STROLLING THROUGH PAST APRILS

By Edwn Cooney

Of course, we always greet April with a silly grin, because the first of April has been celebrated as "All Fools' Day” since Monday, April 1st, 1700. (Note: I’m sure that someone is going to insist that April 1st, 1700 was a Friday, but that was according to the Julian calendar which was 11 days ahead of the Gregorian calendar which the British and all of its "subjects" switched to in 1751.)

Next door resides April 2nd. In case anyone living in Los Angeles happened to be a movie fan, they could go to that day's opening of the first electric theater in that sleepy little Southern California city.

On Saturday, April 3rd, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan which offered American aid to all European countries including the Soviet Union. Despite whatever economic advantage it might have offered the Soviets, the head Soviet, "Uncle Joe Stalin,” would have none of it!

On Thursday, April 4th, 1968, millions of Americans will always remember where they were, who they were with, and how they heard the news of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee.  It was shortly after 6 p.m. central time. Robert F. Kennedy (who would suffer the same fate two months and two days later in Los Angeles, California) announced the tragic event while speaking to a group of his supporters in Indianapolis, Indiana as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination.

A lot of weddings before the twentieth century didn't take place on a Saturday. In fact, Pocahontas and John Rolfe tied the knot on Tuesday, April 5th, 1614.

On Sunday, April 6th, 1896, the first modern Olympics opened in Athens, Greece. The American star was James Connolly who was first in the triple  jump, second in the high jump and third in the long jump. A Harvard student with a low academic average, he was warned by Harvard that if he competed he might not get back into the University. Hence he was denied re-entry despite his success. However, he was invited fifty years later to lecture at Harvard as a prominent writer.

On Monday, April 7th, 1980, President Jimmy Carter broke diplomatic relations with Iran over the Hostage Crisis.

Friday, April 8th, 1904, Longacre Square in New York City was renamed “Times Square” by the New York newspaper of the same name.

Sunday, April 9th, 1865, the Civil War ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox court house.

Friday, April 10th 1970, Paul McCartney announced his departure from the Beatles. 

Thursday, April 11th 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Fair Housing Act.

April 12th, 1861 and April 12th, 1945 mark two tragic and historic events in our history. On Friday, April 12th, 1861, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Bay, South Carolina to open the Civil War. On Thursday, April 12th, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt, suffering from heart disease (and some say from post polio syndrome), died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia.

Sunday, April 13th, 1997, Tiger Woods became the youngest ever winner of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

Sunday, April 14th, 1912 The HMS Titanic, His Majesty's most modern and most unsinkable ship, goes down after hitting an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. The ship had approximately 2,224 passengers of which over 1,500 lost their lives. The ship collided with the iceberg at 11:40 Sunday night and the Titanic sank at about 2:20 am the next day.

Thursday, April 15th, 1954 was the first time Income Tax Day was celebrated in April rather than on March 15th.

Tuesday, April 16th, 1912, Harriet Quimby (the first American woman ever to be licensed to fly) became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

Monday, April 17th, 1961 was the day of the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

Monday, April 18th, 1949, Ireland dropped out of the British Commonwealth of Nations and became a Republic.

Thursday, April 19th, 1951, General Douglas  MacArthur addressed Congress eight days after having been relieved from his Korean command.

Several notable events have occurred on past April 20th dates, such as the birth of Adolf Hitler and the 1999 Columbine massacre. However, I choose to highlight the bravest act which occurred on Friday, April 20th, 1951, the day following the MacArthur speech when President Harry Truman attended a Washington Senators game before several thousand booing fans.

Wednesday, April 21st, 1926 was the day that Queen Elizabeth II was born. Her public or “official” birthday is celebrated the second Saturday every June.

Wednesday April 22nd, 1970 was marked as America's first Earth Day.

Boston, Massachusetts opened its first public school on Thursday, April 23rd, 1635.

Friday, April 24th, 1953 was quite a day in the life of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill! On that day, Britain's child of the House of Commons was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter by the soon to be crowned Elizabeth II.

British and French engineers broke ground for the Suez Canal on Monday, April 25th, 1859.

Thomas H. "Boston" Corbett, a Union soldier, took credit for killing Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth on Wednesday, April 26th, 1865 in a barn at Fort Royal, Virginia.

Saturday, April 27th, 1974, thousands gathered in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate in favor of President Richard M. Nixon's eventual resignation.

Friday, April 28th, 1967, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali defied his draft into the army and was denied his right to box until 1970 when the Supreme Court of the United States declared that Ali was a legitimate conscientious objector.

Wednesday, April 29th, 1992 marked the beginning of four days of rioting over a jury's decision that Los Angeles police were not guilty of assaulting Rodney King.

Finally, it should be noted that General George Washington was sworn in as the nation's first president at Federal Hall, New York City, New York on Thursday, April 30th, 1789.

Okay, class, you've got plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming exam. It will be held on Thursday, June 31st, 2021.

WHO SAYS I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT DATES?!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY