1896 – John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan” premiered at the Tremont in Boston.
1911 – The House of Representatives voted to institute direct elections of senators to Congress, a step towards direct democracy. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on April 8, 1913.
1918 – Electrical fire killed 38 mental patients at Oklahoma State hospital.
1926 – At 38, Walter Johnson pitched his seventh Opening Day shutout at 38 years old, pitching 15 innings in beating the Philadelphia Athletics.
1934 – 4.7 million families in the United States reported to be receiving welfare payments. It occurred during the Great Depression.
1943 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in honor of former President Thomas Jefferson.
1945 – World War II: United States Marines conquered Minna Shima off Okinawa, Japan.
1954 – Milwaukee Braves’ Hank Aaron played his first major league game, going 0-for-5 in a 9-8 loss to Cincinnati.
1957 – Saturday postal delivery was temporarily halted due to a lack of funds. Public outcry led President Dwight Eisenhower to sign a bill fully funding the Post Office Department.
1962 – The steel industry in the United States was forced to rescind planned price increases by the Kennedy administration, which viewed the hikes as a threat to national interest and a disregard for public responsibility.
1964 – 30th Academy Awards: “Tom Jones” won Best Picture, Patricia Neal won Best Actress for “Hud” and Sidney Poitier won Best Actor for “Lillies of the Field,” making him the first black actor in a leading role to wins a competitive Oscar.
1966 – Pan Am placed $525 million order for 26 Boeing 747 aircraft.
1976 – The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their first NBA playoff game to the Washington Bullets 100-95.
1984 – The 11th NASA Space Shuttle Mission, STS-41C, aboard the Challenger shuttle, returned to Earth after deploying the Long Duration Exposure Facility and repairing the Solar Max satellite.
1990 – The fourth largest NBA crowd of 45,458 people saw the homestanding Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Orlando Magic 117-102 at the Metrodome.
2006 – A powerful F2 tornado ripped through Iowa City, Iowa, causing significant damage and one death.
2011 – Gary Sinise narrated the audiobook of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.”
2019 – Gregg Popovich surpassed Lenny Wilkens to become the all-time winningest coach in NBA history with his 1,413th win in the regular season and playoffs combined as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets 101-86 in the Western Conference playoffs.
2023 – The FBI arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, for leaking classified documents, including national security secrets on an online gaming chat group.
Author: Sonny Jones
About Author
