What Happened This Day In History .... April 26

TODAY IN HISTORY

April 26

757		Stephen II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1478		Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo and kill Giuliano de'Medici.
1514		Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn.
1564		William Shakespeare is baptized.
1607		The British establish a colony at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1865		Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to Sherman.
1915		Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse becomes the first airman to win the Victoria Cross after conducting a successful bombing raid.
1929		The first non-stop flight from England to India is completed.
1931		New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake ultimately costs him the home run record.
1937		The ancient Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain is bombed by German planes.
1941		The first organ is played at a baseball stadium in Chicago.
1968		Students seize the administration building at Ohio State University.
1983		The Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 1,200 for first time.
1986		The world's worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Soviet Union.
1994		Nelson Mandela wins the presidency in South Africa's first multiracial elections.
Born on April 26
1718		Esek Hopkins, first commodore of the United States Navy.
1785		John James Audubon, artist and naturalist.
1812		Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant.
1822		Frederick Law Olmstead, landscape architect, designed New York's central park.
1875		Syngman Rhee, South Korean statesman.
1893		Anita Loos, novelist and screenwriter (Gentleman Prefer Blondes).
1894		Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader.
1900		Charles Richter, physicist and seismologist.
1914		Bernard Malamud, novelist and short story writer (The Natural).

What Happened This Day In History.... April 25

1590		The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
1644		The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself.
1707		At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portugese forces.
1719		Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.
1792		The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
1859		Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
1862		Admiral Farragut occupies New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864		After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returns to Alexandria, Louisiana.
1867		Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.
1882		French commander Henri Riviere seizes the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.
1898		The United States declares war on Spain.
1915		Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey.
1925		General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
1926		In Iran, Reza Kahn is crowned Shah and chooses the name "Pehlevi."
1926		Puccini's opera Turandot premiers at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting.
1938		A seeing eye dog is used for the first time.
1945		U.S. and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.
1951		After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.
1953		The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the "double helix" of DNA.
1956		Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to number one on the charts.
1959		The St. Lawrence Seaway–linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes–opens to shipping.
1960		The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine.
1962		A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon.
1971		The country of Bangladesh is established.
1980		President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran.
1982		In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.
1990		Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a six year term as Nicaragua's president.
Born on April 25
1214		Louis IX, king of France (1226-1270).
1284		Edward II, king of England (1307-1327).
1599		Oliver Cromwell, lord protector of England (1653-1658).
1873		Howard R. Garis, children's writer.
1873		Walther de la Mare, poet and novelist (Memoir of a Midget, Come Hither).
1874		Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist, inventor of the radio.
1892		Maud Hart Lovelace, children's author.
1908		Edward R. Murrow, war correspondent and newscaster.
1912		Gladys L. Presley, mother of Elvis Presley.
1914		Ross Lockridge, Jr., novelist (Raintree Country).
1917		Ella Fitzgerald, American singer

What Happened This Day In History...April 24

858		St. Nicholas I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1519		Envoys of Montezuma II attend the first Easter mass in Central America.
1547		Charles V's troops defeat the Protestant League of Schmalkalden at the battle of Muhlburg.
1558		Mary, Queen of Scotland, marries the French dauphin, Francis.
1792		Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes "La Marseilles". It will become France's national anthem.
1800		The Library of Congress is established in Washington, D.C. with a $5,000 allocation.
1805		U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary pirates.
1833		A patent is granted for first soda fountain.
1877		Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1884		Otto von Bismarck cables Cape Town, South Africa that it is now a German colony.
1898		Spain declares war on United States, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915		Turks of the Ottoman Empire begin massacring the Armenian minority in their country.
1916		Irish nationalists launch the Easter Uprising against British occupation.
1944		The first B-29 arrives in China, over the Hump of the Himalayas.
1948		The Berlin airlift begins to relieve surrounded city.
1953		Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961		President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" for the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1968		Leftist students take over Columbia University in protest over the Vietnam War.
1980		A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert.
1981		The IBM Personal Computer is introduced.
1989		Thousands of Chinese students strike in Beijing for more democratic reforms.
Born on April 24
1620		John Graunt, statistician, founder of demography.
1743		Edmund Cartwright, English parson who invented the power loom.
1766		Robert Bailey Thomas, founder of the Farmer's Almanac.
1769		Arthur Wellesley, general during the Napoleonic Wars, Duke of Wellington.
1815		Anthony Trollope, British novelist.
1856		Henri Philippe Pétain, French Marshall, WWI hero, Nazi collaborator.
1900		Elizabeth Goudge, English author.
1904		Willem de Kooning, abstract impressionist painter.
1905		Robert Penn Warren, novelist, America's first poet laureate.
1906		William Joyce, 'Lord Haw-Haw,' British traitor, Nazi propagandist

What Happened This Day In History... April 23

1348		The first English order of knighthood is founded.
1500		Pedro Cabal claims Brazil for Portugal.
1521		The Comuneros are crushed by royalist troops in Spain.
1661		Charles II is formally crowned king, returning the monarchy to Britain, albeit with greatly reduced powers.
1759		British forces seize Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe from France.
1789		President George Washington moves into Franklin House, New York.
1826		Missolonghi falls to Egyptian forces.
1856		Free Stater J.N. Mace in Westport, Kansas shoots pro-slavery sheriff Samuel Jones in the back.
1865		Union cavalry units continue to skirmish with Confederate forces in Henderson, North Carolina and Munsford Station, Alalbama.
1895		Russia, France, and Germany force Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
1896		Motion pictures premiere in New York City.
1915		The ACA becomes the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of NASA.
1920		The Turkish Grand National Assembly has first meeting in Ankara.
1924		The U.S. Senate passes the Soldiers' Bonus Bill.
1945		The Soviet Army fights its way into Berlin.
1950		Chiang Kai-shek evacuates Hainan, leaving mainland China to Mao Zedong and the communists.
1954		The Army-McCarthy hearings begin.
1966		President Lyndon Johnson publicly appeals for more nations to come to the aid of South Vietnam.
1969		Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for killing Senator Robert Kennedy.
1971		The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 10, becoming the first in Salyut 1 space station.
Born on April 23
1547		Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish author (Don Quixote).
1564		William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet.
1791		James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (1857-1861).
1813		Stephen A. Douglas, American politician.
1897		Lucius D. Clay, U.S. military governor of occupied Berlin.
1902		Halldór Laxness, Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic novelist (The Fish Can Sing, Paradise Reclaimed).
1926		J.P. Donlevey, American-born Irish writer (The Ginger Man).
1926		Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Mercury and Gemini astronaut, died in an accident on Apollo 1.
1928		Shirley Temple Black, child actress, later U.S. ambassador.
1932		Jim Fixx, runner and writer who popularized running as a form of exercise in the 1970s

What Happened This Day In History... April 22

296		St. Gaius ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
536		St. Agapitus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1500		Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil.
1509		Henry VIII ascends to the throne of England upon the death of his father, Henry VII.
1529		Spain and Portugal divide the eastern hemisphere in the Treaty of Saragosa.
1745		The Peace of Fussen is signed.
1792		President George Washington proclaims American neutrality in the war in Europe.
1861		Robert E. Lee is named commander of Virginia forces.
1889		The Oklahoma land rush officially starts at noon as thousands of Americans race for new, unclaimed land.
1898		In the first action of the Spanish-American War, the USS Nashville, takes on a Spanish ship.
1915		At the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans use poison gas for the first time.
1918		British naval forces attempt to sink block-ships in the German U-boat bases at the Battle of Zeeburgge.
1931		Egypt signs treaty of friendship with Iraq.
1944		Allies launch major attack against the Japanese in Hollandia, New Guinea.
1954		The Senate Army-McCarthy hearings begin. They are broadcast on television.
1955		Congress orders all U.S. coins to bear the motto "In God We Trust."
1976		Barbara Walters becomes the first female nightly news anchor on network television.
1995		In Africa, Rwandan troops kill thousands of Hutu refugees in Kibeho.
Born on April 22
1451		Isabella I of Castile, Queen of Spain, patron of Christopher Columbus.
1707		Henry Fielding, English novelist (Tom Jones).
1724		Immanuel Kant, German philosopher.
1870		Vladimir Ilich Lenin (Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov), leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) and first head of the U.S.S.R.
1873		Ellen Glassgow, American novelist.
1876		O.E. Rolvaag, novelist (Giants in the Earth).
1899		Vladimir Nabokov, Russian novelist (Lolita).
1904		J. Robert Oppenheimer, physicist, director of the Manhattan Project.
1916		Yehudi Menuhin, violinist.
1918		Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man (8'11.1").
1922		Charles Mingus, jazz bassist.
1943		Louise Gluck, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

What Happened This Day In History... April 21

753BC		Traditional date of the foundation of Rome.
43BC		Marcus Antonius is defeated by Octavian near Modena, Italy.
1526		Mongol Emperor Babur annihilates the Indian Army of Ibrahim Lodi.
1649		The Maryland Toleration Act is passed, allowing all people freedom of worship.
1689		William III and Mary II are crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1836		General Sam Houston defeats Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. Texas wins independence from Mexico.
1862		Congress establishes the U.S. Mint.
1865		Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington.
1898		The Spanish-American War begins.
1910		Mark Twain dies at the age of 75.
1916		Bill Carlisle, the infamous 'last train robber,' robs a train in Hanna, Wyoming.
1914		U.S. Marines occupy Vera Cruz, Mexico. They will stay six months.
1918		German fighter ace Baron von Richthofen, "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed.
1943		President Roosevelt announces that several Doolittle pilots have been executed by Japanese.
1960		Brasilia becomes the capital of Brazil.
1961		The French army revolts in Algeria.
1966		Pfc. Milton Lee Olive is awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for bravery during the Vietnam War.
1975		The last South Vietnam president, Nguyen Van Thieu, resigns.
1995		Federal authorities arrest Timothy McVeigh in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing.
Born on April 21
1782		Friedrich Froebel, founder of kindergarten.
1816		Charlotte Bronte, novelist (Jane Eyre).
1838		John Muir, naturalist.
1849		Oskar Hertwig, embryologist.
1864		Max Weber, German sociologist and political economist.
1909		Rollo May, psychologist.
1912		Marcel Camus, French film director (Black Orpheus).
1923		John Mortimor, British barrister and playwright (Rumpole of the Bailey).
1926		Elizabeth II, queen of England.
1932		Elaine May, comedy writer

What Happened This Day In History... April 20

1139		The Second Lateran Council opens in Rome.
1657		English Admiral Robert Blake fights his last battle when he destroys the Spanish fleet in Santa Cruz Bay.
1769		Ottawa Chief Pontiac is murdered by an Indian in Cahokia.
1770		Captain Cook discovers Australia.
1775		British troops begin the siege of Boston.
1792		France declares war on Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia.
1809		Napoleon defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria.
1836		The Territory of Wisconsin is created.
1841		Edgar Allen Poe's first detective story is published.
1861		Robert E. Lee resigns from the U.S. Army.
1879		The first mobile home (horse-drawn) is used in a journey from London to Cyprus.
1916		Wrigley Field opens in Chicago.
1919		The Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from the Soviets.
1940		The first electron microscope is demonstrated.
1942		Pierre Laval, the premier of Vichy France, in a radio broadcast, establishes a policy of "true reconciliation with Germany."
1945		Soviet troops begin their attack on Berlin.
1951		General MacArthur addresses a joint session of Congress after being relieved by President Truman.
1953		Operation Little Switch begins in Korea, the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners of war.
1962		The New Orleans Citizens Committee gives free one-way ride to blacks to move North.
1967		U.S. planes bomb Haiphong for first time during the Vietnam War.
1999		Two students enter Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and open fire with multiple firearms, killing 13 students and teachers, wounding 25 and eventually shooting themselves.
Born on April 20
121		Marcus Aurelius, 16th Roman emperor, philosopher.
1745		Philippe Pinel, founder of psychiatry.
1807		Aloysius Bertrand ("Gaspard de la Nuit"), French poet.
1808		Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III), emperor of France.
1850		Daniel Chester French, sculptor.
1889		Adolf Hitler, Facist dictator of Nazi Germany (1933-1945).
1893		Harold Lloyd, film comedian.
1893		Joan Miró, Spanish painter.
1927		Alex Muller, Nobel Prize-winning physicist

What Happened This Day In History... April 19

1539		Emperor Charles V reaches a truce with German Protestants at Frankfurt, Germany.
1689		Residents of Boston oust their governor, Edmond Andros.
1764		The English Parliament bans the American colonies from printing paper money.
1775		The American Revolution begins as fighting breaks out at Lexington, Massachusetts.
1782		The Netherlands recognizes the United States.
1794		Tadeusz Kosciuszko forces the Russians out of Warsaw.
1802		The Spanish reopen New Orleans port to American merchants.
1824		English poet Lord Byron dies of malaria at age 36 while aiding Greek independence.
1861		The Baltimore riots result in four Union soldiers and nine civilians killed.
1861		President Lincoln orders a blockade of Confederate ports.
1880		The Times war correspondent telephones a report of the Battle of Ahmed Khel, the first time news is sent from a field of battle in this manner.
1927		In China, Hankow communists declare war on Chiang Kai-shek.
1934		Shirley Temple appears in her first movie.
1938		General Francisco Franco declares victory in the Spanish Civil War.
1939		Connecticut finally approves the Bill of Rights.
1943		The Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule begins.
1960		Baseball uniforms begin displaying player's names on their backs.
1971		Russia launches its first Salyut space station.
1977		Alex Haley receives a special Pulitzer Prize for his book Roots.
1982		NASA names Sally Ride to be the first woman astronaut.
1989		The battleship USS Iowa's number 2 turret explodes, killing sailors.
1993		The FBI ends a 51-day siege by storming the Branch Dividian religious cult headquarters in Waco, Texas.
1995		A truck bomb explodes in front of the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
Born on April 19
1666		Sarah Kembel Knight, diarist.
1721		Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1832		Lucretia Rudolph, President Garfield's first lady.
1877		Ole Evinrude, inventor of the first successful outboard motor.
1900		Richard Hughes, English novelist and playwright (A High Wind in Jamaica).
1903		Eliot Ness, Treasury agent during Prohibition.
1905		Tom Hopkinson, British writer.
1912		Glenn T. Seaborg, physicist.
1933		Etheridge Knight, poet.

What Happened This Day In History... April 18

310		St. Eusebius begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1521		Martin Luther confronts the emperor Charles V, refusing to retract the views which led to his excommunication.
1676		Sudbury, Massachusetts is attacked by Indians.
1775		American revolutionaries Paul Revere and William Dawes ride though the towns of Massachusetts warning that "the British are coming."
1791		National Guardsmen prevent Louis XVI and his family from leaving Paris.
1818		A regiment of Indians and blacks is defeated at the Battle of Suwanna, in Florida, ending the first Seminole War.
1834		William Lamb becomes prime minister of England.
1838		The Wilkes' expedition to the South Pole sets sail.
1847		U.S. forces defeat Mexicans at Cerro Gordo in one of the bloodiest battle of the war.
1853		The first train in Asia begins running from Bombay to Tanna.
1861		Colonel Robert E. Lee turns down an offer to command the Union armies.
1885		The Sino-Japanese war ends.
1906		A massive earthquake hits San Francisco, measuring 8.25 on the Richter scale.
1923		Yankee Stadium opens with Babe Ruth hitting a three-run homer as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-1.
1937		Leon Trotsky calls for the overthrow of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
1942		James H. Doolittle bombs Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
1943		Traveling in a bomber, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor, is shot down by American P-38 fighters.
1946		The League of Nations dissolves.
1949		The Republic of Ireland withdraws from British Commonwealth.
1950		The first transatlantic jet passenger trip is completed.
1954		Colonel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1978		The U.S. Senate approves the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama.
1980		Zimbabwe's (Rhodesia) formal independence from Britain is proclaimed.
1983		A suicide bomber kills U.S. Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon.
Born on April 18
1480		Lucretia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and a patron of the arts.
1817		George Henry Lewes, philosophical writer.
1857		Clarence S. Darrow, lawyer.
1864		Richard Harding Davis, journalist.
1918		Clifton Keith Hillegass, founder of the study guides known as Cliff's Notes.
1940		Ed Garvey, labor leader.

What Happened This Day In History... April 17

858		Benedict III ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1492		Christopher Columbus signs a contract with Spain to find a western route to the Indies.
1521		Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
1524		Present-day New York Harbor is discovered by Giovanni Verrazano.
1535		Antonio Mendoza is appointed first viceroy of New Spain.
1758		Frances Williams, the first African-American to graduate for a college in the western hemisphere, publishes a collection of Latin poems.
1808		Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of U.S. ships.
1824		Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54' 40'.
1861		Virginia become eighth state to secede from the Union.
1864		General Grant bans the trading of prisoners.
1865		Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination.
1875		The game "snooker" is invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain.
1895		China and Japan sign peace treaty of Shimonoseki.
1929		Baseball player Babe Ruth and Claire Hodgeson, a former member of the Ziegfield Follies, get married.
1946		The last French troops leave Syria.
1947		Jackie Robinson bunts for his first major league hit.
1961		Some 1,400 Cuban exiles attack the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
1964		Jerrie Mock becomes first woman to fly solo around the world.
1969		Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1970		Apollo 13–originaly scheduled to land on the moon–lands back safely on Earth after an accident.
1975		Khmer Rouge forces capture the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
1983		In Warsaw, police rout 1,000 Solidarity supporters.
Born on April 17
1622		Henry Vaughan, poet
1676		Frederick I, king of Sweden
1741		Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence
1820		Alexander Cartwright, sportsman, developed baseball.
1866		Ernest Henry Starling, British physiologist.
1885		Isak Dinesen (Karen Dinesen), Danish writer (Out of Africa).
1894		Nikita S. Khrushchev, Soviet premier (1958-64).
1897		Thornton Wilder, novelist and playwright (Our Town).
1923		Harry Reasoner, American broadcast journalist.
1928		Cynthia Ozick, writer (The Cannibal Galaxy, The Messiah of Stockholm).

What Happened This Day In History... April 16

69		Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
556		Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1065		The Norman Robert Guiscard takes Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.
1705		Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton.
1746		Prince Charles is defeated at the battle of Culloden, the last pitched battle fought in Britain.
1818		The U.S. Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.
1854		San Salvador is destroyed by an earthquake.
1862		Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves a conscription act for white males between 18 and 35.
1862		Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia.
1917		Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution.
1922		Annie Oakley shoots 100 clay targets in a row, setting a woman's record.
1942		The Island of Malta is awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack. It was the first such award given to any part of the British Commonwealth.
1944		The destroyer USS Laffey survives horrific damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.
1945		American troops enter Nuremberg, Germany.
1947		A lens which provides zoom effects is demonstrated in New York City.
1968		The Pentagon announces the "Vietnamization" of the war.
1972		Two giants pandas arrive in the U.S. from China.
1977		The ban on women attending West Point is lifted.
Born on April 16
1660		Hans Sloane, physician, naturalist, founder of the British Museum.
1728		Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist.
1786		Sir John Franklin, arctic explorer.
1800		George Charles Bingham, British soldier, commanded the Light Brigade during the famous charge.
1844		Anatole France, French writer.
1850		Thomas Sidney Gilchrist, British metallurgist and inventor.
1864		Flora Batson, African-American soprano-baritone singer.
1867		Wilbur Wright, designer, builder and flyer of the first airplane.
1871		John Millington Synge, dramatist and poet (Playboy of the Western World).
1889		Charlie Chaplin, film actor and director.
1919		Merce Cuningham, American dancer and choreographer.
1922		Kingsley Amis, British author (Lucky Jim).
1924		Henry Mancini, composer and conductor ("Moon River").
1947		Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), professional basketball player.

What Happened This Day In History... April 15

1755		English lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language.
1784		The first balloon is flown in Ireland.
1813		U.S. troops under James Wilkinson siege the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama.
1858		At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists.
1871		'Wild Bill' Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas.
1861		President Lincoln mobilizes Federal army.
1865		Abraham Lincoln dies from John Wilkes Booth's assassination bullet.
1912		With her band playing on the deck, the ocean liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m. in the North Atlantic.
1917		British forces defeat the Germans at the battle of Arras.
1919		British troops kill 400 Indians at Amritsar, India.
1923		Insulin becomes generally available for people suffering with diabetes.
1923		The first sound films shown to a paying audience are exhibited at the Rialto Theater in New York City.
1940		French and British troops land at Narvik, Norway.
1945		President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home.
1948		Arab forces are defeated in battle with Israeli forces.
1952		President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty.
1955		Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants.
1959		Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins a U.S. goodwill tour.
1960		The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes at Shaw University.
1971		North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops were on a rescue mission.
1986		U.S. warplanes attack Libya.
Born on April 15
1452		Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary
1684		Catherine I, empress of Russia
1741		Charles Wilson Peale, portrait painter and inventor
1800		Sir James Clark Ross, Scottish explorer who located the Magnetic North Pole.
1832		Wilhelm Busch, German painter and poet, created the precursor to the comic strip.
1843		Henry James, writer and critic.
1874		George Harrison Shull, American botanist, developer of hybrid corn.
1874		Johannes Stark, Novel Prize-winning German physicist.
1880		Max Wertheimer, Czech-born psychologist.
1889		Thomas Hart Benton, painter, muralist.
1889		Asa Phillip Randolph, American labor leader and Civil Rights advocate.
1898		Bessie Smith, American blues singer.
1904		Arshile Gorky, abstract painter.
1922		Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago
1922		Neville Mariner, conductor.
1932		Eva Figes, British novelist.
1940		Jeffrey Archer, English novelist and politician (Kane and Abel, Honor Among Thieves).

What Happened This Day In History... April 14

1471		The Earl of Warwick, who fought on both sides in the War of the Roses, is killed at the Battle of Barnet with the defeat of the Lancastrians.
1543		Bartoleme Ferrelo returns to Spain after discovering a large bay in the New World (San Francisco).
1775		The first abolitionist society in United States is organized in Philadelphia.
1793		A royalist rebellion in Santo Domingo is crushed by French republican troops.
1828		The first edition of Noah Webster's dictionary is published.
1860		The first Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco with mail originating in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1865		President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth.
1894		Thomas Edison's kinetoscope is shown to the public for the first time.
1900		The World Exposition opens in Paris.
1912		The passenger liner Titanic–deemed unsinkable–strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and begins to sink. The ship will go under the next day with a loss of 1,500 lives.
1931		King Alfonso XIII of Spain is overthrown.
1945		American B-29 bombers's damage the Imperial Palace during firebombing raid over Tokyo.
1953		The Viet Minh invade Laos with 40,00 troops in their war against French colonial forces.
1959		The Taft Memorial Bell Tower is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1961		The first live broadcast is televised from the Soviet Union.
1969		The first major league baseball game is played in Montreal, Canada.
1981		America's first space shuttle, Columbia, returns to Earth.
Born on April 14
1578		Philip III, king of Spain and Portugal (1598-1621).
1629		Christian Huygens, Dutch astronomer.
1866		Anne Mansfield Sullivan, teacher who educated Helen Keller.
1889		Arnold Toynbee, English historian.
1898		Harold Black, electrical engineer.
1904		Sir John Gielgud, British actor.