TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 1
1621 The Plymouth, MA, colonists created the first treaty with Native Americans.
1778 Oliver Pollock, creates the dollar sign.
1798 Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first Speaker of the House of Representatives.
1863 The first wartime conscription law goes into effect in the United States.
1920 Germany’s Workers Party changes its name to the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis).
1924 Adolf Hitler sentenced to five years in prison for the “Beer Hall Putsch.”
1928 China’s Chiang Kai-shek begins attacks on communists.
1929 The yo-yo is introduced in the United States by Louie Marx.
1945 U.S. forces launch invasion of Okinawa.
1946 A miner’s strike in the U.S. idles 400,000 workers.
1948 The Berlin Airlift begins, relieving the surrounded city from the Soviet siege.
1952 The Big Bang theory was proposed in “Physical Review” by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow.
1953 The U.S. Congress created the Department of Health Education and Welfare.
1954 The U.S. Air Force Academy is founded in Colorado.
1957 The BBC broadcasts the spaghetti tree hoax The 3-minute film shown on the current affairs program, Panorama, portrayed a Swiss family apparently harvesting spaghetti from a tree. A number of viewers later contacted the BBC to inquire where to find and how to grow such a plant. The hoax is regarded as one of the best April Fools jokes ever pulled.
1970 The AMC group introduced one of the first sub compact cars way back in 1970 before many realized gas prices would be a critical factor in future car buying, the car was called the Gremlin and cost $1879.
1970 President Nixon signed into law the banning of cigarette advertising on television and radio.
1974 Ayatollah Khomeini calls for an Islamic Republic in Iran
1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs’ parents house in Cupertino, California
1982 The United States transfers control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama.
1987 U.S. President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, “We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1.”
1998 A federal judge dismissed the Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against U.S. President Clinton saying that the claims fell “far short” of being worthy of a trial
1999 David Smith is arrested and charged with originating the “Melissa” e-mail virus, which infected more than 1 million computers worldwide and caused more than $80 million in damage.
2001 China began holding 24 crewmembers of a U.S. surveillance plane. The EP-3E U.S. Navy crew had made an emergency landing after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was missing and presumed dead. The U.S. crew was released on April 11, 2001.
2001 Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal
2003 Pvt. Jessica Lynch was rescued by U.S. commandos in a raid on an Iraqi hospital.
2004 President Bush signed the “Laci Peterson” bill making it a separate federal crime to harm a fetus during an attack on the mother.
2010 The U.S. Congress cut Medicare reimbursements to physicians by 21%.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
