1452 – Birthday of Italian painter, sculptor, and architect Leonardo da Vinci in Florence.
    1741 - Birthday of Charles Willson Peale at Queen Anne County, MD.  American portrait painter best known for his many portraits of colonial and American Revolutionary War figures. His children Raphael, Rembrandt, Titian and Sarah were also artists. Died at Philadelphia, PA, Feb 22, 1827. ttp://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/peale_charles_willson.html/
    [delete-dupe]1741 - birthday of Charles Willson Peale, American portrait painter (best known for his many portraits of colonial and American Revolutionary War figures) was born at Queen Anne County, MD. His children Raphael, Rembrandt, Titian and Sarah were also artists. Died at Philadelphia , PA , Feb 22, 1827.        
    1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending the Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified. Peace with Britain until 1812. Through seven long years of war, the longest war the United States ever fought until Vietnam, the army under Washington remained true to the cause. But the spirit of sacrifice even among army men wasn’t universal. Desertions became so common that some scheduled attacks had to be canceled for lack of men to fight them.  Gelb tells of a general in the South who discovered in the midst of a major assault that the seven thousand troops under his command had dwindled to only three thousand, resulting in a disastrous rout. It’s estimated that up to a third of the soldiers in the Revolutionary army deserted. Some left to return home to their families or to join their state militias, but probably most got tired of the war or were scared of dying.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr15.html
    1817 - The Erie Canal was authorized. When completed and open for traffic on October 26, 1825, this 360 mile wide canal connecting the waters of Lake Erie at Buffalo with the waters of the Hudson River at Albany, New York became a major transportation hub for the growth of the area.
    1817 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the first US public school for the deaf, Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons (now the American School for the Deaf), at Hartford, CT.
    1829 - Birthday of Dr. Mary Harris Thompson in Ft. Ann, NY.  U.S. physician. She founded Chicago Hospital for Women and Children and was the first female surgeon in the U.S. She studied a year with the Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell, the first woman doctors. When in training in a regular hospital, she received a great deal of the same kind of sexually harassing ridicule that the Blackwells had received while studying to be doctors.
    1841 – Joseph Seagram founder of Seagram Company, was born in what is now Ontario, Canada.
    1843 - Birthday of Henry James, novelist and critic, born at New York, NY. Among his best-known works are “The Portrait of a Lady”, “Washington Square” and “The Ambassadors”. James died Feb 28, 1916, at London, England. http://classiclit.about.com/msub-hjames.htm
     1850 - Birthday of John Longyear at Lansing, MI.  American capitalist, landowner, philanthropist, one-time mayor of Marquette, MI. Disapproving of a railway route through Marquette, he caused his home, a stone castle-like showplace, to be torn down in 1903 and moved, stone by stone and stick by stick, in more than 190 freight cars and re-erected at Brookline, MA. He died May 28, 1922.
    1850 - First City Charter went into effect as San Francisco was incorporated as a city. During the year ended today, 60,244 men and 1979 women arrived in San Francisco.
    1862 - Thomas Wentworth Higginson receives a letter from Emily Dickinson containing four poems, which launches her "career." Only a few are published in her lifetime.
    1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America, died at 7:22 a.m. Lincoln had been shot in the back of the head the previous evening while attending a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped, only to be hunted down and shot to death. Lincoln was carried to a boarding house across the street from the theatre. He never regained consciousness. This was Booth’s second attempt, but a change in Theater plans a month earlier thwarted it. When this became known, it was thought the April 14th assassination was planned by a group. In the afternoon of the 15th, Vice-President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as 17th President. He completed Lincoln’s term and changed the course of reconstruction. Five days earlier, General Lee had surrendered at the Appomattox Court House, virtually ending the war. It would be eleven days later that General Joseph E. Johnson surrendered the Confederate Army of Tennessee to General Sherman near Durham Station, NC, and a few weeks later, on May 10th, Jefferson Davis was captured at Irwinville, GA, by a contingent of General James H. Wilson’s cavalry, led by Lt. Col. Benjamin Pritchard.
    1865 - Birthday of Emily Smith Putnam in Canandaigua, NY.  She became the first dean of Barnard College and was a writer of a major historical study of women: “The Lady: Studies of Certain Significant Phases of Her History” (1910). As a dean, a trustee, and a teacher, she was one of the great women who developed Barnard into a major educational opportunity for women. She resigned as dean in 1899 to marry and then became a trustee of the college to continue her drive to equalize Barnard's academic relationship with Columbia University. She returned to teaching at Barnard in 1914, permanently retiring in 1930. She authored a number of important historical studies and biographies.
    1869 - Birthday of Thomas Hart Benton at Neosho, MO.  He was an artist whose work was indicative of the American style of painting known as Regionalism. His works of life in the Midwest and South were not always flattering to their subjects, but his style became known as a truly American style of painting. He died at Kansas City, MO, Jan 19, 1971.  http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/benton_thomas_hart.html
    1873 - A famous Easter blizzard raged across Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Gale force winds blew the wet snow into massive drifts; however there were few deaths due to the sparse population and due to the gradual increase of the storm.
    1874 – New York passed a compulsory education law.
    1875 – One of boxing’s early great heavyweight champs, Jim Jeffries, was born in Carroll, OH. 
    1877 – The first telephone was installed, in Somerville, MA.
    1878 – Ivory Soap was introduced “…99 and 44/100 per cent pure…”
    1886 - A devastating tornado, 800 yards in width at times, cut a twenty mile path through Saint Cloud, MN killing 74 persons. The bottom of the Mississippi River was said to have been seen during the tornado's crossing. Eleven persons were killed at a wedding party near the town of Rice.
    1892 – One of the biggest tax-evading enterprises of all-time, General Electric, was formed.
    1894 - Birthday of jazz/blues singer legend Bessie Smith in Chattanooga, TN. She was known as the Empress of the Blues. Her voice and songs tore the heart out of her listeners as she demanded they weep, laugh, and then face life as it was dealt. Her first recording, "Downhearted Blues," sold two million copies. She was queen of all she surveyed during the 20s and early 30s but a disastrous marriage and unwise financial decisions left her impoverished. Her more than 150 records are greatness preserved and her one movie “St. Louis Blues” that was banned for being too realistic, is part of the Museum of Modern Art movies section.
Her vocal greatness was recognized early by the great Ma Rainey who hired the 12-year-old to sing in her minstrel review. Like so many of her sister blues singers, the bottle became her refuge in a life that just didn't seem to hang together. Unlike Billie Holiday who went the same disastrous booze and drugs route, her voice continued strong. She died in 1937 after an automobile accident in Mississippi. A white hospital refused her admittance and she died on the operating table of the black hospital some miles away. http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html http://bluesnet.hub.org/readings/bessie.html
    1896 - Birthday of May Edward Chinn in Great Barrington, MA.  Although she was considered one of the first Black women physicians in New York City, she was half Amerind. Her mother was a full-blooded Chickahominy. It was her mother whose respect for education drove her. Her research work led to the development of the Pap smear to detect cervical cancer. She was the first non-white woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital. For years, she was only allowed to practice medicine at Harlem Hospital which necessitated her starting her own private practice. During her training, she rode ambulances as a paramedic, one of the first women to do so in the U.S. Chinn's father escaped slavery from a Virginia plantation at the age of 11. She continued in private practice until she was 81 and she died in 1980.      
    1896 – The first Olympic Games closed in Athens.
    [Wiki IDs Molly as Marian Jordan] 1898 - Birthday of Molly McGreethe - U.S. comedic radio actor. During the golden era of radio, she was the Molly of one of its most popular shows, Fibber McGee and Molly. She portrayed the much suffering wife married to a dreaming impractical husband. Well, it was funny on radio.
    [chron] 1898 - Birthday of trumpet player Theodore Wingie Carpenter, St. Louis, MO
    1909 – The New York Giants’ Red Ames pitched a no-hitter for 9 innings but lost in 13.  In his debut in 1903, he pitched an abbreviated five-inning no-hitter against the Cardinals.
    1912 - The unsinkable luxury liner Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, NY, struck an iceberg just before midnight Apr 14, and sank at 2:27 AM, Apr 15. The Titanic had 2,224 persons aboard. Of these, more than 1,500 were lost. About 700 people were rescued from the icy waters off Newfoundland by the liner Carpathia, which reached the scene about two hours after the Titanic went down. It is reported a ship closer did not come to the rescue due to illegalities aboard. Many movies and documentaries about the monumental disaster have been filmed over the years. However, none had the exacting data gleaned by scientists from the 1986 expedition aboard "Atlantis II". Dr. Robert Ballard headed a crew and a robot named Jason in a descent to the deck of the "Titanic" aboard "Alvin", a submersible craft. They returned with information and photos that challenged and verified stories from the past. After years of studying the facts, the 1997 Academy Award-winning film, "Titanic", recreated the ship to the tiniest detail including the design on the elegant china. Although the film’s love story is fictitious, the true tragedy of the Titanic can now be seen by the world some eight decades later.
    1917 – Actor Hans Conried was born in Baltimore.  His work includes “My Friend Irma”, “Bus Stop”, “Oh! God: Book 2”, “Tut & Tuttle”, “The Monster that Challenged the World”; host: “Fractured Flickers” TV Series and other great cartoons. Also played Uncle Tonoose in “The Danny Thomas Show”.  He was a frequent guest on the Jack Paar “Tonight Show”. A great influence on the humor of This Day in History written by the editor of Leasing News; died Jan 5, 1982. http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/person/details/0,7621,
BIO-P+14584,00.html
    1918 – Singer Eddy Arnold was born in Henderson, TN.
    1920 - Birthday of Hilda Simms, American stage and film actress, born Hilda Moses at Minneapolis, MN. She joined the American Negro Theater at Harlem, NY, in 1943 and was given the title role in “Anna Lucasta”. When the production moved to Broadway in 1944, it became the first all-black production to be performed on Broadway without a racial theme. Simms was the creative arts director of New York State's human rights division, through which she was instrumental in bringing discrimination against black actors to public attention during the 1960s. She died at Buffalo, NY, Feb 6, 1994.
    1920 - Two security guards are killed during a mid-afternoon armed robbery of Slater-Morrill Shoe Company in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Out of this rather unremarkable crime grew one of the most famous trials in American history and a landmark case in forensic crime detection.  Police did manage to catch Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, who were each carrying loaded weapons at the time of their arrest. Sacco had a .32 caliber handgun, the same type as was used to kill the security guards, and bullets from the same manufacturer as those recovered from the shooting. Vanzetti was identified as a participant in a previous robbery attempt of a different shoe company. Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, believing that social justice would come only through the destruction of governments.  Sacco and Vanzetti were found guilty and sentenced to die. However, the ballistics issue refused to go away as Sacco and Vanzetti waited on death row. In addition, a jailhouse confession by another criminal fueled the controversy. In 1927, Massachusetts Governor A. T. Fuller ordered another inquiry to advise him on the clemency request of the two anarchists. In the meantime, there had been many scientific advances in the field of forensics. The comparison microscope was now available for new ballistics tests and proved beyond a doubt that Sacco's gun was indeed the murder weapon. A defense expert was even reported to have remarked upon seeing the new results, "Well, what do you know about that?" Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927, but even the new evidence didn't completely quell the controversy. In October 1961, and again in March 1983, new investigations were conducted into the matter, but both revealed that Sacco's revolver was indeed the one that fired the bullet and killed the security guards.
    [chron] 1921 - Two mile high Silver Lake, CO, received 76 inches of snow in 24 hours, the heaviest 24 hour total of record for North America. The storm left a total of 87 inches in twenty-seven and a half hours.
    1922 - Birthday of Harold Washington, Illinois legislator and Mayor of Chicago (1983-87). Born at Chicago, IL, and died there Nov 25, 1987. Harold Washington was one of the first African-Americans to head a major US city. He was instrumental in tearing down Chicago's famed Democratic machine, a holdover from the many decades of domination by the Richard J. Daley administration.
    1923 - Insulin became available for general use on this day. It was first discovered in 1922. Today, insulin is used daily in the treatment of diabetes. It is extracted from the pancreas of sheep, oxen and by other means, including systemization in the laboratory. Insulin, a natural and vital hormone for carbohydrate metabolism in the body, is manufactured by the pancreas. An overabundance of insulin causes insulin shock and leads to a variety of symptoms, including coma.
    1923 - Dr. Lee DeForest’s Phonofilm, the first sound-on-sound film, motion picture, was demonstrated for an invitation-only audience at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. The guests saw "The Gavotte", a man and woman dancing to old-time music and "The Serenade", four musicians who played on wind, percussion and string instruments.
    1924 – Rand McNally published its first road atlas.
    1927 - Serge Koussevitsky directed the Boston Symphony in the first performance of Frederick Converses symphony, "Flivver Ten Million", a salute to the Tin Lizzie automobile.
    1927 - New Orleans LA was drenched with 14.01 inches of rain, which established a 24 hour rainfall record for the state.
    1927 – Babe Ruth hit the first of his 60 HRs, off the A’s Howard Ehmke
    1933 - Birthday of actress Elizabeth Montgomery in LA.  Although she starred in a number of TV films, she will always be remembered for her portrayal of Samantha in the long running TV series “Bewitched” (1954-72), outliving two husbands on the show.   She died in 1995 of cancer.
    1940 - Birthday of William Henry “Willie” Davis in Mineral Springs, AR.  Long-time Dodger CF (World Series: 1963, 1965, 1966/all-star: 1971, 1973) he also played for the Montreal Expos, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, and California Angels.  His total of 2,237 games in center field ranks behind only Willie Mays (2,827) and Tris Speaker (2,690) in Major League history.  He died in 2010.
    1940 - Birthday of Phil Lesh in Berkeley, California. Lesh is a bassist and a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued on the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with a side project “Phil Lesh and Friends”, which pays homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band, which changed consistently. “Phil and Friends” are viewed by many fans as the premier post-Dead band.
    1942 - Birthday of Walt Hazzard in Wilmington, DE.  Hazzard was point guard at UCLA for John Wooden’s first NCAA championship team in 1964 and was a 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist.  He would later return to coach his alma mater in the 1980s.  His NBA career was less spectacular with stops at LA Lakers, Seattle Supersonics, Atlanta Hawks, Buffalo Braves, Golden State Warriors.  He died in 2011.
    1942 – Former Enron CEO, Ken Lay was born in Tyrone, MO.  An excellent read on this entire saga of corporate greed, and why we have Sarbanes-Oxley today, is “Conspiracy of Fools” by WSJ reporter Kurt Eichenwald.  You will not believe what they got away with.
    1943 - Birthday of singer Sam Mighty McClain, Monroe, LA. http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/person/details/0,7621,
BIO-P+14584,00.html
    1945 - Lionel Hampton big band, along with guest trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie, play Carnegie Hall, New York City.
    1945 - GONSALVES, HAROLD, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 28 January 1926, Alameda, Calif. Accredited to: California. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Acting Scout Sergeant with the 4th Battalion, 15th Marines, 6th Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Okinawa Shima in the Ryukyu Chain, 15 April 1945. Undaunted by the powerfully organized opposition encountered on Motobu Peninsula during the fierce assault waged by his battalion against the Japanese stronghold at Mount Yaetake, Pfc. Gonsalves repeatedly braved the terrific enemy bombardment to aid his forward observation team in directing well-placed artillery fire. When his commanding officer determined to move into the front lines in order to register a more effective bombardment in the enemy's defensive position, he unhesitatingly advanced uphill with the officer and another Marine despite a slashing barrage of enemy mortar and rifle fire. As they reached the front and a Japanese grenade fell close within the group, instantly Pfc. Gonsalves dived on the deadly missile, absorbing the exploding charge in his own body and thereby protecting the others from serious and perhaps fatal wounds. Stouthearted and indomitable, Pfc. Gonsalves readily yielded his own chances of survival that his fellow marines might carry on the relentless battle against a fanatic enemy and his cool decision, prompt action and valiant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of certain death reflect the highest credit upon himself and upon the U.S. Naval Service.
    1945 – President Franklin Roosevelt was buried at his Hyde Park, NY home.
    1947 - Jackie Robinson became the first black American to play in the Major Leagues in the 20th century when he made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves. Robinson went 0-for 3 but scored the deciding run as the Dodgers prevailed 5-3.  
    1950 - Buck Rogers appears on TV. At first a radio show, "Buck Rogers" premiered on ABC with Kem Dibbs. Buck was an average American who woke up from a cave behind Niagara Falls to find himself in the year 2430. The show featured Lou Prentis as Lieutenant Wilma Deering; Harry Sothern as Dr. Huer and Harry Kingston as Black Barney Wade. Buck was later played by Robert Pastene.
    1952 - Franklin National Bank, Franklin Square, NY issued the first bank credit card. Purchases were charged to the bank, which made the payments and then billed the card holders. The service was extended to its branches. The first bank credit card to gain national acceptance was the BankAmericard (later called Visa) issued by the Bank of America, San Francisco, in 1959. There was no membership fee or service charge. Full-scale services were offered to cardholders and merchants. Mastercard, originally called Master Charge, was founded by a consortium of 77 western banks led by the Wells Fargo bank.
    1952 – Boeing’s B-52 bomber makes its maiden flight.
    1953 - Top Hits
I Believe - Frankie Laine
Doggie in the Window - Patti Page
Till I Waltz Again with You - Teresa Brewer
Your Cheatin Heart - Hank Williams
    1954 – Having moved over the winter from St. Louis where they were the Browns, the Baltimore Orioles opened the 1954 season at Memorial Stadium.
    1955 - The first franchised McDonald’s was opened at Des Plaines, IL., by Ray Kroc, who had gotten the idea from a hamburger joint at San Bernardino, CA, run by the McDonald brothers. On opening day, a hamburger was 15 cents. The Big Mac was introduced in 1968 for 49 cents; the Quarter Pounder in 1971 for 53 cents. There are more than 35,000 McDonalds in 119 countries serving over 68 million daily.
    1956 - General Motors announced that the first, free piston automobile had been developed.
    1956 - Mitch Miller, music director of Columbia Records, engages in a spirited debate with Allan Freed over the "potentially negative effects of Rock 'n' Roll on teenagers" on Eric Sevareid's news program on CBS-TV. Two psychiatrists also joined the discussion.
    1958 - Major League Baseball came to California as the San Francisco Giants, transplanted from Harlem’s The Polo Grounds,  opened the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers, formerly of Brooklyn, at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium. The Giants shut out their rivals, 8-0.
    1958 - Buddy Holly has his guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, stolen from the Crickets' station wagon while the group stopped for lunch before a concert in St. Louis, MO.
    1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, Ella Baker led a conference that results in the creation of the SNCC, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
    1961 - Top Hits
Blue Moon - The Marcels
Apache - Jorgen Ingmann
Dedicated to the One I Love - The Shirelles
Don’t Worry - Marty Robbins
    1964 – It remains one of the most successful new car launches in the industry’s history.  Ford rolled out the first Mustang before going on sale two days hence at New York’s World Fair.  Thus dubbed as a "1964½" model by its fans, the Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A.
    1964 - After a long day of filming for their first movie, which is still titled “Beatlemania!”, The Beatles relax as Ringo Starr declares, oddly, that it's been "a hard day's night." John immediately begins writing the song of the same name on the back of an old greeting card; it will eventually become the title track for the film.
    1964 – Connecting the Maryland Eastern Shore with the mainland, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened.
    1966 - Fifth-Annual San Francisco State College Folk Festival with Malvina Reynolds, Mark Spoelstra, & Richard ("Been down so long it looks like up to me") & Mimi Fariña, The Blues Project, Doc Watson & others. ~Poster artist: Michael Ferguson, From The Art of Rock.
    1966 - The Rolling Stones release "Aftermath", their first LP to feature all original material.
    1967 - The first mass burning of draft cards occurred as 400,000 marched in New York City opposing the Vietnam War. It was the culmination of the April 10-15 Vietnam Week featuring draft card burnings and turn-ins and anti-draft recruiter demonstrations all over the country. In NY, speakers included Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr Benjamin Spock.  In San Francisco, 100,000 people marched from Second and Market to Kezar Stadium at Golden Gate Park. Vietnam veteran David Duncan gave the keynote speech.
    1967 - Nancy and Frank Sinatra had the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, "Something Stupid".  To this day, they are the only father and daughter team to have a US chart topping single. ("Unforgettable" by Natalie Cole and Nat "King" Cole reached #14 in 1991, recorded posthumously with her father.)
    1967 - Birthday of Dara Torres, U.S. swimmer, in Beverly Hills.  She is the only American woman to win a swimming medal at three consecutive Olympics - and then added a fourth in the 2000 Olympics at age 33.
    1967 - The Who's second album, "Happy Jack," was released in the US. The LP contained a ten-minute mini-opera, "A Quick One," which was also the album's title in Britain.
    1969 - Top Hits
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy - Blood, Sweat & Tears
Galveston - Glen Campbell
Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone) - Loretta Lynn
    1969 – North Korea shot down a US Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
    1971 - George C. Scott refused the Oscar for his Best Actor performance in "Patton" at the 43rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony at LA’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. He had previously told reporters that he did not want the honor, saying (after the votes had been cast and tallied), “It is degrading to have actors in competition with each other”. Scott called the Oscar ceremony, “a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons”. Others who did accept the golden statuette as recognition for their works that evening include: Glenda Jackson, Best Actress ("Women in Love"); Helen Hayes, Best Supporting Actress ("Airport"); John Mills, Best Supporting Actor ("Ryan’s Daughter"); Fred Karlin (music), Robb Royer and James Griffin (lyrics), Best Music/Song, "For All We Know" from "Lovers and Other Strangers"; and Franklin J. Schaffner, Best Director ("Patton") ... "Patton" (Frank McCarthy, producer) also received the Best Picture honors. Other notable flicks from 1970 (some Oscar winners, some not): "Five Easy Pieces", "Love Story", "MASH", "Tora! Tora! Tora!", "Diary of a Mad Housewife". http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0149177.html
    1971 - The Illinois Crime Commission released a list of "drug-oriented rock records" that include Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," but also, for some reason, The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Puff The Magic Dragon," by Peter, Paul and Mary.
    1972 - Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" became an unlikely number one hit after it was featured in the Clint Eastwood film “Play Misty For Me”. It had been originally released as an album cut three years earlier. After Eastwood included it in his film, Atlantic Records rush released it as a single.
    1972 - Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen's "Hot Rod Lincoln" enters the charts…and all this time I thought it was an early 50s hit!!
    1973 - The richest women’s golf tournament held (to that day) was won by Mickey Wright. She won the $25,000 first prize in the Colgate-Dinah Shore Golf Classic in Palm Springs, CA.
    1974 - Kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst is filmed participating in a bank robbery, along with 8 other members of the SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army), in Sacramento, California.
    1977 - Top Hits
Dancing Queen - Abba
Don’t Give Up on Us - David Soul
Don’t Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston
Lucille - Kenny Rogers
    1980 - Country star Willie Nelson held two fundraising concerts in Atlanta, Georgia, for Jimmy Carter's US presidential campaign.
    1985 - Marvelous Marvin Hagler helped Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns go nighty-night a littler earlier than expected, with a third round knockout to retain the world middleweight boxing title. Some have called the fight the greatest three rounds in boxing history.
    1985 - Top Hits
We are the World - USA for Africa
Crazy for You - Madonna
Nightshift - Commodores
Honor Bound - Earl Thomas Conley
    1988 - A weather disturbance off the southern coast of California brought parts of southern California their first rain in six weeks. Rain-slickened roads resulted in numerous accidents in southern California, including a ten car pile-up at Riverside.
    1989 - Roy Orbison had his final Top 10 single on the US chart with "You Got It", four months after he passed away. The song was written by Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty and appeared on Orbison's "Mystery Girl" album that was released posthumously.
    1990 – “In Living Color” premiered on TV. Fox's sketch comedy series was modeled after "Saturday Night Live." The show was created by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Between skits, the Fly Girls would entertain the studio audience with hip dances (actress Rosie Perez choreographed the dances before breaking into movies). The show featured Wayans, his brothers Damon, Marlon and Shawn, his sister Kim, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, T'Keyah "Crystal" Keymáh, Kelly Coffield, Kim Coles and Jim Carrey before he was Ace Ventura. Some of the most popular recurring characters were Homey, the embittered clown, the flammable Fire Marshall Bill and the effeminate movie critics of "Men on Film."
    1992 – “The Queen of Mean”, Leona Helmsley was sentenced to 16 years in prison for tax evasion and other charges.  At trial, one of the key witnesses was a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home, Elizabeth Baum, who recounted having the following exchange with Leona Helmsley four to six weeks after being hired in September 1983:  I said: "You must pay a lot of taxes". She said: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."  She served 19 months.
    1996 - The rest of Jerry Garcia's ashes are scattered near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. A small portion had been scattered in the Ganges River in India 11 days ago.
    1997 - In ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the debut of Jackie Robinson in the major leagues, Bud Selig, chairman of baseball’s Executive Committee, announced that Robinson’s uniform number 42 would be retired by all Major League teams. Players then wearing 42 were allowed to continue to do so, but no team would ever assign 42 again. Now that Mariano Rivera has retired, no player will wear that number again.  On April 15 every season, ALL players wear 42 in Robinson’s memory.
    1998 - The New York Yankees and the New York Mets each played a home game at Shea Stadium, with the Yankees defeating the Anaheim Angeles, 3-2, in the afternoon, and the Mets beating the Chicago Cubs, 2-1, at night. This unique doubleheader was occasioned by a structural accident at Yankee Stadium.  A 500-pound steel beam fell from the upper deck on April 14, forcing New York City to close the park temporarily for inspection and repairs. The Yankees returned to their own home on April 25 beating the Detroit Tigers, 8-4.  A new Yankee Stadium was opened for the 2009 season across River Ave from the original ballpark.
    1999 - Astronomers from San Francisco State University, working at an observatory in Arizona, announced the discovery of the first multi-planet system ever found orbiting around a star other than our own. Three planets orbit the star Upsilon Andromedae, which can be seen with the naked eye. This suggests that the Milky Way probably teems with similar planetary systems.
    2013 – Two bombs exploded near the finish line at the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring 264 others.  The perpetrators were identified as Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.  Shortly after the FBI released the images, the suspects killed an MIT policeman, carjacked and SUV, and initiated an exchange of gunfire with the police in Watertown, MA. During the firefight, an MBTA police officer was injured but survived with severe blood loss. Tamerlan was shot several times in the firefight and his brother subsequently ran him over with the stolen SUV in his escape. He was pronounced dead at the scene.  A manhunt for Dzhokhar ensued on April 19, with thousands of law enforcement officers searching a 20-block area of Watertown.  A resident discovered Dzhokhar hiding in a boat in his back yard. Located within the boat by thermal imaging, he was shot while in the boat, then arrested and taken to a hospital shortly thereafter.  On April 8, 2015, Tsarnaev was found guilty on all thirty counts of the indictment. The charges of usage of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, in addition to aiding and abetting make Tsarnaev eligible for the death penalty.

    
Stanley Cup Champions
1937 - Detroit Red Wings
1952 - Detroit Red Wings