1892 – George C. Blickensderfer patented the portable typewriter.
1900 – Congress passed the Foraker Act, establishing Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory of the United States effective May 1.
1909 – Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, which later was renamed Connie Mack Stadium, opened as baseball’s first steel and concrete stadium. The Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 8-1.
1924 – WLS-AM in Chicago began radio transmissions. The call letters stood for “World’s Largest Store.”
1934 – The Mount Washington Observatory recorded a wind gust of 231 mph, which was a world record at the time and is still the highest wind speed ever recorded at a staffed weather station.
1938 – New York passed the first law in the United States requiring medical test for marriage licenses, specifically a pre-marital blood test.
1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt died while sitting for a portrait and Vice President Harry Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President.
1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets recorded “Rock Around Clock,” which is widely considered the song that brought rock and roll into mainstream culture.
1955 – A polio vaccine tested by Jonas Salk was announced to be “safe and effective” and is given full approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
1960 – Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck debuted the “Exploding Scoreboard” at Comisky Park that shot off fireworks and displayed pinwheels whenever a White Sox player hit a home run.
1966 – The first B-52 bombing of North Vietnam, which targeted the supply route Mu Gia Pass.
1970 – The New York Yankees dedicated plaques on the center field wall to Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.
1980 – United States Olympic Committee endorsed a boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games as a direct response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.
1987 – Texaco filed for bankruptcy protection due to a $10.5 billion jury verdict in favor of Pennzoil following a legal dispute over Texaco’s alleged interference in Pennzoil’s plan to acquire Getty Oil.
1991 – United States announced the closing of 31 major military bases.
1999 – President Bill Clinton was cited for contempt of court for giving “intentionally false statements” about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.
2014 – AbbVie announced the new drug, ABT-450, had achieved a 90-95% success rate in treating hepatitis C.
2020 – A huge storm system produced more than 40 tornadoes from Texas to South Carolina, killing 32 people across six states.
2020 – OPEC and other major oil companies agreed to the largest drop in production to stabilize world oil prices, cutting 9.7 million barrels a day.
2023 – President Joe Biden paid a visit to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that was designed to bring an end to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland.
Author: Sonny Jones
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