Wednesday, April 4, 2018

TODAY IN HISTORY ― APRIL 4

April 4 is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 271 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).

On the Roman calendar, this was known as the day before the nones of April (Latin: Prid. Non. Apr.).


April 4 is WINSTON SMITH DAY, the day he started his journal in Orwell's 1984: "6079 Smith W's first journal entry: April 4th, 1984, I think. To the past or to the future, to an age when thought is free, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of the Thought Police, from a dead man, greetings."


NATIONAL WALK AROUND THINGS DAY 

1147 – First historical record of the city of Moscow

1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.


1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of Expulsion of all the Moriscos (descendants of Iberian Muslims forcibily converted to Christianity) from the Crown's domains; beginning with those of the Kingdom of Valencia, realm with the highest quantity of them. 

1660 – The Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England, 
a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum for all those who recognized Charles as the lawful king.

1814 – Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.


1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).

1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and with the shortest term served. Vice President John Tyler, becomes President upon Harrison's death.

1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.

1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Kinsey (nee Salter) as the first female mayor in the United States. ― From greatlivesinhistory.blogspot.com

1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.

1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves.

1949 – Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart: No. 1, "Can't Buy Me Love", No. 2, "Twist and Shout", No. 3, "She Loves You", No. 4, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", No. 5, "Please Please Me". ― From billboard.com.

1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico

1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Babylift: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff killing 172 people.


1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. The  New York Times call's it a "stopgap." ― From nytimes.com.

1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, his wife wasn't on the plane and ran off with his money to marry John Kerry. ― From nytimes.com.

2009 – Three police officers are shot and killed during a shootout in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by a man who was lying in wait for them to arrive..


BORN TODAY

1802 – Dorothea Dix, American nurse and activist (d. 1887)

1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Navy, planned and executed the attack on Pearl Harbor (WWII) (d. 1943)

1897 – Dina Manfredini, Italian-American super-centenarian (d. 2012)

1913 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983)

1928 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (d. 2014)

From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted. 

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