Today in History

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008

Today is Saturday, April 19, the 110th day of 2008. There are 256 days left in the year. 1770 _ Captain James Cook first sees Australia 1919 _ French assembly decides on eight- hour workday 1933 _ FDR announces U.S. will leave the gold standard 1945 _ U.S. aircraft carrier Franklin is heavily damaged in Japanese air raid 1948 _ Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China 1951 _ General Douglas MacArthur ends his military career 1956 _ U.S. actress Grace Kelly marries Monaco's Prince Rainier III (civil ceremony) 1965 _ First all news radio station (WINS 1010 AM in NYC) begins operating 1971 _ Charles Manson sentenced to life (Sharon Tate murder) 1972 _ Bangladesh becomes a member of British Commonwealth

Apr 18, 2008

FRIIDAY, APRIIL 18, 2008

Today is Friday, April 18, the 109th day of 2008. There are 257 days left in the year. 1834 _ Charles Darwin sails to Rio Santa Cruz up Patagonia 1853 _ First train in Asia (Bombay to Tanna, 36 km) 1906 _ San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 and destroys 75 percent of the city 1909 _ Joan of Arc declared a saint 1924 _ First crossword puzzle book published (Simon & Schuster) 1927 _ Chiang Kai-shek forms anti-government in China 1934 _ First ``Washateria" (laundromat) opens (Fort Worth, Texas) 1978 _ Senate votes to turn Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec 31, 1999 1980 _ Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) declares independence from U.K. 1994 _ Former President Richard Nixon suffers a stroke and dies four days later

Apr 17, 2008

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008

Today is Thursday, April 17, the 108th day of 2008. There are 258 days left in the year. 1492 _ Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies 1521 _ Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church 1534 _ Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower 1629 _ First commercial fishery established 1932 _ Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery 1969 _ Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek deposed 1969 _ Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy 1971 _ Egypt, Libya and Syria form federation (FAR) 1971 _ People's Republic Bangladesh forms, under sheik Mujib ur-Rahman 1986 _ IBM produces first megabit-chip

Apr 16, 2008

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008

Today is Wednesday, April 16, the 107th day of 2008. There are 259 days left in the year. 1724 _ First Easter observed 1789 _ George Washington heads for first presidential inauguration 1939 _ Stalin requests British, French and Russian anti-nazi pact 1940 _ First televised baseball game, WGN-TV, (White Sox vs. Cubs exhibition) 1948 _ Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris France 1956 _ First solar powered radios go on sale 1962 _ Walter Cronkite begins anchoring CBS Evening News 1966 _ Rhodesian P.M. Ian Smith breaks diplomatic relations with Britain 1972 _ Two giants pandas (Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing) arrive in the U.S. from China 1993 _ Jury reaches guilty verdict in Federal case against cop who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17

Apr 15, 2008

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008

Today is Tuesday, April 15, the 106th day of 2008. There are 260 days left in the year. 1450 _ French defeat English at Battle of Formigny in 100 Years' War 1493 _ Columbus meets with King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella 1738 _ Bottle opener invented 1784 _ First balloon flight in Ireland 1793 _ Bank of England hands out first banknote 1800 _ James Ross discovers North Magnetic pole 1900 _ International Exposition opens in Paris France 1945 _ FDR buried on grounds of Hyde Park home 1945 _ British and Canadian troops liberate Nazi camp of Bergen-Belsen 1969 _ North Korea shoots at U.S. airplane above Japanese sea

Apr 14, 2008

MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2008

Today is Monday, April 14, the 105th day of 2008. There are 261 days left in the year. 1611 _ Word ``telescope" is first used (Prince Federico Cesi) 1614 _ Pocahontas, daughter of chief Powhatan, marries planter John Rolfe 1814 _ Napoleon abdicated and was banished to Elba 1859 _ Charles Dickens' ``A Tale Of Two Cities" published 1865 _ President Abraham Lincoln shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth 1894 _ First public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures) 1895 _ First performance of Gustav Mahler's (incomplete) 2nd Symphony 1981 _ First Space Shuttle, Columbia 1,returns to Earth 1987 _ Turkey asks to join European market 1989 _ 1,100,000,000th Chinese born

Apr 13, 2008

SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2008

Today is Saturday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2008. There are 263 days left in the year. 1204 _ Fourth Crusade occupies and plunders Constantinople 1654 _ England, Ireland and Scotland unite 1844 _ Texas became a U.S. territory 1927 _ General Chiang Kai-shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai 1945 _ Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd U.S. President 1966 _ First B-52 bombing on North Vietnam 1969 _ Simon & Garfunkel releases ``The Boxer" 1980 _ U.S. Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow games 1987 _ Texaco files for bankruptcy 1992 _ ``Streetcar Named Desire" opens at Ethel Barrymore Theater NYC for 137 performances

Apr 11, 2008

FRIIDAY, APRIIL 11, 2008

Today is Friday, April 11, the 102nd day of 2008. There are 264 days left in the year. 1689 _ William III and Mary II crowned as joint rulers of Britain 1814 _ First abdication of France by Napoleon; he is exiled to Elba 1906 _ Einstein introduces his ``Theory of Relativity" 1914 _ George Bernard Shaw's ``Pygmalion," premieres 1941 _ Nazi occupiers in Netherlands confiscate Jewish assets 1951 _ President Harry Truman fires General Douglas McArthur 1961 _ Bob Dylan's first appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village 1970 _ Beatles' ``Let It Be", single goes No.1 and stays No. 1 for two weeks 1970 _ Apollo 13 launched to Moon; unable to land, returns in six days 1984 _ Chinese troops invade Vietnam

Apr 10, 2008

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2008

Today is Thursday, April 10, the 101st day of 2008. There are 265 days left in the year. 1872 _ First National black convention meets in New Orleans 1916 _ First professional golf tournament held 1923 _ Hitler demands ``hatred and more hatred" in Berlin 1925 _ F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes ``The Great Gatsby" 1930 _ Synthetic rubber first produced 1945 _ U.S. troops land on Tsugen Shima, Okinawa 1960 _ Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill 1971 _ U.S. table tennis team arrives in People's Republic of China 1979 _ Soyuz 33 launched with a Russian and a Bulgarian 1995 _ NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 or more

Apr 9, 2008

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008

Today is Wednesday, April 9, the 100th day of 2008. There are 266 days left in the year. 1667 _ First public art exhibition (Palais Royal, Paris France) 1770 _ Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay (Australia) 1894 _ First performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz 1914 _ First full color film shown "The World, The Flesh & the Devil" (London) 1940 _ Germany invades Norway and Denmark during WWII (Denmark surrenders) 1953 _ ``TV Guide" publishes first issue 1965 _ First game at Astrodome, Houston beats Yankees 2-1 in exhibition as Mickey Mantle hits 1st indoor homerun 1967 _ First Boeing 737 rolls out 1968 _ Martin Luther King Jr. buried in Atlanta, Ga. 1969 _ First flight of Concorde 002 (Filton-Bristol)

Apr 8, 2008

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