1975 – US begins to evacuate its citizens from Saigon in Operation Frequent Wind in response to advancing North Vietnamese forces, bringing an end to US involvement in the war
1091 – Battle at Monte Levunium: Byzantium Emperor Alexius I beats Petshegene force invading from the north
1289 – Qala’un, the Sultan of Egypt, captured Tripoli.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orlans (France victory over Britain) and is considered the second coming of Jesus Christ in the body of a woman
1553 – Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England
1587 – English naval officer Francis Drake sails into Cadiz, Spain and sinks the Spanish fleet, thereby “Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard” and delaying the Spanish invasion by a year
1644 – Farm leader Li Zicheng becomes Emperor of China and flees Peking
1661 – The Chinese Ming dynasty occupied Taiwan.
1672 – King Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.
1707 – English and Scottish parliaments accept Act of Union; creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain (comes into being 1st May)
1781 – French fleet stops the Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope
1813 – Rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel.
1845 – Macon B. Allen & Robert Morris Jr are 1st African Americans to open a law practice in the US
1852 – The first edition of Peter Roget’s Thesaurus was published.
1861 – The Maryland House of Delegates voted against seceding from Union.
1872 – Jesse James’ gang robs a bank of $1,500 in Columbia, Kentucky, killing bank employee Robert A.C. Martin during the crime
1879 – In Cleveland, OH, electric arc lights were used for the first time.
1894 – Coxey’s Army arrives in Wash, DC 500 strong to protest unemployment; Coxey arrested for trespassing at Capitol
1902 – Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act (of 1882) prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers from territories to the mainland, a rule clearly aimed at Chinese in the Philippines
1903 – Limestone slides at Turtle Mountain kills 9 (Frank Alberta)
1913 – Gideon Sundback patented an all-purpose zipper.
1916 – Easter Rebellion: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin
1918 – Germany’s Western Front offensive ended in World War I.
1924 – An open revolt broke out in Santa Clara, Cuba.
1926 – France and US reach accord on repayment of WW I
1927 – Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis was completed for Lindbergh.
1941 – The Boston Bees agreed to change their name to the Braves.
1942 – Jews forced to wear a Jewish Star in Netherlands & Vichy-France
1945 – In a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were married. Hitler designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.
1946 – Twenty-eight former Japanese leaders were indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.
1951 – China seizes the assets of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, a joint venture between the Shell and Royal Dutch oil companies in retaliation for the Hong Kong Government’s requisitioning of the tanker Yung Hao
1952 – IBM President Thomas J. Watson, Jr., informed his company’s stockholders that IBM was building “the most advanced, most flexible high-speed computer in the world.” The computer was unveiled April 7, 1953, as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine.
1961 – ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” premiered.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – U.S. President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of secretly made White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal.
1975 – Hubert van Es takes the famous picture of a helicopter airlift from a Saigon rooftop – The image shows South Vietnamese civilians employed by the U.S. trying to escape Saigon on the day before the city’s fall. It came to symbolize the American defeat in Vietnam.
1982 – American mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski murders pharmacist Paul Hoffman by beating him with a tire iron
1984 – In California, the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor went online after a long delay due to protests.
1985 – Billy Martin was brought back, for the fourth time, to the position of manager for the New York Yankees.
1986 – Fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library, some 400,000 books and other items damaged or destroyed.
1988 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev promised more religious freedom.
1990 – The destruction of the Berlin Wall began.
1991 – Environment Minister Jean Charest announces $100 million program to clean up toxic sites and contaminated waste dumps in the Arctic, most are from the US and Canadian military
1992 – Deadly riots erupt in Los Angeles – 53 people died in the riots, which started after the acquittal of the 4 Los Angeles police officers accused of the brutal beating of Rodney King.
1994 – Israel and the PLO signed an agreement in Paris which granted Palestinians broad authority to set taxes, control trade and regulate banks under self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1996 – Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned after an apparent boating accident in Maryland. Colby’s body was later recovered.
1997 – Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, a drill instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted of raping six female trainees. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and was dishonorably discharged.
1998 – The U.S., Canada and Mexico end tariffs on $1 billion in NAFTA trade.
2002 – The United States is re-elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, one year after losing the seat it had held for 50 years
2004 – Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
2009 – NATO expelled two Russian diplomats from NATO headquarters in Brussels over a spy scandal in Estonia. Russia’s Foreign Ministry criticized the expulsions.
2015 – The White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-2 at Camden Yards. The game was played without a crowd present due to the ongoing riots and protests in Baltimore. This was the first time a Major League Baseball game was played in front of an empty house.
2019 – Over 700 people infected with measles in the US, highest number for 25 years
2020 – US GDP falls 4.8% for the financial quarter, officially ending the country’s growth streak. Worst contraction since 2008.
2023 – 72-hour ceasefire in Sudan breaks down between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, as air and artillery strikes on Khartoum resume
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
