Tag Archives: Tidbits for this day in history

April 10 is the 101st day of the year.

National Cinnamon Crescent Day

Golfer’s Day

National Siblings Day

1606 – The Virginia Company of London was established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America. The territory granted to the London Company included the eastern coast of America from the 34th parallel (Cape Fear) north to the 41st parallel (in Long Island Sound)… The company was permitted by its charter to establish a 100-square-mile (260 km2) settlement within this area. The portion of the company’s territory north of the 38th parallel was shared with the Plymouth Company, with the stipulation that neither company found a colony within 100 miles (161 km) of each other.

By 1609, the Plymouth Company had dissolved. As a result, the charter for the London Company was adjusted with a new grant that extended from “sea to sea” of the previously-shared area between the 38th and 40th parallel.

April 10, 1790 – Robert Gray, merchant sea-captain, was the first American to circumnavigate the Earth. He explored and named the Columbia River in 1792.

April 10, 1815 – The Mount Tambora volcano began a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately killed 71,000 people and affected Earth’s climate for the next two years. Mount Tambora is on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Tambora’s 1815 eruption was the largest in recorded human history.

Birthday of Joseph Pulitzer 1847, American journalist and publisher who founded Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City.

1849 – Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt of NYC; He sold the rights for $100.

Humane Day, anniversary of the incorporation of the ASPCA in 1866.

1872 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.

1912 – RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.

1925 “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published.

1947 Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals, paving the way for Robinson to become the first black to play in the major leagues.

April 9 is:

National Chinese Almond Cookie Day

Name Yourself Day To celebrate, you are allowed to give yourself a new name for one day. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have a different name, this would be the day to find out.

On April 9, 1413, Henry V was crowned King of England. Henry V, also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422.

From 2201 Fascinating Facts by David Louis, published by Greenwich House, New York, 1983:

Death of French writer Francois Rabelais (Apr 9, 1553), His last will and testament reads: “I have nothing. I owe much. The rest I leave to the poor”. His dying words were “I am going to a great perhaps”.

The expedition organized by Sir Walter Raleigh departed England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony on this day in 1585.

April 9, 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River, claimed it for France and named it Louisiana.

Winston Churchill Day – on April 9, 1963, Winston Churchill became an honorary American Citizen. Others who have received this honor include William Penn (1984), Mother Teresa (1996), Marquis de LaFayette (2002), and Casimir Pulaski (2009) (called The Father of the American Cavalry). LaFayette was made an honorary citizen of the state of Maryland in 1783.

April 9, 1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

1939 Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The incident placed Anderson in the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the Lincoln Memorial steps in the capital. Anderson was accompanied, as usual, by Finnish pianist Vehanen. They began the performance with a dignified and stirring rendition of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” The event was featured in a documentary film. She sang before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.

1965 1st baseball game at Houston Astrodome, Astros beat NY Yankees 2-1 in exhibition as Mickey Mantle hits MLB’s 1st indoor homerun; US President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird attend.

April 9, 1989 In Tbilisi, Georgia, a peaceful demonstration for independence was broken up by the Soviet Army, killing 20 people. The country gained independence on this date exactly two years later.

April 7 is :

National Coffee Cake Day The first coffee cakes appeared around the 17th century in Europe, when drinking coffee beverages was introduced.
National Beer Day
No Housework Day

World Health Day, anniversary of the establishment of the World Health Organization in 1948.

Death of El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) in 1614, artist of the Spanish Renaissance. A sample of his works can be found at Wikiart.org.

Domenikos Theotokopoulos, other wise known as “El Greco” due to his Greek heritage, was a popular Greek painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. He was a master of post-Byzantine art by the age of 26, when he traveled to Venice, and later Rome, where he opened his first workshop. Unlike other artists, El Greco altered his style in order to distinguish himself from other artists of the time, inventing new and unusual interpretations of religious subject matter. He created agile, elongated figures, and included a vibrant atmospheric light. After the death of Raphael and Michelangelo, he was determined to leave his own artistic mark, and offered to paint over Michelangelo’s Last Supper to Pope Pius V.

In 1652, at the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.

Birthday of William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770), English poet, author of “The World Is Too Much With Us”.

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. –Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

In 1798, the Mississippi Territory was created by an act of Congress, with Natchez as the capital.

In 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

In 1915, jazz singer-songwriter Billie Holiday, also known as “Lady Day,” was born in Philadelphia.

On April 7, 1923, the Workers Party of America (NYC) becomes official Communist Party

On April 7, 1927, the image and voice of Commerce Secretary, Herbert Hoover, were transmitted live from Washington to New York in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.

In 1959, a referendum in Oklahoma repealed the state’s ban on alcoholic beverages.

In 1962, nearly 1,200 Cuban exiles tried by Cuba for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason. Per Wikipedia:

About 1,202 members of Brigade 2506 were captured, of whom nine died from asphyxiation during transfer to Havana in a closed truck. In May 1961, Fidel Castro proposed to exchange the surviving Brigade prisoners for 500 large farm tractors, valued at US$28,000,000. On 8 September 1961, 14 Brigade prisoners were convicted of torture, murder and other major crimes committed in Cuba before the invasion. Five were executed and nine others imprisoned for 30 years… On 29 March 1962, 1,179 men were put on trial for treason. On 7 April 1962, all were convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. On 14 April 1962, 60 wounded and sick prisoners were freed and transported to the US.

On 21 December 1962, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro and James B. Donovan, a US lawyer aided by Milan C. Miskovsky, a CIA legal officer, signed an agreement to exchange 1,113 prisoners for US$53 million in food and medicine, sourced from private donations and from companies expecting tax concessions. On 24 December 1962, some prisoners were flown to Miami, others following on the ship African Pilot, plus about 1,000 family members also allowed to leave Cuba. On 29 December 1962, President Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline attended a “welcome back” ceremony for Brigade 2506 veterans at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida

The World Trade Organization ruled in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas on April 7, 1999. See the guardian.com for more information.

April 3 is National Chocolate Mousse Day, the decadent dessert that gained popularity in France in the 1800s. Chocolate was introduced to the French around the year 1615.

Birthday of Washington Irving (April 3, 1783), American historian, essayist, and storyteller, famous for the legends of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The book is in the public domain and available from many websites including Nextdoor e-store.com

Birthday of Edward Everett Hale (1822), American clergyman and author of “A Man Without a Country”, the story of American Army lieutenant Philip Nolan, who renounces his country during a trial for treason and is consequently sentenced to spend the rest of his days at sea without so much as a word of news about the United States.

Anniversary of the beginning of the Pony Express in 1860. It was a mail service from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California by horseback. It only operated for 18 months.

Outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back of the head by Robert Ford on April 3, 1882 in Missouri.

1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde began, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

House of Representatives passed a resolution accepting “American Creed” written by William Tyler Page in 1918.

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon these principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

“I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

1922 – Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was responsible for the deaths of at least three million people.

1948 – President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries. The United States transferred over $12 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II.

The first portable cell phone call was made in New York City in 1973.

      April 2 Flower of the Day: Daffodil

Reconciliation Day – a day to re-establish relationships between family and friends.

National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day Peanut butter debuted at the 1883 Chicago World’s Fair. It’s a complete protein Combining a legume (a bean, lentil, or peanut) with a grain (like rice, corn, and wheat) creates a complete protein. This means that peanut butter and jelly mixed with whole wheat bread gives you all of the essential amino acids your body needs.

742 – Birthday of Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)

April 2, 1513 – Florida was sighted by a European for the first time. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2, 1513. He named it La Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers).

The Coinage Act was passed establishing the United States Mint on April 2, 1792.

Children’s Book Day – to commemorate the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen (born 1805), Danish poet and novelist, best known for fairy and folk tales such as The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Princess and the Pea, Thumbelina, and The Ugly Duckling.

Birthday of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834), French sculptor of the Statue of Liberty.

Birthday of Emile Zola (1840), French novelist, best known for his newspaper article on the Dreyfus Affair entitled “J’Accuse”

1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiered on CBS-TV. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format. As the World Turns aired for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. The Edge of Night ran until December 28, 1984.

April 2, 2005 – Pope John Paul II died at aged 84, after 26 years as Pope. He was succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI.

April 1 is April Fool’s Day.
The first day is April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day, which is a day at one time popular for pranks and harmless practical jokes. The origin of this day is not positively known. Records show that it has been going on at least since 1564, when Jan 1 was re-established in France as the first day of the year. The change confused many people, but in time it led to the fun of exchanging false greetings for the first of the year on the old day. April 1 coincides with the Zodiac sign of the fish, so the French call it “Fooling the April Fish Day”. A one-time April Fools’ prank of the Scots was “hunting the gowk”, which sent the victim on false errands; anyone who fell for this prank was called a gowk, or cuckoo.

National Sourdough Bread Day

International Tatting Day Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace from a series of knots and loops. Wiki How has an introduction to beginners tatting with pictures.

Birthday of William Harvey (April 1, 1578), English physician, known for his discovery of the circulation of the blood.

Publication of Federalist Paper #76: The Appointing Power of the Executive written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788.

From www.gradesaver.com

“…this paper illustrates the importance of the guiding principles of separation of powers and checks and balances. Hamilton sees potential for defects in both the presidency and the Senate. Therefore, neither can be entrusted with all the power of appointment. This further underscores the important role compromise and pragmatism played in the design of the Constitution. The founders never claimed that the political system they created would be perfect or risk-free. Rather, they were animated by the belief that the only reliable way to limit abuses of power was to ensure that the various branches of government had both the incentive and the ability to keep an eye on one another.

It is interesting to note that Hamilton’s prediction of partisan concerns delaying or complicating the appointment of public officials has come true in recent American history. It is not uncommon for the appointment of officials to key positions in the national bureaucracy to be held up by political opponents of the president. Hamilton had hoped that giving the Senate power to approve presidential appointees would serve as a check on corruption. Unfortunately, senators in both political parties have often used their powers over the ratification process as a way to score cheap political points. Appointments are often held up on the basis of political squabbles rather than concerns about the appointee’s character or fitness for office.”

Birthday of Otto von Bismarck (1815), German politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1898)

April 1, 1826 – Samuel Morey patented the internal combustion engine.

1908 – Birthday of Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (d. 1970). Maslow developed a theory of the hierarchy of needs. One cannot aspire to a higher need until the lower needs are met. For example, if one has no food, he will not look for love. If one feels threatened, he will not be creative.

1924 – Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch”. However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf. (translated: My Struggle) is a 1925 autobiographical book describing the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany.

1954 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.

Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. As of 2019, Apple’s net worth has been sitting around $940 billion.

1979 – Iran became an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.

1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.