1773 - The British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and thus granting it a monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allows the East India Company to undercut even tea smuggled out of America, and many colonists view the act as another example of taxation without representation. When three tea ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England. After Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused, Patriot leader Samuel Adams organized the so-called "Boston Tea Party" with about sixty members of the "Sons of Liberty." On December 16, 1773, the Patriots boarded the three British ships disguised as Mohawk Indians, and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The destroyed tea was valued at approximately ten thousand pounds. Parliament, outraged by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant destruction of British property, enacted the Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts, in the following year. The colonists in turn responded by calling the first Continental Congress to consider a united American resistance against the British
    1791 - Birthday of American artist and inventor, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, after whom the Morse code is named, born at Charlestown, MA. Graduating from Yale University in 1810, he went to the Royal Academy of London to study painting. After returning to America, he achieved success as a portraitist. Morse conceived the head of an electromagnetic telegraph while on shipboard, returning from art instruction in Europe in 1832, and he proceeded to develop his idea. With financial assistance approved by Congress, the first telegraph line in the US was constructed between Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. The first message tapped out by Morse form the Supreme Court Chamber of the US Capitol building on May 24, 1844, was, ‘What hath God wrought?”  He died at New York, NY, April 2, 1872.
    1805 - The first American flag flown over a fortress of the Old World
was flown when Lieutenant Presley Neville O’Bannon of the Marines raised the colors over the Tripolitan fortress at Derna, on the north coast of Africa (now in Libya). After marching 800 km from Egypt, US agent William Eaton leads a small force of US Marines and Berber mercenaries against the Tripolitan port city of Derna. Lieutenant O’ Bannon, commanding the Marines, performed so heroically in the battle that Hamet Karamanli presented him with an elaborately designed sword that now serves as the pattern for the swords carried by Marine officers. The phrase "to the shores of Tripoli" from the official song of the US Marine Corps also has its origins in the Derna campaign.
    1810 - Ludwig van Beethoven gives the world a romantic piece for piano, with the dedication, "For Therese, as a remembrance." Nowadays nobody remembers Therese. The publisher couldn't read Beethoven's handwriting and to this day the piece is known as "Fur Elise."  While Beethoven never married, he came very close several times, and had many loves of his life as a musician and composer. "We can only speculate upon whether it was Beethoven's intention to write the piece in the letters of the name of his beloved. The famous melody starts with the tones E - D# - E, or enharmonically E - Eb - E, which in German languages equivalents E - Es - E, the "tuneable" letters in the name ThErESE or EliSE.
http://users.sowega.net/chanhtu/furelise.html
http://www.8notes.com/scores/7063.asp
http://www.ezfolk.com/uke/tabs1/fur-elise/fur-elise.html
    1813 - US forces under Gen. Zebulon Pike, for whom Pikes Peak is named, captured York (today called Toronto) and then
burned it to the ground in an unsuccessful attempt to gain control of Lake Ontario. There is the fight regarding boundaries, fishing, and as important, over 300,000 loyalists remaining from the Revolutionary War, many of whom moved to Canada where England granted land to those who opposed the Revolution and assisted the British. There were still hard feelings between the two groups, as Canada was a province
of England and many believed the colonist here were still a threat.  During the battle, Gen. Pike was killed when an ammunition magazine exploded.
    1816 - The first tariff passed by Congress for protection rather than primarily for revenue was the “act to regulate the duties on imports and tonnage.”
    1822 - Birthday of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the US (Mar 4, 1869—Mar 3, 1877) was born in Hiram, OH.  President Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general in command of all the Union armies on Mar 9, 1864, changing the direction of the war effort.  On April 9, 1865, Grant received General Robert F. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, VA, which he announced to the Secretary of War as follows: “General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully.” Nicknamed “Unconditional Surrender Grant,” Grant was a brilliant, inventive, creative General, who did like to drink, but he was a controversial president, who failed in his second attempt for the presidency and reportedly died he died at Mount McGregor, NY, July 23, 1885, a “broken man,” four days after completing his memoirs. He was buried at Riverside Park, New York, NY, following a huge parade. Grant’s Tomb was dedicated in 1897. So now you know who is buried at Grant’s Tomb.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr27.html
    1825 - The industrialist Robert Owen sets up Utopian Socialist Colony at New Harmony, Indiana. About 1,000 settlers were attracted to the 20,000 acres made available. Dissension arose and there was lack of direction among those who were supposed to cooperate. Owen left in 1827. In 1828, the community ceased to exist as a Utopian enterprise.
    1825 - The first strike for the 10-hour work-day, by carpenters in Boston.
    1848 - Slavery abolished in all French territories.
http://www.info-france-usa.org/atoz/overseas.asp
    1864 - On his birthday, Grant officially issued orders to his armies that would lead to the end of the American Civil War. The plan called for Sherman to advance on Confederate forces through Georgia, Siegal to move through the Shenandoah Valley, Butler to advance up the James River toward Richmond and Meade to follow and engage the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee.
    1865 - The Sultana, heavily overloaded with an estimated 2,300 passengers, exploded in the Mississippi River, just north of Memphis, en route to Cairo, Illinois. Most of the passengers were Union soldiers who had been prisoners of war and were eagerly returning to their homes. Although there was never an accurate accounting of the dead, estimates range from 1,450 to nearly 2,000. Cause of the explosion was low levels of water in the boilers likely caused by the extra output required to navigate the spring flood currents on the River.  The little-known event is unparalleled in US maritime history and is usually overlooked as it occurred in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of President Lincoln and the pursuit and killing of John Wilkes Booth.
    1865 - Actor John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, was shot and killed in a barn near Port Royal, Virginia, by federal cavalrymen after they set the barn on fire. 
    1875 - John McCloskey was the first Catholic priest from the United States to be made a cardinal, under the title of Santa Maria Supra Minervam by Pope Pius IX. The investiture was made in the cathedral on Mott Street, New York City.
    1880 – Francis D. Clarke and M.G. Foster secured a patent on a “device for aiding the deaf to hear” that made its own electricity and operated by bone conduction. The first electrical hearing aid produced commercially was the Acousticon, invented by Miller Reese Hutchinson of New York City in 1901. The first hearing aid using transistors was manufactured by Sonotone Corporation, Elmsford, NY, and offered for sale on December 29, 1942. It weighed 3.5 ounces and was three inches long.
    1892 - Birthday in Lewiston, Maine, of composer and conductor Howard Fogg, a pioneer in the composition and synchronization of film soundtracks. Fogg spent much of his life in Montreal. In 1934, he wrote what is considered the first original composition for a Canadian film - the music for a documentary called "Rhapsody in Two Languages." Fogg died in 1953.
    1899 - In Chicago, Illinois, the Western Golf Association was founded. 
    1899 - A tornado struck Kirksville, MO, killing 34 persons and destroying 300 buildings.
    1900 - Birthday of Walter Lantz, originator of Universal Studios’ animated opening sequence for their first major musical film, “The King of Jazz”. Walter Lantz is best remembered as the creator of Woody Woodpecker, the bird with the wacky laugh and the taunting ways. Lantz received a lifetime achievement Academy Award for his animation in 1979. He was born at New Rochelle, NY, and died March 22, 1994, at Burbank, California.
    1903 - In Long Island, New York, Jamaica Race Track opened. Spectators included Lillian Russell and Diamond Jim Brady. 
    1904 - Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act indefinitely (first passed in 1882; again in 1902 extending the act for 10 years), making it unlawful for Chinese laborers to enter the US and denying naturalized citizenship to the Chinese already here. 
    1912 - One of the worst tornado outbreaks in Oklahoma's history occurred. 16 tornadoes rated F2 or greater touched down in the state with 6 of them rated F4. 29 people were killed.
    1915 - The temperature at Washington, DC hit 92 degrees, the highest ever in April. New York City hit 92 degrees as well.
    1927 - Birthday of Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.
    1931 - 100ºF (38ºC), Pahala, Hawaii (state record)
    1932 - Birthday of Casey Kasem, famous countdown disc jockey who died in 2014.
    1932 - Birthday of Maxine Brown of the country trio, the Browns, born in Samti, Louisiana. Their recordings of "The Three Bells," "Scarlet Ribbons" and "The Old Lamplighter" were big hits on both the country and pop charts in 1959 and '60. Maxine tried a solo career after the Browns broke up in 1967, but had only one minor hit.
    1938 - On Victor Records, Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded "I Hadn’t Anyone ’til You", featuring Jack Leonard on vocals. It wasn’t long thereafter that Leonard, unhappy with his role in the orchestra and looking for more money, left the band, but not before recommending a young Sinatra as his replacement.
    1939 - Drummer Jerry Mercer of the Montreal-based rock group April Wine was born. Mercer replaced April Wine's original drummer, Richie Henman, in 1974. April Wine was Canada's leading touring band of the '70s, and among their hits were 1972's "You Could Have Been a Lady" and "Roller" from 1979. Their biggest international success came in the following decade when "Just Between You and Me" made number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. April Wine also appeared with the Rolling Stones at a Toronto night club in March 1977. 
    1942 - A destructive tornado, rated F4, tracked through Rogers and Mayes counties in Oklahoma. The town of Pryor was hit squarely. 52 people were killed and damage amounted to $2.5 million.
    1944 - Cuba Gooding of the '70s soul group “The Main Ingredient” was born. Perhaps his son Cuba Gooding, Jr., is better known as an actor.  Early on, Junior landed guest starring roles on shows like "Hill Street Blues" (1981) and "MacGyver" (1985). His first major role was in the 1991 box office surprise “Boyz n the Hood” (1991). He followed this success with supporting roles in major films like “A Few Good Men” (1992), “Lightning Jack” (1994) and “Outbreak” (1995).
In 1996, Cuba was cast as an arrogant but loyal football player in the Tom Cruise-Cameron Crowe film “Jerry Maguire” (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned Cuba an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the movie became a nationwide catchphrase. The role elevated him to superstar status, as many of Hollywood's top producers began to "show him the money" to appear in their films.
    1947 - Peter Ham of Badfinger is born. One of rock music's true talents who died way too soon.
    1948 - Kate Pierson of The B-52s is born in Weehawken, N.J. The group's biggest hits are the 1989 songs “Love Shack'' and “Roam,'' both of which reach No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100. Pierson also sings backup on R.E.M.'s top 10 hit “Shiny Happy People.'' Both bands are based in Athens, Ga.
    1949 - Top Hits
“Cruising Down the River” - The Blue Barron Orchestra (vocal: ensemble)
“Forever and Ever” - Perry Como
“ ’A’ You’re Adorable” - Perry Como
“Candy Kisses” - George Morgan
    1950 - The modern state of Israel is officially recognized by the British government.
    1951 - Birthday of Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist with the theatrical rock group Kiss, in New York. Kiss, known for their painted faces and extravagant on-stage antics, was one of the biggest-selling acts of the 1970's. Frehley was recruited for the band through an ad in The Village Voice. The critics almost unanimously panned Kiss' heavy-metal thudding, but their albums sold in the millions. Frehley left Kiss in 1983.
    1956 - At age 31, Rocky Marciano, undefeated in 49 professional bouts (43 knockouts and six title defense), announced his retirement as World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
    1956 - Capitol Records signs Gene Vincent, intending to market him as the next Elvis…"Be-Bop-a-Lula." 
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdid7_gene-vincent-be-bop-alula_music
    1957 - Elvis makes his second and last appearance outside of the US, wearing his classic gold lame suit for the last time as he plays Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.
    1957 - Top Hits
“Little Darlin’ ” - The Diamonds
“All Shook Up” - Elvis Presley
“Mama Look at Bubu” - Harry Belafonte
“Gone” - Ferlin Husky
    1959 - "Personality", by Lloyd Price was released. From the 1950s to the early 1960s, Price had 10 songs on the nation’s pop music charts.
    1959 - Sheena Easton is born in Bellshill, Scotland. Her biggest hit is “Morning Train (Nine to Five),'' which tops Billboard's Hot 100 for two weeks in 1981.
    1963 - Martha and the Vandellas had their first entry on the Billboard rhythm-and-blues chart, "Come and Get These Memories." Three months later, the Motown group would have its biggest hit, "Heat Wave."
    1963 - Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him" hits #1 
    1964 - John Lennon's "In His Own Write," a collection of funny poems and drawings, is published in the U.S.
    1965 - Top Hits
“Game of Love” - Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
“Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” - Herman’s Hermits
“I Know a Place” - Petula Clark
“This is It” - Jim Reeves
    1968  - Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. In an interview, he said he supported the current US policy of sending troops "where required by our own national security." On 31 March 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, frustrated with his inability to reach a solution in Vietnam, announced that he would “neither seek nor accept the nomination of his party for re-election”. This set up a contest for the Democratic nomination. Humphrey's main competition was Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota), who had come within a few hundred votes of beating Lyndon Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. Robert Kennedy had entered the race and won most of the Democratic primaries until he was assassinated in June. When the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago in August, a conflict immediately erupted over the party's Vietnam platform. While demonstrations against the war took place in the streets outside the convention hall, Humphrey won the party nomination. He was ultimately defeated in the general election by Republican Richard Nixon, who criticized the Johnson's handling of the war and ran on a platform of achieving "peace with honor" in Vietnam.
    1968 - Jimmy Ellis won a 15-round decision over Jerry Quarry to capture the heavyweight championship. This fight at Oakland, CA, was the final in an eight-man elimination tournament to select a champion to replace Muhammad Ali, from whom the title was stripped when Ali declined to enter the military draft due to his religious beliefs against war.
    1968 - Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" is released. It is from
the soundtrack of “The Graduate.”
    1969 - Joe Cocker makes his American debut on the "Ed Sullivan Show" before embarking on a tour.
    1970 - The Civic Center branch of Surety National Bank became the first bank to be fully automated opened in Los Angeles, CA. It contained six telestations equipped with closed-circuit television and monitored by a teller. A “validator” provided instant validation of checks by code rather than by signature. A money machine dispensed cash in an envelope. This was well before ATM’s. Not known what
happened to Surety National Bank. 
    1973 - Top Hits
“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” - Dawn featuring Tony Orlando
“Sing” - Carpenters
“The Cisco Kid” - War
“Superman” - Donna Fargo
    1974 - Waylon Jennings's first number-one single, "This Time," entered the country charts in the US.
    1975 - Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops.
    1976 - Maxine Nightingale was awarded a gold record for the single, "Right Back Where We Started From", which spent 2 weeks at #2. In the early 1970s, Nightingale was in the productions of "Hair", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Godspell" and "Savages". 
    1976 - Bruce Springsteen's meteoric career rise is stalled when he sues manager Mike Appel for fraud and breach of contract, keeping him from performing or recording for over a year.
    1976 - After years of alleged physical and verbal abuse, and having left over the Fourth of July with nothing but pocket change and a gas station credit card, Tina Turner files for divorce from her husband of sixteen years, Ike.
    1979 - Stevie Wonder makes a surprise appearance at a Duke Ellington tribute concert at UCLA's Royce Hall. He performs "Sir Duke and Ellington's "C-Jam Blues." 
    1980 - Three years and a day after opening its doors, New York's legendary disco, Studio 54 shuts down due to numerous questionable activities. Several movies about the club and its attendees will make it appear the club was open longer.
    1981 - Top Hits
“Kiss on My List” - Daryl Hall & John Oates
“Morning Train (Nine to Five)” - Sheena Easton
“Being with You” - Smokey Robinson
“A Headache Tomorrow (Or a Heartache Tonight)” - Mickey Gilley
    1981 - Xerox introduces its STAR 8010 information system, the first computer on the market to boast a mouse and a point-and-click interface. The STAR was based on cutting-edge work at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, which had developed a graphic user interface using a mouse for a machine called the Alto. The mouse, first demonstrated in 1968 by Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute, would not catch on until the Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984. Xerox devoted nine years and some $50 million to developing the STAR, but the product failed, partly because of its high price of $16,500, It had no easy language to learn and no spreadsheet capabilities, and one of the major developers Alan Kay went on to Atari and then to Apple, to help in development of its computer.
384 KB (expandable to 1.5MB) of real memory 
10, 29 or 40 MB hard drive 
17-inch display 
mouse 
8" floppy drive 
Ethernet connection
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/xerox-8010/index.html
http://www.thocp.net/hardware/xerox_star.htm
http://xeroxstar.tripod.com/index.html
    1986 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Addicted to Love,'' Robert Palmer. This is Palmer's first No. 1 single.
    1987 - Forty-two cities in the western and south central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 87 degrees at Olympia, WA was an April record, and highs of 92 degrees at Boise, ID, 95 degrees at Monroe, LA, and 96 degrees at Sacramento, CA tied April records. (The National Weather Summary) More than 300 daily temperature records fell by the wayside during a two week long heat wave across thirty-four states in the southern and western U.S. Thirteen cities established records for the month of April.
    1988 - Observers at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire reported over 7 feet of snowfall in a 10 day period, bringing their total for April to 89.9 inches. This set a new record for April snowfall on the mountain breaking the old standard of 89.3 inches set in 1975. Records have been kept on the summit since December of 1932.
1989 - Severe thunderstorms struck Omaha, Nebraska. Hail up to 4.5 inches in diameter fell. 3 inches of rain in a relatively short period of time caused flooding of streets with 3 feet of water reported at some intersections.
    1989 - Top Hits
“Like a Prayer”- Madonna
“Funky Cold Medina “- Tone Loc
“I’ll Be There for You” - Bon Jovi
“The Church on Cumberland Road” - Shenandoah
    1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather in eastern Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley. Severe thunderstorms spawned thirteen tornadoes in Texas and twelve in Louisiana. A tornado southwest of Coolidge, TX injured eight persons and caused more than five million dollars damage. There were also eighty-five reports of large hail and damaging winds, with baseball size hail reported at Mexia, TX and Shreveport, LA. Forty-three cities in the eastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Records highs included 94 degrees at Charleston, WV, 95 degrees at   MD and 96 degrees at Richmond, VA.
    1994 - The first criminal convicted on the evidence of DNA matching was Timothy W. Spencer, who died in the electric chair in Greensville Correctional Center, Greensville, VA. Spencer was convicted of murdering four women in Richmond, VA, in 1987. DNA from his cells were matched with DNA found in evidence at the scene of the crime, a process also known as genetic fingerprinting.
    1995 - The US Justice Department files an antitrust suit to block Microsoft from buying Intuit, makers of the popular Quicken financial software, for $2.1 billion. The suit argued that financial software was one of the only remaining software sectors not dominated by Microsoft. Intuit dominated about 70% of the personal finance software segment, while Microsoft Money held only 22%. Microsoft voluntarily abandoned the merger in May.  Of all the products developed by Microsoft to date, Microsoft Money never took off compared to Quicken.
    1995 - Ross Glatzer, president of Prodigy Services Co., the leader of the pack on the Internet, quits amid tension between parent companies IBM and Sears. IBM reportedly wanted more power over the online venture, which had just started showing signs of profitability. The two companies had invested $1 billion in the venture since 1985. In March, Prodigy's second-in-command, Scott Kurnit, left the company to join MCI's new Internet venture. The company continued to struggle after Glatzer's departure. In 1996, Prodigy's management purchased the company and began transforming it into an Internet service provider.
    1996 - Barry Bonds, joins his father and godfather, Willie Mays, becoming only the fourth major leaguer to hit 300 homers and swipe 300 bases as he homers for the Giants' in a 6-3 victory over the Marlins. Bobby Bonds, Mays and Andre Dawson were the only other 300-300 players. 
    2000 - Sixteen players of the Tigers and White Sox are suspended for a total of 82 games for participating in two brawls at Comiskey Park five days ago, making it the most severe punishment ever given for a bench-clearing incident. Both managers, Phil Garner and Jerry Manuel, are suspended for eight games each.
    2011 - An estimated 305 tornados between the 27th and 28th sets a record for the largest outbreak ever recorded, including two EF-5s, four EF-4s and 21 EF-3s. Arkansas through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, southern Tennessee, Virginia to Pennsylvania and New York were all affected. An estimated 300 died including 210 in Alabama alone. This brought the April total past 600, the most in any month in recorded US weather history.
    2011 - Rod Stewart was honored at the 28th annual ASCAP Pop Awards in Los Angeles for the string of hits he wrote in the 1970s that included "Maggie May", "You Wear It Well", "Tonight's The Night" and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy".