This Week in History

This Week in History

April 28
1635 Virginia Governor John Harvey is accused of treason and removed from office. 1789 The crew of the HMS Bounty mutinies against Captain William Bligh. 1818 President James Monroe proclaims naval disarmament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. 1916 British declare martial law throughout Ireland. 1919 Les Irvin makes the first jump with an Army Air Corps parachute. 1932 A yellow fever vaccine for humans is announced. 1945 Benito Mussolini is killed by Italian partisans. 1946 The Allies indict Tojo on 55 counts of war crimes 1947 Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl and five others set out in a balsa wood craft known as Kon Tiki to prove that Peruvian Indians could have settled in Polynesia. 1967 Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the U.S. Army and is stripped of boxing title. 1969 Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France.

April 29
1429 Joan of Arc leads French forces to victory over English at Orleans. 1624 Louis XIII appoints Cardinal Richelieu chief minister of the Royal Council of France. 1661 The Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan. 1813 Rubber is patented. 1852 The first edition of Peter Roget’s Thesaurus is published. 1913 Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patents all-purpose zipper. 1918 America’s WWI Ace of Aces, Eddie Rickenbacker, scores his first victory 1945 The Nazi concentration camp of Dachau is liberated by Allied troops. 1975 The U.S. embassy in Vietnam is evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fight their way into Saigon. 1983 Harold Washington is sworn in as Chicago’s first black mayor. 1992 Four Los Angeles police offices are acquitted of charges stemming from the beating of Rodney King. Rioting ensues.

April 30
1789 George Washington is inaugurated as the first U.S. president. 1803 The United States doubles in size through the Louisiana Purchase, which was sold by France for $15 million. 1931 The George Washington Bridge, linking New York City and New Jersey, opens. 1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide in his bunker. 1975 North Vietnamese troops enter the Independence Palace of South Vietnam in Saigon ending the Vietnam War.

May 1
1486 Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies. 1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins as Union Gen. Joe Hooker starts his three-pronged attack against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration. 1931 The Empire State Building opens in New York. 1948 North Korea is established. 1960 Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia. 1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba. 1970 Students from Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia. 1986 The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

May 2
1497 John Cabot departs to North-America 1519 Leonardo Da Vinci artist/scientist, dies at 67 1536 King Henry VIII accused Anna Boleyn of adultery and incest 1568 Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle. 1863 Stonewall Jackson attacks Chancellorsville VA, wounded by his own men; South defeats North 1941 FCC approves regular scheduled commercial TV broadcasts to begin July 1 1949 Arthur Miller wins Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman" 1974 Former Vice President Spiro Agnew is disbarred 1994 Dr Kevokian found innocent on assisting suicides

May 3
1568 French forces in Florida slaughter hundreds of Spanish. 1865 President Lincoln’s funeral train arrives in Springfield, Illinois. 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman prime minister of Great Britain. 1982 A British submarine sinks Argentina’s only cruiser during the Falkland Islands War.

May 4
1493 Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Demarcation Line. 1626 Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth & buttons 1886 Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, Illinois, killing eight and wounding 60. 1904 Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal. 1932 Al Capone, convict of income tax evasion, enters Atlanta Penitentiary 1964 The long-running soap opera Another World, which would run until 1999, debuts on NBC.

Famous Birthdays

April 28
1442 Edward IV, king of England (1461-1470, 1471-1483), first king of the House of York. 1758 James Monroe, fifth President of the United States (1817-1825). 1878 Lionel Barrymore, American stage, screen and radio actor. 1926 Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (To Kill a Mockingbird). 1930 James Baker III, Cabinet secretary for Presidents Reagan and Bush. 1937 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq. 1950 Jay Leno, comedian, TV talk show host.1974 Penelope Cruz, actress. 1981 Jessica Alba, actress.

April 29
1818 Alexander II, Czar of Russia. 1863 William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher. 1899 Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, renowned jazz composer and musician. 1901 Hirohito, emperor of Japan during and after World War II. 1933 Rod McKuen, singer 1955 Jerry Seinfeld, actor, comedienne 1970 Andre Agassi, tennis champion

April 30
1777 Karl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician. 1909 Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands. 1912 Eve Arden (Eunice Quedens), actress. 1933 Willie Nelson, country singer. 1945 Annie Dillard, writer (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek). 1954 Jane Campion, New Zealand film director (The Piano, A Portrait of a Lady). 1982 Kirsten Dunst, actress.

May 1
1764 Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol. 1769 Arthur Wellsley, Duke of Wellington. 1830 Mother (Mary Harris) Jones, reformer and labor organizer. 1909 Kate Smith, singer. 1916 Glenn Ford, actor (The Blackboard Jungle). 1918 Jack (Harold) Paar, television show host 1923 Joseph Heller, American author (Catch 22). 1939 Judy Collins, singer and songwriter 1967 Tim McGraw country singer.

May 2
1902 Benjamin Spock, baby doctor and author 1904 Bing Crosby, singer and actor 1972 Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, professional wrestler, actor

May 3
1469 Niccol Machiavelli, political advisor and writer (The Prince). 1898 Golda Mier, Fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974). 1919 Pete Seeger, folksinger and songwriter. 1920 John Lewis, jazz pianist. 1920 Walker Smith, Jr. (Sugar Ray Robinson), champion middleweight boxer. 1933 James Brown, American singer and songwriter. 1947 Doug Henning, magician, escape artist

May 4
1929 Audrey Hepburn, actress 1941 George F. Will, author, commentator 1959 Randy Traxis, country singer 1979 Lance Bass, singer