Today in history

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Today in history

By Correspondent

 
YEARDAYEVENT
753BCApr 21Rome was founded. The traditional date for founding by Romulus as a refuge for runaway slaves and murderers who captured the neighboring Sabine women for wives. Archeological evidence indicates that the founders of Rome were Italic people who occupied the area south of the Tiber River.
43 BCApr 21Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near Modena, Italy.
953Apr 21Otto I, the Great, granted Utrecht fishing rights.
1073Apr 21Pope Alexander II, born as Anselmo da Baggio, died. He had begun serving as Pope in 1061.
1109Apr 21Anselmus, philosopher, archbishop of Canterbury, died.
1142Apr 21Pierre Abelard (62), French philosopher (priestly lover of Heloise), died.
1509Apr 21Henry VII (b.1457), 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), died. In 2011 Allen Lane authored “Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England.”
1526Apr 21Mongol Emperor Zahir-ud-din Babur annihilated Indian Army of Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat. Babar, King of Kabul, established in this year the Mughal dynasty at Delhi.
1574Apr 21Cosimo d’ Medici (~54), Italian duke of Toscane, died.
1649Apr 21The Maryland Toleration Act, which provided for freedom of worship for all Christians, was passed by the Maryland assembly.
1689Apr 21(NS) William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1699Apr 21Jean Racine (59), French playwright (Phèdre), died.
1713Apr 21Louis Duke de Noailles, marshal of France, was born.
1729Apr 21Catharina II, the Great, writer, empress of Russia (1762-96), was born.
1782Apr 21Friedrich Froebel, German educator and founder of kindergarten, was born.
1785Apr 21Russian Tsarina Catharina II ended nobility privileges.
1789Apr 21John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States.
1795Apr 21Vincenzo Pallotti, Italian saint, was born.
1801Apr 21Saudi Arabs led Sunni raids into Karbala, Iraq, killing about 5,000 people.
1816Apr 21Charlotte Bronte (d.1855), English novelist, writer of “Jane Eyre,” was born in Thornton, England. Her sister Emily wrote “Wuthering Heights”: “Better to be without logic than without feeling.”
1828Apr 21Hippolyte Taine, French philosopher, historian (Voyage in Italy), was born.
1832Apr 21Abraham Lincoln (23) assembled with his New Salem neighbors for the Black Hawk War on the Western frontier. Illinois Governor John Reynolds had called for volunteers to beat back a new Indian threat. Black Hawk, chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, had returned to his homeland at the head of a band of 450 warriors, intent on forcibly reversing the treaty he had signed 28 years earlier that ceded control of the tribe’s ancestral home in northwestern Illinois to the U.S.  government.
1836Apr 21Some 910 Texians led by Sam Houston, the former governor of Tennessee, defeated the Mexican army under Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at San Jacinto. The victory in the 18 minute battle sealed Texan independence from Mexico. Houston counted 9 fatalities. 630 Mexicans were killed out of some 1,250 troops. Some 700 were taken prisoner.
1838Apr 21John Muir (d.1914), naturalist, was born in Dunbar, Scotland. He discovered glaciers in the High Sierras of California.
1849Apr 21Oskar Hertwig, embryologist, discovered fertilization, was born.
1855Apr 21The 1st train crossed the Mississippi River’s 1st bridge.
1857Apr 21Alexander Douglas patented the bustle.
1861Apr 21In Australia the Burke party of 3 reached Cooper’s Creek and found a message that the 4-man depot party under William Brahe had left earlier the same day for Darling with 6 camels and 12 horses. The Burke party departed Cooper’s Creek for the police station at Mount Hopeless, 150 miles away.
1862Apr 21Ellen Price Wood’s “East Lynne,” premiered in Boston.
1864Apr 21Max Weber (d.1920), German sociologist and political economist, was born. Weber drew strong connection between Protestantism and the rise of capitalism in “The Protestant and the Spirit of Capitalism” (1904). “He was the first sociologist to grasp that the universe has no true meaning.” In 1996 “Max Weber: Politics and the Spirit of Tragedy” by John Patrick Diggins was published.
1865Apr 21Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train left Washington.
1871Apr 21Leo Blech, composer, conductor, was born.
1878Apr 21Ship Azor left Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia.
1884Apr 21Potters Field reopened as Madison Square Park in NYC.
1894Apr 21George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms & the Man,” premiered in London.
1898Apr 21The Spanish-American War began. The U.S. North Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, was ordered to begin the blockade of Cuba on April 21, 1898. The fleet with the armored cruiser New York steamed out of Key West, Fla., at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. The fleet had hardly left port when it pursued and captured a Spanish merchant vessel, Buenaventura. The Spanish-American War had begun. In 1998 David Traxel published “1898: The Birth of the American Century,” a history of the Spanish-American War.
1899Apr 21Randall Thompson, composer, was born.
1900Apr 21Heinrich Vogl (55), composer, died.
1905Apr 21Edmund G “Pat” Brown, (Gov-D-Calif), was born.
1908Apr 21Arctic explorer Frederick A. Cook claimed to have discovered the North Pole a year ahead of Peary. Many historians suspect that neither explorer succeeded. The term “Dr. Cook weather” refers to an incident where Dr. Cook once left a chilly New York baseball game after which the city papers trumpeted; “Game called, even too cold for Dr. Cook.” Cook’s assertion was later proved false. In 2005 Bruce Henderson authored “True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole.”
1909Apr 21Rollo May, psychologist, was born.
1910Apr 21Halley’s Comet was visible in the night sky. Entrepreneurs peddled “comet gas masks” for people worried about the Earth’s passage through poisonous cyanogen gas in the comet’s tail.
1911Apr 21Leonard Warren, baritone, Met 1939-60, was born in NYC.
1912Apr 21Marcel Camus, French film director (Black Orpheus), was born.
1913Apr 21Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper.
1914Apr 21U.S. marines occupied Vera Cruz, Mexico. They stayed for six months.
1915Apr 21Anthony Quinn (d.2001), film star, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Frank Quinn and Manuella Oaxaca.
1916Apr 21Bill Carlisle, the infamous ”˜last train robber,’ robbed a train in Hanna, Wyoming.
1918Apr 21Baron Manfred von Richthofen (25), the cousin of Frieda Lawrence and the highest-scoring German ace of World War I with 80 victories, was killed in a dogfight over France’s Somme Valley over Amiens. As he pursued a Canadian pilot with jammed guns, von Richthofen, flying a red Fokker triplane, broke one of his own flying rules by following his prey too long, too far and too low. Two miles behind Allied lines, Richthofen was mortally wounded when he was fired upon simultaneously by another Canadian pilot and Australian ground troops. The following day, the Red Baron was buried by his enemies with full military honors. He was replaced with Hermann Goering.
1920Apr 21Bruno Maderna, conductor, composer, Hyperion), was born in Venice, Italy.
1923Apr 21John Mortimor, British barrister and playwright, was born. He created Rumpole of the Bailey.
1924Apr 21Eleanora Duse (b.1858), Italian actress (La Gioconda, La Locandiera), died in Pittsburgh at age 64. In 2003 Helen Sheehy authored “Eleonora Duse: A Biography.”
1926Apr 21Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II (Elizabeth II), queen of England (1952-), was born.
1927Apr 21Robert Brustein, dean, Yale School of Drama, was born in NYC.
1930Apr 21Robert S. Bridges (85), poet laureate (Testament of beauty), died.
1932Apr 21Elaine May, comedy writer, was born.
1934Apr 21Moe Berg, Senators catcher (and later US spy), played an AL record 117th consecutive, errorless game.
1935Apr 21Charles Grodin, actor, Woman in Red, Lonely Guy, Heartbreak Kid), was born in Pittsburgh.
1936Apr 21James Clayton Dobson, Christian conservative leader, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He became an American psychologist and chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization founded in 1977 and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2007 his radio show pulled in 6 million listeners a week.
1939Apr 21In Texas the new San Jacinto Monument was dedicated following 3 years of construction. It stood over 14 feet taller than the Washington Monument. The monument is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.
1940Apr 21The quiz show that asked the “$64 question,” “Take It or Leave It,” premiered on CBS Radio.
1941Apr 21Greece surrendered to Nazi Germany.
1943Apr 21President Roosevelt announced that several Doolittle pilots were executed by Japanese.
1945Apr 21Allied troops occupied a German nuclear laboratory
1946Apr 21John M. Keynes (62), English economist, died. He had recently negotiated a loan from the US to keep Britain afloat. One condition of the $5 billion loan was that Britain make sterling fully convertible into dollars. In 2000 Robert Skidelsky authored “John Maynard Keynes: Fighting for Britain: 1937-1946.” In 2009 Peter Clarke authored “Keynes: The Twentieth Century’s Most Influential Economist.” Robert Skidelsky authored “Keynes: The Return of the Master.”
1948Apr 21The 1st Polaroid camera was sold in US.
1949Apr 21Patti LuPone, actress, singer (Evita, Life Goes On), was born in Northport, NY.
1952Apr 21BOAC began 1st passenger service with jets from London to Rome.
1954Apr 21Gyorgy Malenkov became premier of USSR.
1955Apr 21The Jerome Lawrence-Robert Lee play “Inherit the Wind,” loosely based on the Scopes trial of 1925, opened at the National Theatre in New York.
1956Apr 21Elvis Presley’s 1st hit record, “Heartbreak Hotel,” became #1. [see Apr 25]
1957Apr 21In the 11th Tony Awards: Long Day’s Journey into Night and My Fair Lady won. Edie Adams won a Tony award for supporting actress as Daisy Mae in “Li’l Abner.”
1960Apr 21Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), founded in 1952, helped fund its development.
1961Apr 21The French army revolted in Algeria.
1965Apr 21New York World’s Fair reopened for a 2nd and final season.
1966Apr 21Pfc. Milton Lee Oliver was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously, for bravery during the Vietnam War.
1967Apr 21In Greece “The Colonels” led by Colonel George Papadopoulos (1919-1999) took power in a bloodless military coup. Papadopoulos, Stylianos Pattakos, and Nikolaos Makarezos (1919-2009) imposed martial law and cracked down heavily on political opponents, imprisoning or exiling thousands of mostly left-wing supporters, many of whom were tortured by military police.
1968Apr 21In the 22nd Tony Awards: “Rosencranz & Guildenstern” and “Hallelujah Baby” won.
1970Apr 21Bruno Kreisky (1911-1990) became the 1st socialist chancellor of Austria.
1971Apr 21In Haiti Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier (b.1907) died. He was succeeded by his teenage son Jean-Claude “Baby-Doc” Duvalier (19), under the guidance of Simone Duvalier, aka “Mama Doc.”
1972Apr 21Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2.
1973Apr 21The song “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando reached the top of the charts.
1975Apr 21Nguyen Van Thieu, the last South Vietnamese President, resigned after 10 years in office condemning the United States.
1976Apr 21Full-scale testing of the swine flu vaccine began in Washington, D.C.
1977Apr 21The musical play “Annie” opened on Broadway, the 1st of 2,377 performances. Laurie Beechman (d.1998) made her debut in the show based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip. Beechman later played Grizabella for 5 years in “Cats.”
1980Apr 21At the Boston Marathon, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line; but she was disqualified as a fraud when officials discovered she had jumped into the race about a mile from the finish.
1981Apr 21Pres. Reagan called for support for the sale of AWACS to Saudi Arabia. The proposed AWACS sale was just the beginning of a secret $50 billion plan to build surrogate military bases in Saudi Arabia.
1983Apr 21Walter Slezak (b.1902), Austrian-born actor (Bedtime For Bonzo), committed suicide in NY.
1985Apr 21The Public Theater staged Larry Kramer’s play about AIDS: “The Normal Heart.” In 2011 the show made its debut on Broadway.
1986Apr 21A vault in Chicago’s Lexington Hotel that was linked to Al Capone was opened during a live TV special hosted by Geraldo Rivera; aside from a few bottles and a sign, the vault was empty.
1987Apr 21The Senate panel investigating the Iran-Contra affair voted to grant limited immunity to President Reagan’s former national security adviser, Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter.
1988Apr 21Tennessee Sen. Al Gore gave up his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, assuring supporters that “there will be other days for me and for the causes that matter to us.”
1989Apr 21Tens of thousands of people crowded into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, cheering students who waved banners demanding greater political freedoms.
1990Apr 21Pope John Paul II was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people as he visited Czechoslovakia to help celebrate the nation’s peaceful overthrow of communist rule.
1991Apr 21Willi Boskovsky (81), Vienna Philharmonic conductor (New Year’s concerts), died.
1992Apr 21Robert Alton Harris became the first person executed at San Quentin by the state of California in 25 years as he was put to death in the gas chamber for the 1978 murder of two San Diego teen-age boys. Harris left some art that was later put on sale at Expressions Art Gallery in Oakland.
1993Apr 21An 11-day siege at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, Ohio, ended after rioting inmates reached an agreement with prison officials. One guard and nine inmates were killed during the siege.
1994Apr 21The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $28 billion get-tough-on-crime bill.
1995Apr 21The FBI arrested former soldier Timothy McVeigh at an Oklahoma jail where he had spent two days on minor traffic and weapons charges; he was charged in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing two days earlier in which over 200 people were killed by a truck bomb that exploded in front of a Federal building.
1996Apr 21President Clinton and Boris Yeltsin traded warm compliments and played down nagging differences, insisting their election-year summit in Moscow was not being influenced by presidential politics.
1997Apr 21Pres. Clinton approved a ban on new American investment in Burma due to human rights abuses. It also banned visas for senior Burmese government officials.
1998Apr 21It was reported that Microsoft planned its first retail store, an 8,500-sq. foot site, in the Yerba Buena Gardens complex of SF with plans to open in spring, 1999.
1999Apr 21The National Rifle Association scaled back its annual meeting in Denver from 3 days to one in response to the Littleton killings.
2000Apr 21Scientists reported that the 66 million-year-old plant-eating dinosaur, Thescelosaurus, had a 4-chambered heart and was likely warm-blooded.
2001Apr 21The Los Angeles Xtreme beat the San Francisco Demons 38-to-6 in the first and last XFL championship game.
2002Apr 21In France the 1st round of presidential elections put Jean-Marie Le Pen, a right wing extremist, into a runoff with Pres. Jacques Chirac. Le Pen took 17% of the vote vs. 16% for PM Lionel Jospin. Chirac ended up winning.
2003Apr 21The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established as the temporary governing body of Iraq. Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, Pres. Bush’s appointed post-war administrator, arrived in Baghdad. His priority was to restore basic services such as water and electricity.
2004Apr 21Alan Greenspan, US Federal Reserve Chairman, set the stage for an interest rate increase in congressional testimony.
2005Apr 21Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar was convicted by a military jury at Fort Bragg, N.C., of premeditated murder and attempted murder in an attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait.
2006Apr 21Pres. Bush began a 4-day visit to California. He denied Gov. Schwarzenegger’s request for federal funds to repair Bay Area levees.
2007Apr 21A US Navy Blue Angel jet went down during an air show in South Carolina, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot.
2008Apr 21A US judge in California sentenced Tai Mak (58) to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to take unclassified but sensitive information about US naval technology to China in 2005.
2009Apr 21President Barack Obama signed a $5.7 billion national service bill to foster and fulfill people’s desire to make a difference, such as by mentoring children, cleaning up parks or building and weatherizing homes for the poor. Under the bill the AmeriCorps program started by President Bill Clinton will triple in size over the next eight years
2010Apr 21US Treasury officials unveiled a new $100 bill at a news conference.
2011Apr 21The US Justice Department indicted 3 US citizens and their two companies for illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of computers to Iran via Dubai.
2012Apr 21US DEA agents in San Diego raided a house for drugs and detained 9 people including engineering student Daniel Chong (23). The DEA forgot about Chong and left him in a holding cell for 4 days with no food or water. Chong planned to seek damages. On July 30, 2013, his attorney said Chong had agreed to settle claims for $4.1 million.
2013Apr 21The US said that it will double its non-lethal assistance to Syria’s opposition as the rebels’ top supporters vowed to enhance and expand their backing of the 2-year battle to oust President Assad’s regime.
2014Apr 21In Massachusetts more than 32,000 hit the streets in the first Boston Marathon since last year’s deadly bombing.
Source: Timelines of History     

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