This Day In History

April 22, 1945

Adolf Hitler, learning from one of his generals that no German defense was offered to the Russian assault at Eberswalde, admits to all in his underground bunker that the war is lost and that suicide is his only recourse.

April 23, 1987

Chrysler Corporation purchases Nuova Automobili F. Lamborghini, the Bologna, Italy-based maker of high-priced, high-performance cars. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, the media reported that Chrysler paid $25 million for Lamborghini, which at the time was experiencing financial difficulties.

In 1994, Chrysler sold Lamborghini to a group of Indonesian investors. Four years later, German automaker Volkswagen took control of Lamborghini. The company has continued to build high-performance cars, including the Murcielago (capable of 250 mph) and the Gallardo.

April 23

1635 - Oldest US public institution, Boston Latin School founded

1861 - Robert E. Lee named commander of Virginia Confederate forces

1962 - 1st US satellite to reach the moon launched

1985 - New Coke debuts; Coca-Cola announced it is changing its secret flavor formula

1988 - A Greek pedals self-powered aircraft, 74 miles

1994 - Libertarian party nominates Howard Stern for Governor of NY

April 23, 2001 - Intel introduces the Pentium 4-processor.

April 24, 1916

On Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule.

April 25, 1990

The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth.

Free of atmospheric distortions, Hubble has a resolution 10 times that of ground-based observatories. About the size of a bus, the telescope is solar-powered and orbits Earth once every 97 minutes. Among its many astronomical achievements, Hubble has been used to record a comet’s collision with Jupiter, provide a direct look at the surface of Pluto, view distant galaxies, gas clouds, and black holes, and see billions of years into the universe’s past.

April 25th:

1684 - Patent granted for thimble

1859 - Ground broken for Suez Canal

1901 - New York becomes 1st state requiring automobile license plates ($1 fee)

1928 - Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for the blind

1971 - About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington

1980 - A's manager Billy Martin restrained by umpires from attacking a fan

1994 - 14" of snow in Southern Calif

April 25 -

1719 - Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London.

1859 - Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

1898 - The United States declares war on Spain

1960 - The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine.

April 25, 1607 ... Jacob van Heemskerck destroys the Spanish fleet in the Bay of Gibraltar.

April 25, 1974

Carnation Revolution in Portugal. End of the dictatorship and the colonial war. All colonies (except Macau until 1999) granted independence in 1975.

I was six years old then; too young to have seen and understood it in the news really.

April 26, 1986

The world’s worst nuclear accident to date occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in Ukraine. The full toll from this disaster is still being tallied, but experts believe that thousands of people died and as many as 70,000 suffered severe poisoning. In addition, a large area of land may not be livable for as much as 150 years. The 18-mile radius around Chernobyl was home to almost 150,000 people who had to be permanently relocated.

April 26 -

1865 - Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to Sherman.

1931 - New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake ultimately costs him the home run record.

1983 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 1,200 for first time.

April 26th

1966 - An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent, Uzbekistan

1990 - 126 die in a (6.9) earthquake in China

April 27th:

1667 - The blind and impoverished, John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.

1773 - British Parliament passes Tea Act (Boston won't like this)

1933 - Karl Jansky reports reception of cosmic radio signal in Wash DC

1937 - 1st US social security payment made

1940 - Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp

1953 - Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins term "Pencil neck geek"

1956 - Heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated from boxing

1989 - Beijing students take over Tiananmen Square in China

April 27, 1521

After traveling three-quarters of the way around the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed during a tribal skirmish on Mactan Island in the Philippines. Earlier in the month, his ships had dropped anchor at the Philippine island of Cebu, and Magellan met with the local chief, who after converting to Christianity persuaded the Europeans to assist him in conquering a rival tribe on the neighboring island of Mactan. In the subsequent fighting, Magellan was hit by a poisoned arrow and left to die by his retreating comrades.

April 27 -

1863 - The Army of the Potomac begins marching on Chancellorsville

1975 - Saigon is encircled by North Vietnamese troops

April 27, 1967 - our current king, Willem Alexander, is born today.

April 28 -

1789 - Three weeks into a journey from Tahiti to the West Indies, the HMS Bounty is seized in a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate. Captain Bligh and 18 of his loyal supporters were set adrift in a small, open boat, and the Bounty set course for Tubuai south of Tahiti.

1945 - “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. Their
bodies were then transported by truck to Milan, where they were hung upside down and displayed publicly for revilement by the masses.

April 28 -

1788 - Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the constitution

1919 - Les Irvin makes the first jump with an Army Air Corps parachute

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