Today in history

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Today in history

By Correspondent

Today in History
YEARDAYEVENT
402Apr 6Battle at Pollentia: Roman army under Stilicho beat the Visigoths.
610Apr 6Lailat-ul Qadar: The night that the Koran descended to Earth. Muhammad is believed by his followers to have had a vision of Gabriel. The angel told him to recite in the name of God. Other visions are supposed to have Gabriel lead Muhammad to heaven to meet God, and to Jerusalem to meet Abraham, Moses and Jesus. These visions convinced Mohammad that he was a messenger of God.
885Apr 6Methodius, Greek apostle to the Slavs, archbishop of Sirmium, died.
1199Apr 6Richard I “the Lion-hearted” (41), King of England (1189-99), died. Richard was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.
1250Apr 6Louis IX (1214-1270), King of France, lost the Battle of Fariskur, Egypt, and was captured by Muslim forces.
1252Apr 6Peter of Verona (45), [Peter Martyr], Italian inquisitor died.
1320Apr 6Scotland declared its independence in the Declaration of Arbroath. In a letter to the Pope they said: “As long as only one hundred of us remain alive we will never on any conditions be brought under English rule.”
1327Apr 6Petrarch met Laura de Sade in a church at Avignon, and was inspired for the rest of his life. He wrote his finest poems about her beauty and loveliness… and about his later recognition that he had loved her wrongly, placing her person ahead of her spirit. This event has been taken to mark the beginning of the Renaissance
1348Apr 6Laura de Sade, the arch love of Petrarch died of the plague. Boccaccio retired from plague-stricken Florence, and in a country residence began to write the Decameron.
1453Apr 6Ottoman forces under Mehmet II opened fire on Constantinople.
1483Apr 6Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, d.1520), Dutch painter (Sistine Madonna), was born to an unremarkable painter in the Duchy of Urbino. He went on to paint works in the Vatican. After an apprenticeship in Perugia, he went to Florence, having heard of the work da Vinci and Michelangelo were doing. His last 12 years were spent on numerous commissions in Rome. He died on his 37th birthday, his funeral mass being celebrated in the Vatican. [see Mar 28]
1489Apr 6Hans Waldmann, Swiss military, mayor (Zurich), was beheaded.
1520Apr 6Raphael (b.1483), [Sanzio], Italian painter (Sistine Madonna), died on his 37th birthday. His work included “The Veiled Lady” and a set of cartoons that were woven into 10 tapestries titled “The Acts of the Apostles” (1544-1557).
1528Apr 6Albrecht Durer (b.1471), German painter, graphic artist, died in Germany. His wife Agnes inherited his 6,874-florin estate.
1590Apr 6Francis Walsingham (~57), English secretary of state, died.
1593Apr 6Henry Barrow, English puritan, was hanged.
1593Apr 6John Greenwood, English Congressionalist, was hanged.
1631Apr 6Vincenzo De Grandis, composer, was born.
1663Apr 6King Charles II signed the Carolina Charter. [see Mar 24]
1671Apr 6Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French playwright, poet (Sacred Odes & Songs), was born.
1672Apr 6Andre Ardinal Destouches, composer, was born.
1707Apr 6Willem Van de Velde (b.1633) the Younger, Dutch marine painter, died. His work included “fishing Boats by the Shore in a Calm” (1660-1605).
1722Apr 6In Russia Peter the Great ended tax on men with beards.
1757Apr 6English king George II fired minister William Pitt, Sr.
1760Apr 6Charlotte Charke (b.1713), actress and writer, died. In 2005 Kathryn Shevelow authored “Charlotte: Being a True Account of an Actress’s Flamboyant Adventures in Eighteenth-Century London’s Wild and Wicked Theatrical World.”
1773Apr 6James Mill (d.1836), English philosopher, historian (Hist of British India) and economist, was born in Scotland.
1786Apr 6Sacagawea (also Sacajawea), American explorer, was born.
1789Apr 6The first US Congress began regular sessions at Federal Hall on Wall Street, NYC.
1815Apr 6At Dartmoor Prison in southwest England 7 American prisoners were killed by British soldiers under the command of Captain Thomas G. Shortland. Some 6,000 prisoners were awaiting return to the US. A farmer’s jury with no victims or witnesses issued a verdict on April 8 of “justifiable homicide.”
1824Apr 6King Kamehameha II’s royal yacht, HA`AHEO o HAWAI`I (Pride of Hawaii), sank on the southwest corner of Hanalei Bay near the mouth of the Waioli River, after striking a five-foot deep reef a hundred yards offshore.
1826Apr 6Gustave Moreau, French painter, was born.
1829Apr 6Niels Henrik Abel (b.1802), Norwegian mathematician, died of tuberculosis. After him comes the term Abelian group, an algebraic commutative group. In 2004 Peter Pesic authored “Abel’s Proof: An Essay on the Sources and Meaning of Mathematical Unsolvability.”
1830Apr 6The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith and five others in Fayette, Seneca County, N.Y. Joseph Smith (25) published the “Book of Mormon” in Palmyra, New York. He claimed that the manuscript was based on ancient golden plates revealed to him by the angel Moroni and written in the language of the Egyptians. The book records the journey of an ancient Israelite prophet, Lehi, and his family to the American continent some 2,000 years ago. [see 1827, 1831] Some 5,000 copies of the book were published. In 2014 Avi Steinberg authored “The Lost Book of Mormon: A Journey Through the Mythic Lands of Nephi, Zarahemla & Kansas City, Missouri.”
1841Apr 6Cornerstone was laid for 2nd Mormon temple at Nauvoo, Missouri.
1844Apr 6Joseph Ludwig, composer, was born.
1848Apr 6Jews of Prussia were granted equality.
1849Apr 6Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera “Le Prophete,” premiered in Paris. [see Apr 16]
1858Apr 6President Buchanan issued a proclamation declaring Mormons in the Utah Territory to be in a state of rebellion against the US government.
1860Apr 6Rene Lalique (d.1945), French goldsmith, jeweler, glassmaker and artist, was born. He helped mold the shape of 20th century art nouveau, art deco and architectural ornamentation.
1862Apr 6Albert Sidney Johnston (59), US and Confederate general, was killed in battle of Shiloh.
1865Apr 6At the Battle of Sayler’s Creek, a third of Lee’s army was cut off by Union troops pursuing him to Appomattox. Skirmish at High Bridge, VA, (Appomattox).
1866Apr 6Butch Cassidy, [Robert Parker], US desperado (Wild Bunch Passage), was born.
1868Apr 6Brigham Young married his 27th and final wife (I am done with wifery).
1869Apr 6John and Isaiah Hyatt applied for a new patent using collodion to manufacture billiard balls. They later named their product celluloid. It was similar to that made by English inventor Alexander Parkes, who patented the process in England in 1855. The new plastic could be molded and mass produced, but was very flammable and exploded when struck with excessive force.
1886Apr 6The City of Vancouver, Canada, was incorporated. The ceremony was delayed when it was discovered no one had thought to bring paper on which to write down the details. The ceremony was held in Jonathan Miller’s house. The population of the city was about 1,000.
1889Apr 6George Eastman placed the Kodak Camera on sale for 1st time.
1890Apr 6Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker (d.1939), aircraft pioneer, was born in Java.
1892Apr 6Donald Wills Douglas, US aircraft pioneer (McConnell Douglas), was born.
1893Apr 6Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City was dedicated.
1896Apr 6The first modern Olympic Games formally opened in Athens, Greece after a lapse of 1,500 years. 8 nations participated.
1897Apr 6Frank M. Chapman, ornithologist with the American Museum of Natural History, observed large numbers of flying hawks over Veracruz, Mexico.
1903Apr 6French Army Nationalists were revealed for forging documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dreyfus, an officer accused of giving plans for France’s defense to Germany.
1905Apr 6W. Warrick Cardozo, physician and pioneer researcher on Sickle Cell Anemia, was born.
1906Apr 6John Betjeman, English Poet Laureate 1972-1984 (Mount Zion), was born.
1909    Apr6Arctic 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.
1911Apr 6In San Francisco the Police Board examined 9 Mission saloon keepers who were cited for selling liquor to women decoys. Mission District Police Capt. Henry Gleeson faced a possible charge of neglect of duty.
1912Apr 6Cadillac adopted an electric self-starter. Charles Franklin Kettering (1876-1958), as president of Delco, introduced the electric-starter on the 1912 Cadillac.
1915Apr 6Tadeusz Kantor (d.1990), Polish director and theorist, was born in Galicia, a part of Austria-Hungary.
1916Apr 6German government OK’d unrestricted submarine warfare.
1917Apr 6The US Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany and entered World War I on the Allied side.
1922Apr 6Barry Levinson, director (Rain Man), was born.
1924Apr 6Italy fascists received 65% of vote of parliament.
1925Apr 6A Deutsche Lufthansa flight debuted an in-flight movie, a silent-reel short.
1927Apr 6Gerry Mulligan, jazz saxophonist, was born.
1928Apr 6James Watson, discovered structure of DNA, was born.
1929Apr 6Andre Previn, pianist and conductor, was born in Berlin, Germany.
1930Apr 6Hostess Twinkies were invented by bakery executive James Dewar.
1931Apr 6The 1st Scottsboro (Ala) trial began for 9 blacks accused of rape.
1934Apr 6418 Lutheran ministers were arrested in Germany.
1935Apr 6Edwin Arlington Robinson (b.1869), US poet, died. In 2006 Scott Donaldson authored “Edwin Arlington Robinson: A Poet’s Life.
1936Apr 6A tornado killed 203 and injures 1,800 in Gainesville, Georgia.
1937Apr 6Merle Haggard, American country musician, was born.
1938Apr 6Roy Plunkett, a DuPont researcher in New Jersey, discovered the polymer, polytetrafluoroethylene, later known as teflon.
1939Apr 6Great Britain and Poland signed a military pact.
1941Apr 6The Luftwaffe delivered a heavy blow to the British expedition when German bombers seriously damaged Piraeus, the port of Athens sinking seven merchant ships, sixty lighters and 25 caiques.
1943Apr 6British and American armies linked up in Africa.
1944Apr 6German trucks rolled up to the safehouse of Sabina Zlatin in Izieu-Ain, France, and 44 children and 7 teachers including Mr. Zlatin were arrested. The raid was ordered by Klaus Barbie, head of the German police in Lyons.    
1945Apr 6During World War II, the Japanese warship Yamato and nine other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the U.S. fleet off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day.
1947Apr 6The first Tony awards were presented at a dinner in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria on Easter Sunday. They were named in honor of Antoinette Perry (1888-1946), chairman of the board and secretary of the American Theatre Wing throughout World War II.
1954Apr 6Four weeks after being attacked on the air by Edward R. Murrow, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., delivered a filmed response on CBS’ “See It Now” in which he charged that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”
1956Apr 6Polish communist Gomulka was freed from prison.
1957Apr 6NYC ended trolley car service.
1959Apr 6In the 31st Academy Awards “Gigi,” Susan Hayward and David Niven won.
1963Apr 6The United States and Britain signed an agreement under which the Americans would sell Polaris A-3 missiles to the British.
1965Apr 6President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the use of ground troops in combat operations.
1966Apr 6Emmett Ashford became the first African-American major league umpire. The highly regarded umpire was known for his dynamic and distinctive style of calling balls and strikes.
1968Apr 6In Richmond, Indiana, gunpowder stocks at a sporting-goods store exploded and at least 16 people were killed.
1969Apr 6Sir Wally Herbert (1934-2007), English explorer, reached the North Pole on foot along with 3 others on his team. They became the first men to cross the entire frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot covering the 3,720 miles in 16 months. Roy Koerner, a glaciologist accompanying Herbert, drilled more than 250 ice core samples during the journey.
1971Apr 6Igor Stravinsky (b.1882), Russian-born composer, died in NYC.
1972Apr 6US Capt. John W. Ripley (d.2008 at 69) helped stop a column of North Vietnamese tanks by blowing up a pair of bridges at Dong Ha during the 1972 Easter Offensive of the Vietnam War.
1973Apr 6Yankee Ron Blomberg (b.1948) became the 1st designated hitter. He walked.
1974Apr 6Willem Dudok (b.1884), Dutch architect (Hilversum Town Hall), died.
1975Apr 6Bundy victim Denise Oliverson (25) disappeared from Grand Junction, Colo.
1979Apr 6In India the United Liberation Front of Assam was created to fight for independence from India. The Ahom tribe was the major ethnic group of Assam.
1977Apr 6The Seattle Kingdome opened and the Mariners lost to the Angels 7-0. The Seattle Mariners baseball team were created following the 1970 departure of the 1-year-old Seattle Pilots to Milwaukee.
1978Apr 6Nicolas Nabokov (b.1903), Russian-born American composer, died. His work included the opera “Rasputin’s End” with a libretto by Stephen Spender (1958).
1979Apr 6The U.S. cut off aid to Pakistan, because of that country’s covert construction of a uranium enrichment facility.
1980Apr 63-M introduced Post-It Notes. In 2010 inventors, 3M scientists Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver, were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
1983Apr 6Saying rock ‘n’ roll bands attracted “the wrong element,” Interior Secretary James Watt declined to invite the Beach Boys to perform at a Washington Fourth of July celebration — a stand he later reversed.
1984Apr 6Pioneer Courthouse Square opened in Portland.
1985Apr 6William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Ky.
1987Apr 6The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 2,400 for the first time.
1988Apr 6Black Arctic explorer Matthew Henson (1866-1955) was re-buried next to Robert Peary in Arlington, Va.
1989Apr 6Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev met with British PM Margaret Thatcher in London, holding daylong talks that were characterized as argumentative, but friendly.
1990Apr 6US Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze concluded three days of talks in Washington, after which Shevardnadze handed President Bush a letter from Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
1991Apr 6Bosnian Serbs began a war in a quest for their own ethnically pure republic.
1992Apr 6Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened and Baltimore beat Cleveland 2-0.
1993Apr 6In a televised speech a year after ethnic warfare erupted in Bosnia, the president of the Muslim-led government, Alija Izetbegovic, compared that destructive nationalism to Nazism.
1994Apr 6A car rigged with explosives detonated next to a bus in Afula, Israel. 8 Israelis were killed and 45 wounded in Hamas’s 1st car bombing.
1995Apr 6The US Senate unanimously approved a $16 billion package of cuts in social programs. Earlier in the day, Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, R-N.Y., apologized on the Senate floor for lampooning O.J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito on a nationally syndicated radio program by employing a mock Japanese accent.
1996Apr 6A sorrowful President Clinton was on hand at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to greet the arrival of 33 flag-draped caskets carrying the remains of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and other victims of a plane crash in Croatia.
1997Apr 6NASA officials announced they were cutting short the 16-day mission of space shuttle Columbia by 12 days because of a deteriorating and potentially explosive power generator.
1998Apr 6The British TV program for toddlers, “Teletubbies,” opened in the US.
1999Apr 6Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji began a 9-day, 6-city US visit in Los Angeles. He planned to gain support for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
2000Apr 6A private company mapping the human genetic blueprint announced it had decoded all of the DNA pieces that make up the genetic pattern of a single human being.
2001Apr 6US officials announced some progress toward the release of 24 military personnel in China and hoped to establish a joint US-China commission to examine the April 1 collision of a US spy plane and Chinese jet.
2002Apr 6Pres. Bush repeated his call for Israel to “withdraw without delay” from West Bank towns it had occupied since launching an offensive after a string of suicide attacks. Bush also demanded the Palestinians call “an immediate and effective cease-fire.”
2003Apr 6Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, died at the Esalen Inst. in Big Sur, Ca. He pioneered African music in the US with his 1959 album “Drums of Passion.”
2004Apr 6The University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team beat Tennessee 70-61 to win a third consecutive NCAA title, a day after UConn also won the men’s championship.
2005Apr 6A joint session of US Congress listened to Ukrainian Pres. Yushchenko as he called for an end to trade barriers and a new era in US-Ukraine relations.
2006Apr 6Newly released court records cited Lewis “Scooter” Libby saying that in the summer of 2003 President Bush told Vice President Cheney to tell the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to disclose highly classified information regarding Iraq intelligence in order to try and discredit legitimate criticism of the administration.
2007Apr 6The US Department of Education said an official in its student financial aid office has been placed on paid leave while his stock ownership in a student loan company is being reviewed.
2008Apr 6American evangelist John Hagee announced donations of $6 million to Israeli causes and said that Israel must remain in control of all of Jerusalem.
2009Apr 6The US Federal Reserve said it will supply new lines of credit worth up to $287 billion to the central banks of Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and EU.
2010Apr 6Louisiana authorities said a pipeline has spilled some 18,000 gallons of crude oil into a canal in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge about 60 miles southeast of New Orleans.
2011Apr 6Virgin America Flight VX2001 became the first to land at San Francisco’s newly remodeled Terminal 2. The 1954 structure had just undergone a $383 million upgrade.
2012Apr 6A US Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet crashed into the courtyard of a Virginia Beach apartment complex after taking off from US Naval Air Station Oceana. The two pilots ejected safely before impact. There were no deaths in the crash.
2013Apr 6Florida state officials said an annual toxic red algae bloom has killed 241 of the state’s roughly 5,000 endangered manatees.
2014Apr 6Mickey Rooney (b.1920), American stage and screen star, died in southern California.
 Source: Timelines of History 

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