1621 – The Plymouth, MA, colonists created the first treaty with Native Americans.
1693 – Cotton Mather’s four-day-old son dies, and witchcraft is blamed
1748 – The ruins of Pompeii were found.
1778 – Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the “$” symbol.
1789 – The U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House Speaker.
1826 – Samuel Mory patented the internal combustion engine.
1866 – US Congress rejects presidential veto giving all equal rights in US
1881 – Anti-Jewish riots took place in Jerusalem.
1919 – Stanley Cup Final, Seattle Ice Arena, Seattle, WA: With Montreal Canadiens (NHL) & Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) tied at 2-2-1, trophy not awarded due to worldwide flu epidemic
1924 – Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for high treason in relation to the “Beer Hall Putsch.”
1927 – The first automatic record changer was introduced by His Master’s Voice.
1928 – China’s Chiang Kai-shek began attacking communists.
1929 – Louie Marx introduced the Yo-Yo.
1933 – Nazi Germany began the persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses.
1934 – Clyde Barrow kills two young highway patrolmen, H. D. Murphy and Edward Bryant Wheeler, at the intersection of Route 114 near Grapevine, Texas. Bonnie Parker’s role in the murders helps turn public perception against the gang for good
1945 – Battle of Okinawa: US ground forces invade Okinawa during World War II in the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific theatre
1946 – 400,000 US mine workers strike
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 was formed 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 – U.S. President Nixon signed the bill, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, that banned cigarette advertisements to be effective on January 1, 1971.
1973 – OPEC increases price of petroleum by 5.7 percent
1976 – Apple Inc. is founded – The computer company, which has evolved into a multinational corporation and whose best-known product is the iPhone, was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. In 2012, the company’s global revenue amounted to $156 billion.
1985 – World oil prices dropped below $10 a barrel.
1990 – It becomes illegal in Salem Oregon to be within 2 feet of nude dancers
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 – The Canadian territory of Nunavut was created. It was carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories and covered about 772,000 square miles.
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 – The Netherlands becomes the first country to allow same-sex marriage – Despite opposition from conservative factions, gay and lesbian couples are today allowed to marry in many other countries also.
2001 – Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a 26-hour standoff with the police at his Belgrade villa.
2003 – North Korea test-fired an anti-ship missile off its west coast.
2010 – The U.S. Congress cut Medicare reimbursements to physicians by 21%.
2011 – After protests against the burning of the Quran turned violent, a mob attacked a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan and killed thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
2019 – Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco revealed to be world’s most profitable company when its earnings released – $111.1 billion in the last year
2019 – US online sales overtake retail sales for the first time, with 11.813% online compared with 11.807% for general merchandise stores
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
