armed fortifications. The Confederates he saw were actually 11,000 troops under General John B. Magruder. Although vastly outnumbered, Magruder staged an elaborate ruse to fool McClellan. He ordered logs painted black, called "Quaker Guns," placed in redoubts to give the appearance of numerous artillery pieces. Magruder marched his men back and forth to enhance the illusion. The performance worked, as McClellan was convinced that he could not make a frontal assault.    He opted to lay siege instead. Not until May 4 did Magruder's troops finally abandon Yorktown, giving the Confederates valuable time to gather their troops near Richmond. The campaign climaxed in late June when McClellan was driven away from the gates of Richmond in the Seven Days' battles.

1865 - Battle at Amelia Springs/Jetersville Va (Appomattox Campaign)

1874 - Johann Strauss Jr's opera "Die Fledermaus," premieres in Vienna

1874 - Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, is opened in Birkenhead, England. Designed by Joseph Paxton

• Chile declared war on Bolivia and Peru on this day in 1879, marking the beginning of the War of the Pacific.

• In 1881 on this day, Transvaal regained some measure of independence under British suzerainty.

1887 - Anne Sullivan teaches "water" to Helen Keller

1889 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of Copper Beeches" (BG)

1893 - Cleveland passes Park Act (forerunner of Metroparks)

Author Helen KellerAuthor Helen Keller 1894 - 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn

1894 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of Empty House" (BG)

1895 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of 3 Students" (BG)

1895 - Oscar Wilde loses libel case against Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices

1897 - The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

1900 - Attempted assassination of Edward, British Prince of Wales in Brussels, fails

1902 - Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte," premieres in Paris

1902 - In Glasgow, Scotland the Ibrox disaster occurs after a section of a grandstand collapses killing 25 and injuring 517

1904 - The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.

1905 - James Barrie's "Alice-sit-by-the-fire," premieres in London

1906 - St Pius X encyclical "On the Mariavites or Mystic Priests of Poland"

1908 - British premier Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns

1911 - MCC tour match v Jamaica finishes in a tie

1911 - Waldorf W Aster acquires Daily Observer

1915 - French begin Woëvre-offensive

Writer/Poet Oscar WildeWriter/Poet Oscar Wilde 1915 - Jess Willard KOs Jack Johnson in 26 for heavyweight boxing title

1916 - French troops occupy Bois de Caillette

• The first stage of the German spring offensive ended on this day in 1918 during the latter stages of the Great War, now more commonly known as World War I.  On April 5, 1918, General Erich Ludendorff formally ends "Operation Michael," the first stage of the final major German offensive of World War I.    Operation Michael, which marked the first sizeable German offensive against Allied positions on the Western Front in more than a year, began on March 21, 1918, with a five-hour-long bombardment of Allied positions near the Somme River from more than 9,000 pieces of German artillery, in the face of which the poorly prepared British 5th Army was rapidly overwhelmed and forced into retreat. For a week, the Germans pushed toward Paris, shelling the city from a distance of 80 miles with their "Big Bertha" cannons; by March 25, they had crossed the Somme and broken through the Allied lines. Hampered by a lack of supplies and cavalry, as well as hardening Allied defenses, German troops became exhausted, and by the end of March the Allies had halted their advance. On April 2, U.S. General John J. Pershing sent several thousand fresh American troops down into the trenches to fight alongside the British and French. It was the first major deployment of U.S. troops in World War I.    By April 5, when Ludendorff shut down the attacks, Operation Michael had produced the biggest gains of territory on the Western Front by either side since 1914. The Germans had advanced almost 40 miles, inflicted some 200,000 casualties and captured 70,000 prisoners and more than 1,000 Allied guns. The costs of battle were high, however: Germans suffered nearly as many casualties as their enemies and lacked the fresh reserves and supplies the Allies enjoyed following the American entrance into the war. Still, Ludendorff would launch four more similar operations that spring of 1918, as the Germans staked everything on a last, desperate offensive on the Western Front.

1919 - Eamon de Valera becomes president of Dail Eireann

• In 1919 on this day, the Polish Army executed 35 young Jews.

1922 - KOB-AM in Albuquerque NM begins radio transmissions

1922 - WDZ-AM in Decatur IL begins radio transmissions

1923 - Firestone Co put their inflatable tires into production

1925 - Belgian Workers Party wins parliamentary election

1925 - Yankees whip Dodgers in exhibition 16-9 but Babe Ruth collapses in NC due to an ulcer

1927 - Johnny Weissmuller set records in 100 & 200 m free style

1929 - Lithuania signs Litvinov-pact

1930 - England out for 849 v WI Kingston, Sandham out for 325

1932 - Dutch textile strike broken by trade unions

1932 - Dominion of Newfoundland: 10,000 rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.

1935 - Croatian Farmers Party wins Yugoslavian election

Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1936 - Tupelo Mississippi virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die

1938 - Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa Poland

1939 - Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory

1941 - In SF, Castro & Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses

1943 - Allies bomb Mortsel

1943 - Japanese troops conquer Indin

1943 - Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days

1944 - 140 Lancasters bomb airplane manufacturer in Toulouse

1944 - World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.

1945 - Almelo Netherlands freed

1945 - Kuniaki Koiso resigns as PM of Japan; replaced by Kantaro Suzuki

• On this day in 1945, Yugoslav partisan leader Tito signed a "friendship treaty" with Soviet Union, which permitted a "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."    Josip Broz, alias "Tito," secretary general of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, led a partisan counteroffensive movement against the Axis occupying powers of Germany and Italy in 1941. Recognized by the Allies as the leader of the Yugoslav resistance, he was, in fact, the leader of a power grab meant not only to expel the Axis forces but to wrest control of Yugoslavia in the postwar environment from both royalist and democratic movements. Once the Soviet army liberated Serbia, the fate of Yugoslavia as a communist-dominated nation was sealed. Tito's task now lay in remaining independent of both the U.S.S.R. and the West. To this end, he created a "second Yugoslavia," a socialist federation that became known for its nonalignment stance.    As part of the agreement signed on April 5, 1945, Tito secured a proviso that the Soviets would leave Yugoslavia once its "operational task" was completed. Ensuring compliance with this clause proved problematic, as Stalin tried to maintain a presence in postwar Yugoslavia, attempting to co-opt the Yugoslav Communist Party and create another puppet state. He failed; Tito played the West against the East in a Machiavellian scheme to keep his own Stalin-like grip on his country. Although he permitted cultural and scientific freedom unheard of in Soviet-bloc countries, he was also guilty of purging centrist and democratic forces fighting for reform within Yugoslavia and centralizing all power in one party. But upon Tito's death, in 1980, the center could not hold--chaos was ultimately unleashed in the form of ethnic civil war.

1946 - 1st performance of Charles Ives' 3rd Symphony

1948 - WGN TV channel 9 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting

1949 - 60 year old St Anthony's Hospital burns, kills 77 (Effingham Ill)

1949 - Fireside Theater debuts on television.

1950 - Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins

1951 - Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death

• The climax of the most sensational spy trial in American history was reached on this day in 1951 when a federal judge sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for their roles in passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. Although the couple proclaimed their innocence, they died in the electric chair in June 1953.    The Rosenbergs were convicted of playing a central role in a spy ring that passed secret data concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union during and immediately after World War II. Their part in the espionage came to light when British physicist Klaus Fuchs was arrested in Great Britain in early 1950. Under questioning, Fuchs admitted that he stole secret documents while he was working on the Manhattan Project—the top-secret U.S. program to build an atomic bomb during World War II. He implicated Harry Gold as a courier who delivered the documents to Soviet agents. Gold was arrested a short time later and informed on David Greenglass, who then pointed the finger at his sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Julius was arrested in July and Ethel in August 1950. After a brief trial in March 1951, the Rosenbergs were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage. At their sentencing hearing in April, Federal Judge Irving R. Kaufman described their crime as "worse than murder" and charged, "By your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country." He sentenced them to death.    The Rosenbergs and their attorneys continued to plead their innocence, arguing that they were "victims of political hysteria." Humanitarian organizations in the United States and around the world pleaded for leniency, particularly since the Rosenbergs were the parents of two young children. The pleas for special consideration were ignored, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on June 19, 1953.

1952 - Henry Wittenberg wins his 8th AAU wrestling title

1953 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open

1953 - WEYI TV channel 25 in Saginaw, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting

Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1954 - Elvis Presley records his debut single, "That's All Right"

1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him

1956 - In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.

1958 - Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.

1959 - 23rd Golf Masters Championship: Art Wall Jr wins, shooting a 284

1961 - Barbra Streisand appears on "Jack Paar Show"

1961 - Dutch governor Platteel installs New Guinea Council

1962 - Herb Gardner's "Thousand Clowns," premieres in NYC

1962 - Mgr J Daems appointed bishop of Antwerp

1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 54,600 m

1962 - St Bernard Tunnel finished-Swiss/Italians workers shake hands

The Beatles received their first silver disc (Please Please Me) on this day in 1963.

1963 - Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa

1964 - 1st driverless trains run on London Underground

1964 - Mary Lena Faulk wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf Open

Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1965 - 37th Academy Awards - "My Fair Lady," Rex Harrison & J Andrews win

1965 - Lava Lamp Day celebrated

1965 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1966 - WTVX TV channel 34 in Ft Pierce-Vero Beach, FL (IND) 1st broadcast

1967 - '76er Wilt Chamberlain sets NBA record of 41 rebounds

1967 - ATS II launched but fails to reach orbit

1968 - Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego opens

1968 - US marine base Khe San Vietnam, appalled

• In 1969 on this day during the Vietnam War, there were massive antiwar demonstrations which took place in many cities across the United States. Apr 5, 1969: Antiwar demonstrations held across United States  Approximately 100,000 antiwar demonstrators march in New York City to demand that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. The weekend of antiwar protests ended with demonstrations and parades in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities. The National Mobilization Committee, the Student Mobilization Committee, and the Socialist Workers Party were among the groups that helped organize the demonstrations. At the same time, Quakers held sit-ins at draft boards and committed other acts of civil disobedience in more than 30 cities.

1970 - WSNS TV channel 44 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting

1971 - Fran Phipps is 1st woman to reach North Pole

1971 - Mount Etna erupts in Sicily Italy

1971 - US Lt Wiliam Calley (My Lai Massacre) sentenced to life

1971 - WNJT TV channel 52 in Trenton, NJ (PBS) begins broadcasting

1971 - In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches insurrection against the United Front government of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

1972 - Baseball season is delayed due to a strike

1972 - Mets trade Ken Singleton to Expos for Rusty Staub

1973 - NFL adopts jersey numbering system (ie QBs, 1-19)

1973 - Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter

• In 1974 on this day, the World Trade Center (Twin Towers) in New York City opened. At 110 stories, they were then the world's tallest buildings, although they would only briefly keep that title. 

1975 - "Letter for Queen Victoria" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 18 perfs

1975 - Soyuz 18A launch aborted short of orbit; cosmonauts return safely

1976 - Harold Wilson resigns as James Callaghan becomes PM of England

Playwright Tom StoppardPlaywright Tom Stoppard 1976 - Tom Stoppard's "Dirty Linen," premieres in London

1977 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1979 - Balt manager Earl Weaver wins his 1,000th game as a skipper

1979 - Ex-premier Pol Jar flees out of Cambodia

1981 - 10th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Nancy Lopez

1981 - Phila Flyers amass a record 2,621 penalty minutes

1982 - British fleet sails to Falkland Islands

1982 - Cards' Jim Kaat, pitches in record 24th consecutive season

1982 - Lord Carrington, British foreign sect resigns due to Falkland Is war

1983 - France throws out 47 Soviet diplomats

1983 - NY Met Tom Seaver's sets record 14th NL Opening Day assignment

1984 - "Human Comedy" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 13 performances

1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaks Wilt Chamberlain's all-time career scoring record of 31,419 points (31,421)

1986 - Record for a throw-and-return boomerang toss is set (121m)

1986 - US soldier & Turkish woman killed in West Berlin disco bombing

1987 - 16th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Betsy King

1987 - Fox TV network premieres showing Married With Children & Tracey Ullman

NHL all-time top scorer Wayne GretzkyNHL all-time top scorer Wayne Gretzky 1987 - Wayne Gretzky wins 7th straight NHL scoring title

1988 - Democratic convention picks Michael Dukakis as their pres candidate

1989 - David Letterman becomes 1st network TV series to use dolby stereo

1989 - Orel Hershiser ends his 59 consecutive scoreless pitched inning streak

1989 - Solidarity grants legal status in Poland

1990 - John Stockton reaches 1000-assist mark for NBA record 3 yrs in a row

1990 - NY Rangers beat NY Islanders 2-1 in 1st game of preliminary

1990 - Paul Newman wins a court victory over Julius Gold, to keep giving all profits from Newman foods to charity

1991 - Joe Dumaars (Detroit) ends NBA free throw streak of 62 games

1991 - Kitty Kelly publishes a book knocking Nancy Reagan

1991 - Southeast Airlines Embracer 120 crashes in Georgia, killing 23

1991 - Space Shuttle STS 37 (Atlantis 8) launched

1991 - US begins air drops to Kurd refugees in Northern Iraq

1992 - "Search & Destroy" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 46 perfs

1992 - 11th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Stanford beats Western Ky 78-62

Comedian David LettermanComedian David Letterman 1992 - 4th Seniors Golf Tradition: Lee Trevino

1992 - Dana Lofland wins Las Vegas LPGA Golf International

1992 - Game 2 of Mayor Challenge - NY Yankees sweep NY Mets 6-5 at Shea

1992 - Peru's Pres Alberto Fujimori suspend constitution & dissolved Congress

1992 - Thailand General Suchinda Kraprayoon installed as president

1992 - Wrestlemania VIII, 62,167 at Hoosier Dome, Hulk Hogan DQs Sid Justice

1992 - Several hundred-thousand abortion rights demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.

1993 - 55th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: NC beats Michigan 77-71

1993 - 73,293 see Yankees beat Indians 9-1

1993 - Colorado Rockies 1st game - lose to NY Mets 3-0

1993 - Construction begins on Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

1993 - Florida Marlins 1st game - beat LA Dodgers 6-3

1993 - Republican Guard kills 64 in Chad

1994 - "Jackie Mason Politically Incorrect" opens at Golden NYC for 347 perfs

1994 - Miami Heat beat NY Knicks ending 15 game NBA winning streak

• Grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain commited suicide on this day in 1994. His body was discovered inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house. Despite indications that Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, killed himself, several skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death and pinned responsibility on his wife, Courtney Love.    At least two books, including one penned by Love's estranged father, and a nationally released documentary, Kurt & Courtney, openly expressed doubt that Cobain killed himself and all but accused Love of having her husband killed. Her volatile reputation and healthy list of enemies helped to circulate the rumors. However, police have concluded that Cobain's death was the result of suicide.    Cobain's downward spiral began taking shape in Italy the previous month. He went into a coma and nearly died after mixing champagne and the drug Rohypnol. The public was led to believe that the coma was induced by an accidental heroin overdose, since Cobain had a well-known problem with the drug.    Back at home in Seattle, the police were called to Cobain and Love's home when he again threatened to kill himself. Although Cobain stated in a 1991 interview that he didn't believe in guns, the officers confiscated four from his possession. As his wife and friends watched him spin out of control, they attempted to intervene. Cobain mostly ignored their concerns but reluctantly checked into a rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles at the end of March.    On March 30, Cobain walked away from the clinic without informing his family or friends. For the next few days, Love could not locate him and decided to hire a private detective on April 3. The detective made contact with Cobain the following day in Seattle, but Cobain refused to return to Los Angeles.  In the meantime, Cobain had convinced a friend to buy him a gun, claiming he needed it for protection. On April 5, Cobain returned home. He had ingested enough Valium and heroin to reach near-fatal levels. In the apartment above the garage was Cobain's sloppily written suicide note, quoting Neil Young's lyric that it is "better to burn out than to fade away."

WWF Wrestler Hulk HoganWWF Wrestler Hulk Hogan 1996 - John Bobbitt is put under house arrest in Las Vegas for 120 days

1996 - Marlon Brando makes anti-semetic remarks about hollywood on Larry King

1997 - Galileo, 3rd Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 7)

1998 - 10th Seniors Golf Tradition:

1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

• On this day in 2009, North Korea launched its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which in turn prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.

2009 - 44th Academy of Country Music Awards: Carrie Underwood & Brad Paisley wins

2012 - Severe storms in Argentina kill 14 people

2012 - 77 year old pensioner's suicide outside Greece's parliament prompts further protests in Athens

2012 - International internet group Anonymous hack several Chinese bureaus in opposition to censorship

2013 - Japan’s Nikkei 225 reaches its highest level in five years

2013 - 60 people are killed in Nigeria after a bus collides with an oil tanker

2063 - Earth's 1st contact with the extra-terrestrial Vulcan species in the Star Trek universe

1242 - Russian troops repelled an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.   1614 - American Indian Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.   1621 - The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, MA, on a return trip to England.   1792 - U.S. President George Washington cast the first presidential veto. The measure was for apportioning representatives among the states.   1806 - Isaac Quintard patented the cider mill.   1827 - James H. Hackett became the first American actor to appear abroad as he performed at Covent Garden in London, England.   1843 - Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.   1869 - Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier of the U.S. Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109.   1887 - Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller the meaning of the word "water" as spelled out in the manual alphabet.   1892 - Walter H. Coe patented gold leaf in rolls.   1895 - Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been accused of homosexual practices.   1908 - The Japanese Army reached the Yalu River as the Russians retreated.   1919 - Eamon de Valera became president of Ireland.   1923 - Firestone Tire and Rubber Company began the first regular production of balloon tires.   1930 - Mahatma Ghandi defied British law by making salt in India.   1933 - The first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.   1941 - German commandos secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.   1951 - Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for committing espionage for the Soviet Union.   1953 - Jomo Kenyatta was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for orchestrating the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya.   1955 - Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister.   1984 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Los Angeles Lakers) became the all-time NBA regular season scoring leader when he broke Wilt Chamberlain's record of 31,419 career points.   1985 - John McEnroe said "any man can beat any woman at any sport, especially tennis."   1986 - A discotheque in Berlin was bombed by Libyan terrorists. The U.S. attacked Libya with warplanes in retaliation on April 15, 1986.   1987 - FOX Broadcasting Company launched "Married....With Children" and "The Tracey Ullman Show". The two shows were the beginning of the FOX lineup.   1989 - In Poland, accords were signed between Solidarity and the government that set free elections for June 1989. The eight-year ban on Solidarity was also set to be lifted.   1998 - The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan opened becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. It links Shikoku and Honshu. The bridge cost about $3.8 billion.   1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 were handed over so they could be flown to the Netherlands for trial. 270 people were killed in the bombing.   1999 - In Laramie, WY, Russell Henderson pled guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard.   2004 - Near Mexico City's international airport, lightning struck the jet Mexican President Vicente Fox was on.   2009 - North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.



1614 Pocahontas married John Rolfe. 1792 George Washington cast the first presidential veto. 1887 Anne Sullivan makes the breakthrough to Helen Keller by spelling "water" in the manual alphabet. 1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for giving away atomic secrets to the Russians. 1955 Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister of Britain. 1971 Canadian Fran Phipps became the first woman to reach the North Pole. 1999 Libya gave over two suspects in the Lockerbie, Scotland Pan Am bombing.


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/apr05.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Does Trump Care About Troubled Economy That He Largely Created?

Remember that moment back in the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump criticized how much then President Obama played golf? How he doubled down and claimed - at that time - that if he were president, he would not have time to play golf. After all, being the American president is serious business, and so he would not waste the time of the taxpayer.

Well now, having initiated a totally unprovoked and unnecessary trade war with pretty much the entire rest of the world, the economy is more than a little stagnant. There are many experts warning that a recession is looming in the not so distant future.

In short, people are hurting. People's retirement savings have been hit. Moreover, it seems like social security is no longer a safe bet, since there are serious indications that the Trump administration will be going after that next. People most likely will be holding off on retirement, feeling that it is no longer a safe bet, even if it looked like it just a few months ago.

So what does out fearless leader do?

Yet again, he is playing golf. 

He did, however, take some time to try and appease his supporters and allay their worries. He was one of those messages:

“HANG TOUGH,” he wrote. “WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

Now, doesn't hat make you feel better? Aren't you reassured now? All of those overblown worries that this guy is playing games which he was warned by almost everyone not to play, right? 

Yes, the billionaire who was born into a pampered and privileged life, and who has never known struggle or financial uncertainty a single day in his life, is assuring you that your worries about your hard earned savings are overblown. 

Even more outrageous, he actually proclaimed a measure of victory, much like George W. Bush did just weeks after the invasion of Iraq back in 2003. Look how well that turned out.

This is what Trump recently posted on his Truth Social platform:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1216882299782995&set=a.113043426833560

There we go. Trump likened himself to a surgeon who just completed a successful surgery. He insisted that the patient (that being the American economy, or the American people) will be better off in the long run.

Except, of course, that most of the experts doubt that this surgery was necessary to begin with. That Trump performed this action at the risk of the patient without any kind of justification for it, and against the opinions and warnings of almost everyone else.

Meanwhile, far from showing signs of recovery, the economy keeps on slumping. Even Russia, the country which Trump seems to feel most closely aligned to, today warned that the world economy is "in turmoil."

Worse still, Russian government officials left no real doubt that the finger of blame was to be pointed at Trump's tariffs:

“It’s unlikely that these U.S. tariffs will be beneficial. The global economy is responding very emotionally to these decisions,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a Friday briefing, according to multiple outlets. “We are witnessing a high level of turbulence in international markets, and of course, the world economy is currently in turmoil.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Trump and his economic plan, is it?

Indeed, things look and feel quite grim at the moment.

You know, it occurred to me that Trump's MAGA movement always focused on some supposed golden era, when the United States was great. My guess is that he was referring to the 1950's and 1960's, or perhaps even the 1980's, when he himself seemed to be on top of the world. The thing is, the United States back in those days was not outright antagonistic to friendly nations. In fact, it relied heavily on friends, and appreciated their support. So it seems strange that he and his movement are so keen on destroying those key friendships now, when they are trying to return to days when we strongly benefited from them. They showed no hesitation when going after our friends and all but outright declaring economic war on them. 

Really, it's enough to start to make everyone feel nervous. The stock market is crashing, and the Trump administration is not pointing to it as a measure of their success, which they have regularly done in the past. Hell, FOX News even took down their stock market ticker scrawl for the first time in 28 years, knowing that it is unflattering to Trump and his MAGA movement, which FOX News has been instrumental in empowering. 

Don't worry, though. Trump, a man who has a long history of lying and misleading people, and also a man who filed bankruptcy numerous times and failed even with a number of casinos and other scam business ventures, is assuring you that everything is just fine. At least he is doing that in between all of those endless rounds of golf that he once promised us he would have no time for once he was in the White House. 

So I guess this is what passes for the new normal in this Trump America.

Are we great yet? 

Below are the sources which I used and from which I obtained the quote from Trump used in the above:

Global markets swoon as Trump heads to the golf course published by Al Jazeera, 4 Apr 2025:

Markets tumbled in Wall Street’s worst crisis since the pandemic as investors fled after China retaliated against tariffs.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/4/4/global-markets-swoon-as-trump-heads-to-the-golf-course

"The operation is over, the patient lived': Donald Trump after shaking global economies with US tarrifs published by Times of India, April 3, 2025:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/us-and-world/the-operation-is-over-the-patient-lived-donald-trump-after-shaking-global-economies-with-us-tariffs/articleshow/119949495.cms

Russia: World economy ‘in turmoil’ by Filip Timotija - 04/04/25:

https://thehill.com/policy/international/5232892-russian-government-world-economy-turmoil/

April 4th: This Day in History

 

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

On this day in 1081, Alexius I Comnenus occupied the Byzantine throne. In 1460 on this day, the University of Basel in Switzerland was formed. Ignatius of Loyola became the first Superior-General of Jesuits on this day in 1541. In 1687 on this day, English King James II ordered his Declaration of Indulgence to be read in church. On this day in 1776: following the successful siege of Boston, General George Washington began marching his unpaid soldiers from their headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, toward New York in anticipation of a British invasion. In 1814 on this day, Napoleon abdicated for the first time in favour of his son. The HMS Beagle, with British Botanist Charles Darwin aboard, reached Rio de Janeiro on this day in 1832. On this day in 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a city. On this day in 1896, gold deposits were discovered in the Forty Mile River region of Alaska, which in turn sparked the Yukon Gold Rush, also known as the Klondike Gold Rush. This led to an enormous influx of prospectors into the Yukon Territory. In 1900 on this day during the Anglo-Boer War, the British garrison of Reddersberg surrendered to Boer troops led by General Christiaan de Wet. On this day in 1900 in Brussels (Belgium(, there was an assassination attempt on Prince of Wales, who would later become British King Edward VII, as would be assassin Jean-Baptiste Sipido fired shots in protest over the Anglo-Boer War. Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund was formed with $10 million on this day in 1902. On this day in 1944 during World War II, British troops captured Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. In 1944 on this day during World War II, General Charles De Gaulle was named as the head of the Free French forces. Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation on this day in 1945 during World War II. It came to be known as  Liberation Day (Hungarian: Felszabadítási Nap). US forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany on this day in 1945 during World War II. On this day in 1949 in Washington,D.C., the United States and 11 other nations signed an agreement and formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," single rose to #1 on this day in 1964 & stayed #1 for 5 weeks. On this day in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, iconic civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luth King, Jr. was assassinated. 

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 1081, Alexius I Comnenus occupied the Byzantine throne.

• In 1460 on this day, the University of Basel in Switzerland was formed.

• Ignatius of Loyola became the first Superior-General of Jesuits on this day in 1541.

1552 - Mauritius van Saksen begins alliance with Karel Anikita Stroganov

1558 - Czar Ivan IV gives parts of North-Russia to fur traders

1581 - Francis Drake awarded a Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth I aboard Golden Hind at Deptford

1588 - Christian IV succeeds Frederik II as king of Denmark

1655 - Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet beats Barbarian pirates

1655 - The miraculous statue entitled the Infant of Prague is solemnly crowned by command of Cardinal Harrach.

1660 - English king Charles II sends Declaration of Breda (freedom of religion)

1686 - English king James II publishes Declaration of Indulgence

• In 1687 on this day, English King James II ordered his Declaration of Indulgence to be read in church.

1716 - Russian & Prussian troops occupy Wismar

1721 - Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.

1737 - Anthony van Heim installed as Dutch pension advisor

Statue of George Washington in Morristown, New Jersey

Equestrian statue of George Washington near his headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey.

• On this day in 1776: following the successful siege of Boston, General George Washington began marching his unpaid soldiers from their headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, toward New York in anticipation of a British invasion.    In a letter to the president of Congress, General Washington wrote of his intentions in marching to New York and expressed frustration with Congress for failing to send adequate funds to allow him to pay his troops. Washington wrote, I heartily wish the money had arrived sooner, that the Militia might have been paid as soon as their time of Service expired. The lack of payment left Washington's soldiers with feelings of great uneasiness and they are gone home much dissatisfied and the commander in chief had received severe complaints from the other Troops on the same account. Washington hoped that, upon his arrival in New York, a sufficient sum will be there ready to pay every claim.    The Continental Congress' inability to promptly pay or adequately supply its soldiers persisted throughout the war and continued as a subject of debate following the peace at Yorktown. Two major ramifications of the financial crisis marked the birth of the new nation. First, Congress began to pay soldiers with promises of western lands instead of currency—the same land Congress simultaneously promised to its Indian allies. Secondly, Congress' inability to pay expenses even after winning the war eventually convinced conservative Patriots that it was necessary to overthrow the Articles of Confederation and draft the Constitution of the United States. The new and more centralized Constitution, with its three branches of government, had greater authority to raise funds and an increased ability to manage the new nation's finances. Alexander Hamilton, in his role as the first secretary of the treasury under President George Washington, focused his efforts on mimicking British financial institutions, most significantly in his championship of the First Bank of the United States, as a means of stabilizing the new nation's economy.

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

• In 1814 on this day, Napoleon abdicated for the first time in favour of his son.

1818 - Congress decided US flag is 13 red & white stripes & 20 stars

1828 - Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder (Amsterdam)

British Botanist Charles Darwin

• The HMS Beagle, with British Botanist Charles Darwin aboard, reached Rio de Janeiro on this day in 1832.

• On this day in 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a city. 

1859 - Opera "Dinorah" is produced (Paris)

1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.

1862 - Battle of Yorktown (US Civil War) begins

1862 - US begins Peninsular Campaign aimed at capturing Richmond during US Civil War

1864 - Skirmish at Elkin's Ford (Little Missouri River), Arkansas

1865 - Lee's army arrives at Amelia Courthouse

1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev.

1870 - Golden Gate Park forms by City Order #800

1887 - Susanna Medora Salter elected 1st US woman mayor (Argonia, KS)

• On this day in 1896, gold deposits were discovered in the Forty Mile River region of Alaska, which in turn sparked the Yukon Gold Rush, also known as the Klondike Gold Rush. This led to an enormous influx of prospectors into the Yukon Territory. 

The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.

• In 1900 on this day during the Anglo-Boer War, the British garrison of Reddersberg surrendered to Boer troops led by General Christiaan de Wet.

• On this day in 1900 in Brussels (Belgium(, there was an assassination attempt on Prince of Wales, who would later become British King Edward VII, as would be assassin Jean-Baptiste Sipido fired shots in protest over the Anglo-Boer War.

• Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund was formed with $10 million on this day in 1902.

1905 - Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 20,000

1911 - Hugh Chalmers, automaker, suggests idea of baseball MVP

1912 - Army fires on striking mine workers at Lena-gold fields Siberia

1912 - Chinese republic proclaimed in Tibet

1913 - The Greek aviator Emmanuel Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.

1914 - "Perils of Pauline" shown for 1st time in LA

1916 - US Senate agrees (82-6) to participate in WW I

Marxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir LeninMarxist Revolutionary and Russian Leader Vladimir Lenin 1917 - Lenin issues his April Theses calling for Soviets to take power

1918 - Battle of Somme, ends

1918 - Food riot in Amsterdam

1920 - Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem

1921 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators (NHL) beat Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA), 3 games to 2

1922 - WAAB (Baton Rouge La) becomes 1st US radio station with "W" calls

1926 - Greek dictator Theodorus Pangalos elected president

1929 - "New Moon" musical opens in London

1929 - 1st AAU Greco-Roman wrestling championships held

1930 - Andrew Sandham makes Test Cricket 1st triple century

1930 - Les Ames makes the 1st Test Cricket century by a wicketkeeper (149)

1930 - The Communist Party of Panama is founded.

1932 - George Bernard Shaw's "Too True to be Good," premieres in NYC

1932 - Vitamin C 1st isolated, CC King, Univ of Pittsburgh

1933 - US Dirigible Akron crashes off coast of NJ, 73 die

Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw 1937 - 4th Golf Masters Championship: Byron Nelson wins, shooting a 283

1938 - 5th Golf Masters Championship: Henry Picard wins, shooting a 285

1939 - Faisal II ascends to throne of Iraq

1940 - R Rodgers/Lorenz Hart's "Higher & Higher," premieres in NYC

1941 - German troops conquer Banghazi

• On this day in 1944 during World War II, British troops captured Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

French President Charles De Gaulle

• In 1944 on this day during World War II, General Charles De Gaulle was named as the head of the Free French forces.  

1944 - Allied Bucharest bombings targeting railroads kills 5,000

• Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation on this day in 1945 during World War II. It came to be known as  Liberation Day (Hungarian: Felszabadítási Nap).

• US forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany on this day in 1945 during World War II.

1945 - US tanks/infantry conquer Bielefeld

1947 - Convention on International Civil Aviation goes into effect

1947 - Largest group of sunspots on record

1947 - UN's International Civil Aviation Organization forms

1948 - 84-year-old Connie Mack challenges 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to 1st base; it ends in a tie

Baseball Legend Connie MackBaseball Legend Connie Mack 1949 - Israel & Jordan sign armistice agreement

• On this day in 1949 in Washington,D.C., the United States and 11 other nations signed an agreement and formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression against Western Europe. NATO stood as the main U.S.-led military alliance against the Soviet Union throughout the duration of the Cold War.    Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate rapidly in 1948. There were heated disagreements over the postwar status of Germany, with the Americans insisting on German recovery and eventual rearmament and the Soviets steadfastly opposing such actions. In June 1948, the Soviets blocked all ground travel to the American occupation zone in West Berlin, and only a massive U.S. airlift of food and other necessities sustained the population of the zone until the Soviets relented and lifted the blockade in May 1949. In January 1949, President Harry S. Truman warned in his State of the Union Address that the forces of democracy and communism were locked in a dangerous struggle, and he called for a defensive alliance of nations in the North Atlantic—U.S military in Korea.NATO was the result. In April 1949, representatives from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal joined the United States in signing the NATO agreement. The signatories agreed, "An armed attack against one or more of them... shall be considered an attack against them all." President Truman welcomed the organization as "a shield against aggression."    Not all Americans embraced NATO. Isolationists such as Senator Robert A. Taft declared that NATO was "not a peace program; it is a war program." Most, however, saw the organization as a necessary response to the communist threat. The U. S. Senate ratified the treaty by a wide margin in June 1949. During the next few years, Greece, Turkey, and West Germany also joined. The Soviet Union condemned NATO as a warmongering alliance and responded by setting up the Warsaw Pact (a military alliance between the Soviet Union and its Eastern Europe satellites) in 1955.    NATO lasted throughout the course of the Cold War, and continues to play an important role in post-Cold War Europe. In recent years, for example, NATO forces were active in trying to bring an end to the civil war in Bosnia.

1949 - WKRC TV channel 12 in Cincinnati, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting

1950 - Dirk Stikker becomes chairman of OES

1951 - Dutch Prince Bernhard visits Juan & Eva Peron in Buenos Aires

1953 - KFDA TV channel 10 in Amarillo, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting

1954 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Carrollton Georgia Golf Open

1955 - British government signs military treaty with Iraq

1956 - Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden," premieres in London

1957 - Heitor Villa-Lobos' 10th Symphony, premieres in Paris

1958 - 1st march against nuclear weapons (Aldermaston England)

1958 - Eugene Ionesco's "Tueur sans Gages" premieres in Darmstadt

1958 - The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London.

1959 - Fed of Mali, consisting of Senegal & French Sudan (dissolved 1960)

1960 - 32nd Academy Awards - "Ben-Hur," Charlton Heston & Simone Signoret win

Actor Charlton HestonActor Charlton Heston 1960 - Oscar awarded to Neth director Bert Haanstra

1960 - Project Ozma begins at Green Bank radio astronomy center

1960 - Senegal declares independence from France

1964 - "Anyone Can Whistle" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 9 performances

• The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," single rose to #1 on this day in 1964 & stayed #1 for 5 weeks.

1965 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Baton Rouge Golf Invitational

1965 - The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft plane is unveiled.

1966 - Pirate Radio Scotland changes name to Radio Ireland

1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1967 - Amsterdam Marines chase out "nozems" of Central Station

1967 - Dutch De Young government forms

1967 - Marines chase "Nozems" out of Amsterdam Central Station

1968 - "Education of Hyman Kaplan" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 28 perfs

1968 - Apollo 6 launched atop Saturn V; unmanned

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC (picture taken during visit in 2013)

Statue of Martin Luther King Jr in Denver, Colorado

• On this day in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, iconic civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luth King, Jr. was assassinated.  Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.  In the months before his assassination, Martin Luther King became increasingly concerned with the problem of economic inequality in America. He organized a Poor People's Campaign to focus on the issue, including an interracial poor people's march on Washington, and in March 1968 traveled to Memphis in support of poorly treated African-American sanitation workers. On March 28, a workers' protest march led by King ended in violence and the death of an African-American teenager. King left the city but vowed to return in early April to lead another demonstration.  On April 3, back in Memphis, King gave his last sermon, saying, "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop...And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."  One day after speaking those words, Dr. King was shot and killed by a sniper. As word of the assassination spread, riots broke out in cities all across the United States and National Guard troops were deployed in Memphis and Washington, D.C. On April 9, King was laid to rest in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to pay tribute to King's casket as it passed by in a wooden farm cart drawn by two mules.  The evening of King's murder, a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle was found on the sidewalk beside a rooming house one block from the Lorraine Motel. During the next several weeks, the rifle, eyewitness reports, and fingerprints on the weapon all implicated a single suspect: escaped convict James Earl Ray. A two-bit criminal, Ray escaped a Missouri prison in April 1967 while serving a sentence for a holdup. In May 1968, a massive manhunt for Ray began. The FBI eventually determined that he had obtained a Canadian passport under a false identity, which at the time was relatively easy.  On June 8, Scotland Yard investigators arrested Ray at a London airport. He was trying to fly to Belgium, with the eventual goal, he later admitted, of reaching Rhodesia. Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, was at the time ruled by an oppressive and internationally condemned white minority government. Extradited to the United States, Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King's murder in order to avoid the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.  Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was innocent of King's assassination and had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy. He claimed that in 1967, a mysterious man named "Raoul" had approached him and recruited him into a gunrunning enterprise. On April 4, 1968, he said, he realized that he was to be the fall guy for the King assassination and fled to Canada. Ray's motion was denied, as were his dozens of other requests for a trial during the next 29 years.  During the 1990s, the widow and children of Martin Luther King Jr. spoke publicly in support of Ray and his claims, calling him innocent and speculating about an assassination conspiracy involving the U.S. government and military. U.S. authorities were, in conspiracists' minds, implicated circumstantially. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover obsessed over King, who he thought was under communist influence. For the last six years of his life, King underwent constant wiretapping and harassment by the FBI. Before his death, Dr. King was also monitored by U.S. military intelligence, which may have been asked to watch King after he publicly denounced the Vietnam War in 1967. Furthermore, by calling for radical economic reforms in 1968, including guaranteed annual incomes for all, King was making few new friends in the Cold War-era U.S. government.  Over the years, the assassination has been reexamined by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the Shelby County, Tennessee, district attorney's office, and three times by the U.S. Justice Department. The investigations all ended with the same conclusion: James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King. The House committee acknowledged that a low-level conspiracy might have existed, involving one or more accomplices to Ray, but uncovered no evidence to definitively prove this theory. In addition to the mountain of evidence against him--such as his fingerprints on the murder weapon and his admitted presence at the rooming house on April 4--Ray had a definite motive in assassinating King: hatred. According to his family and friends, he was an outspoken racist who informed them of his intent to kill Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He died in 1998.  

1969 - Denton Cooley gets 1st temporary artificial heart

1970 - Firestone World Tournament of Champions won by Don Johnson

1971 - "Follies" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 524 performances

1971 - Marine clay under houses liquefies, 31 die (St-Jean-Vianney Quebec)

1972 - 1st electric power plant fueled by garbage begins operating

1974 - Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th

1975 - 130, killed as USAF plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes

1975 - Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes

1975 - USAF transport carrying orphans from Saigon crashes killing 155

1975 - Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

1976 - 5th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Judy Rankin

1976 - Seni Pramoj's Democratic Party wins elections in Thailand

1979 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

1980 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1981 - Henry Cisneros becomes 1st Mexican-American mayor (San Antonio)

Microsoft Founder Bill GatesMicrosoft Founder Bill Gates 1982 - 11th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Sally Little

1983 - 45th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: NC State beats Houston 54-52

1983 - 6th space shuttle mission, Challenger 1 launched

1984 - Michael Frayn's "Benefactors" premieres in London

1984 - Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary

1987 - Dow Jones up 69.89 points, ending at record 2,390.34 pts

1990 - Security law violator Ivan Boesky is released from federal custody

1991 - "Lucifer's Child" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 28 performances

1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

1992 - Game 1 of Mayor Challenge - NY Yankees beat NY Mets 6-4 at Yank Stad

1992 - Jury deliberations begin in Noriega case

1992 - Sali Berisha becomes president/Alexander Meksi premier of Albania

1994 - KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol, 3 killed

1994 - Netscape Communications founded as Mosaic Communications

1994 - Tony Curtis undergoes heart-bypass surgery

1994 - Day vs Mets starter Dwight Gooden

1996 - "Inherit the Wind" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 45 performances

1996 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Austin TX on KJFK 98.9 FM

1997 - Anaheim Ducks clinch their 1st-ever playoff berth

1997 - Braves officially open Turner Field against Cubs

1997 - DMSP Titan 2 launched

1997 - STS 83 (Columbia 22), launches

1998 - NFL Europe (Formerly WLAF), kicks off season

2002 - The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.

2007 - 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released by the Iranian President.

Baseball Player Darryl StrawberryBaseball Player Darryl Strawberry 2008 - The raid on the FLDS owned ranch called the YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children were taken into custody. 133 woman were taken into state custody also, the total number of woman and children is 534.

2012 - German Nobel Laureat, Gunter Grass, publishes controversial poem that claims Israel is plotting to wipe out Iran

2012 - Somalia's National Theatre is struck by a suicide bomber killing ten people including the presidents of the Somali Olympic Committee and Football Federation

2012 - Boris Todic, President of Serbia, resigns

2013 - 74 people are killed after an illegally constructed building collapses in Thane, India

2013 - 9 people have been killed on an axe-murdering rampage in Chhattisgarh state, India

2013 - Poecilotheria rajaei, a giant tarantula with a 20cm leg span, is discovered in Sri Lanka

0896 - Formosus ended his reign as pope.   1541 - Ignatius of Loyola became the first superior-general of the Jesuits.   1581 - Francis Drake completed the circumnavigation of the world.   1687 - King James II ordered that his declaration of indulgence be read in church.   1812 - The territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state and will become known as Louisiana.   1818 - The U.S. flag was declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars and that a new star would be added for the each new state.   1841 - U.S. President William Henry Harrison, at the age of 68, became the first president to die in office. He had been sworn in only a month before he died of pneumonia.   1848 - Thomas Douglas became the first San Francisco public teacher.   1850 - The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.   1862 - In the U.S., the Battle of Yorktown began as Union General George B. McClellan closed in on Richmond, VA.   1887 - Susanna M. Salter became mayor of Argonia, KS, making her the first woman mayor in the U.S.   1902 - British Financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will that would provide scholarships for Americans to Oxford University in England.   1905 - In Kangra, India, an earthquake killed 370,000 people.   1914 - The first known serialized moving picture opened in New York City, NY. It was "The Perils of Pauline".   1917 - The U.S. Senate voted 90-6 to enter World War I on the Allied side.   1918 - The Battle of Somme, an offensive by the British against the German Army ended.   1932 - After five years of research, professor C.G. King, of the University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C.   1945 - Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation.   1945 - During World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.   1949 - Twelve nations signed a treaty to create The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).   1953 - Fifteen doctors were released by Soviet leaders. The doctors had been arrested before Stalin had died and were accused of plotting against him.   1967 - The U.S. lost its 500th plane over Vietnam.   1967 - Johnny Carson quit "The Tonight Show." He returned three weeks later after getting a raise of $30,000 a week.   1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 39.   1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first temporary artificial heart.   1971 - Veterans stadium in Philadelphia, PA, was dedicated this day.   1974 - Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's major league baseball home-run record with 714.   1975 - More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed just after takeoff from Saigon.   1979 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the president of Pakistan, was executed. He had been convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.   1981 - Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city, which was San Antonio, TX.   1983 - At Cape Canaveral, the space shuttle Challenger took off on its first flight. It was the sixth flight overall for the shuttle program.   1984 - U.S. President Reagan proposed an international ban on chemical weapons.   1985 - In Sudan, a coup ousted President Nimeiry and replaced him with General Dahab.   1986 - Wayne Gretzky set an NHL record with his 213th point of the season.   1987 - The U.S. charged the Soviet Union with wiretapping a U.S. Embassy.   1988 - Arizona Governor Evan Mecham was voted out of office by the Arizona Senate. Mecham was found guilty of diverting state funds to his auto business and of trying to impede an investigation into a death threat to a grand jury witness.   1990 - In the U.S., securities law violator Ivan Boesky was released from federal custody.   1991 - Pennsylvanian Senator John Heinz and six others were killed when a helicopter collided with Heinz's plane over a schoolyard in Merion, PA.   1992 - Sali Berisha became the first non-Marxist president of Albania since World War II.   1994 - Netscape Communications (Mosaic Communications) was founded.   1995 - U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato ridiculed judge Lance Ito using a mock Japanese accent on a nationally syndicated radio program. D'Amato apologized two days later for the act.   1999 - The Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres played the first major league season opener to be held in Mexico. The Rockies beat the Padres 8-2.  



1818 Congress adopted a U.S. flag with one star for each state. 1841 President William Henry Harrison died from pneumonia, one month after his inauguration. 1905 Earthquake in Kangra, India, killed more than 20,000. 1945 The Ohrdruf death camp was liberated from Nazi occupation. 1949 The treaty establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed. 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. 1973 The ribbon was cut to open the World Trade Center in New York City. 1979 Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed by the military. 1981 Henry Cisneros became the mayor of San Antonio, Texas: the first Hispanic mayor of a major U.S. city. 1983 Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

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/apr04.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory