TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 25
1590 The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
1644 The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself.
1684 A patent was granted for the thimble.
1719 Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.
1792 The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
1846 Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War
1859 Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
1898 The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 New York became the first state to require license plates on cars.
1925 General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
1926 In Iran, Reza Khan is crowned Shah and chooses the name “Pahlavi.”
1933 Following the tests around the western world the inoculation in the fight against diphtheria is started with pre-school children and will include all children of school age.
1938 A seeing eye dog is used for the first time.
1945 Delegates from about 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
1951 After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on “Gloucester Hill,” in Korea.
1953 The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the “double helix” of DNA.
1953 U.S. Senator Wayne Morse ended the longest speech in U.S. Senate history. The speech on the Offshore Oil Bill lasted 22 hours and 26 minutes
1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway–linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes–opens to shipping.
1962 A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon.
1967 Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. The law was limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.
1971 The country of Bangladesh is established.
1974 A bloodless Military coup led by General Antonio de Spinola, in Portugal ends nearly 50 years of dictatorship. The Prime Minister, Dr Marcello Caetano has surrendered to General Antonio de Spinola and fled to the Portuguese island of Madeira.
1980 President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran.
1982 In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.
1992 Islamic forces took over most of Kabul, Afghanistan after the Soviet-controlled government collapsed.
1996 The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.
1998 U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on was questioned by Whitewater prosecutors on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
2006 Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that his country is happy to share its nuclear technology with other nations. The Ayatollah made the offer during a meeting with the visiting Sudanese President.
2010 Nearly 100,000 people have attended a rally on the Japanese island of Okinawa. They are demanding that its U.S. base be moved off of the island.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
