This Day in History

[Nelson Muntz]

April 25



1590 - The Sultan of Morocco launched his successful attack to capture Timbuktu.

1644 - The Ming Chongzhen emperor committed suicide by hanging himself.

1684 - A patent was granted for the thimble.

1707 - At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated the Anglo-Portugese.

1792 - The guillotine was first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.

1831 - The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.

1846 - The Mexican-American War ignited as a result of disputes over claims to Texas boundaries. The outcome of the war fixed Texas' southern boundary at the Rio Grande River.

1859 - Work began on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

1860 - The first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power reached Washington, DC. They remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks while discussing expansion of trade with the United States.

1862 - Union Admiral Farragut occupied New Orleans, LA.

1864 - After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returned to Alexandria, LA.

1867 - Tokyo was opened for foreign trade.

1882 - French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.

1898 - The U.S. declared war on Spain. Spain had declared war on the U.S. the day before.

1901 - New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. The fee was $1.

1915 - During World War I, Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey in hopes of attacking the Central Powers from below. The attack was unsuccessful.

1925 - General Paul von Hindenburg took office as president of Germany.

1926 - In Iran, Reza Kahn was crowned Shah and choose the name "Pehlevi."

1928 - A seeing eye dog was used for the first time.

1938 - "Your Family and Mine," a radio serial, was first broadcast.

1940 - W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV.

1945 - U.S. and Soviet forces met at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.

1945 - Delegates from about 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

1952 - After a three-day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment was annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea.

1953 - U.S. Senator Wayne Morse ended the longest speech in U.S. Senate history. The speech on the Offshore Oil Bill lasted 22 hours and 26 minutes.

1953 - Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.

1954 - The prototype manufacture of the first solar battery was announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.

1957 - Operations began at the first experimental sodium nuclear reactor.

1959 - St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping. The water way connects the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

1961 - Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit.

1962 - The U.S. spacecraft, Ranger, crashed on the Moon.

1967 - Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. The law was limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.

1971 - The country of Bangladesh was established.

1974 - Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar was overthrown in a military coup.

1980 - In Iran, a commando mission to rescue hostages was aborted after mechanical problems disabled three of the eight helicopters involved. During the evacuation, a helicopter and a transport plan collided and exploded. Eight U.S. servicemen were killed. The mission was aimed at freeing American hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. The event took place April 24th Washington, DC, time.

1982 - In accordance with Camp David agreements, Israel completed its Sinai withdrawal.

1983 - Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the U.S. schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.

1983 - The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.

1984 - In France, over one million people demonstrated to show they favored the decentralization of education.

1984 - David Anthony Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, was found dead of a drug overdose in a hotel room.

1985 - "Big River (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)" opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on Broadway in New York City.

1987 - In Washington, DC, 100,000 people protested the U.S. policy in Central America.

1987 - Peter O'Toole opened in "Pygmalion" on Broadway.

1988 - In Israel, John "Ivan the Terrible" Demjanuk was sentenced to death as a Nazi war criminal.

1990 - Sandinista rule ended in Nicaragua.

1990 - The U.S. Hubble Space Telescope was placed into Earth's orbit. It was released by the space shuttle Discovery.

1992 - Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.

1996 - The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.

1998 - U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on was questioned by Whitewater prosecutors on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.

2003 - Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader and ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to four years in prison for her conviction on fraud and theft charges. She was convicted of 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft of money from a women's political league.

[Nelson Muntz]

April 26



1478 - Pazzi conspirators attacked Lorenzo and kill Giuliano de'Medici.

1514 - Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn.

1607 - The British established an American colony at Cape Henry, Virginia. It was the first permanent English establishment in the Western Hemisphere.

1819 - The first Odd Fellows lodge in the U.S. was established in Baltimore, MD.

1865 - Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Sherman during the American Civil War.

1865 - John Wilkes Booth was killed by the U.S. Federal Cavalry.

1906 - In Hawaii, motion pictures were shown for the first time.

1921 - Weather broadcasts were heard for the first time on radio in St. Louis, MO.

1929 - First non-stop flight from England to India was completed.

1931 - New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hit a home run but was called out for passing a runner.

1931 - NBC premiered "Lum and Abner." It was on the air for 24 years.

1937 - German planes attacked Guernica, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War.

1937 - "LIFE" magazine was printed without the word "LIFE" on the cover.

1937 - "Lorenzo Jones" premiered on NBC radio.

1941 - An organ was played at a baseball stadium for the first time in Chicago, IL.

1945 - Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France's Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.

1952 - Patty Berg set a new record for major women's golf competition when she shot a 64 over 18 holes in a tournament in Richmond, CA.

1954 - Grace Kelly was on the cover of "LIFE" magazine.

1964 - The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

1964 - The Boston Celtics won their sixth consecutive NBA title. They won two more before the streak came to an end.

1968 - Students seized the administration building at Ohio State University.

1982 - The British announced that Argentina had surrendered on South Georgia.

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

1985 - In Argentina, a fire at a mental hospital killed 79 people and injured 247.

1986 - The world's worst nuclear disaster to date occurred at Chernobyl, in Kiev. Thirty-one people died in the incident and thousands more were exposed to radioactive material.

1998 - Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he'd compiled on atrocities during Guatemala's 36-year civil war was made public.

2000 - Charles Wang and Sanjay Kumar purchased the NHL's New York Islanders.

2002 - In Erfurt, Germany, an expelled student killed 17 people at his former school. The student then killed himself.

[Nelson Muntz]

April 27

1296 - The Scots were defeated by Edward I at the Battle of Dunbar.

1509 - Pope Julius II excommunicated the Italian state of Venice.

1521 - Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

1565 - The first Spanish settlement in Philippines was established in Cebu City.

1805 - A force led by U.S. Marines captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.

1813 - Americans under Gen. Pike capture York (present day Toronto) the seat of government in Ontario.

1861 - U.S. President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus.

1861 - West Virginia seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union during the American Civil War.

1863 - The Army of the Potomac began marching on Chancellorsville.

1865 - In the U.S. the Sultana exploded while carrying 2,300 Union POWs. Between 1,400 - 2,000 were killed.

1880 - Francis Clarke and M.G. Foster patented the electrical hearing aid.

1897 - Grant's Tomb was dedicated.

1899 - The Western Golf Association was founded in Chicago, IL.

1903 - Jamaica Race Track opened in Long Island, NY.

1909 - The sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II, was overthrown.

1937 - German bombers devastated Guernica, Spain.

1938 - Geraldine Apponyi married King Zog of Albania. She was the first American woman to become a queen.

1938 - A colored baseball was used for the first time in any baseball game. The ball was yellow and was used between Columbia and Fordham Universities in New York City.

1945 - The Second Republic was founded in Austria.

1946 - The SS African Star was placed in service. It was the first commercial ship to be equipped with radar.

1947 - "Babe Ruth Day" was celebrated at Yankee Stadium.

1950 - South Africa passed the Group Areas Act, which formally segregated races.

1953 - The U.S. offered $50,000 and political asylum to any Communist pilot that delivered a MIG jet.

1953 - Five people were killed and 60 injured when Mt. Aso erupted on the island of Kyushu.

1960 - The submarine Tullibee was launched from Groton, CT. It was the first sub to be equipped with closed-circuit television.

1961 - The United Kingdom granted Sierra Leone independence.

1965 - "Pampers" were patented by R.C. Duncan.

1967 - In Montreal, Prime Minister Lester Pearson lighted a flame to open Expo 67.

1975 - Saigon was encircled by North Vietnamese troops.

1978 - Pro-Soviet Marxists seized control of Afghanistan.

1982 - The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr. began in Washington. Hinckley was later acquitted by reason of insanity for the shooting of U.S. President Reagan and three others.

1982 - China proposed a new constitution that would radically alter the structure of the national government.

1983 - Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros) broke a 55-year-old major league baseball record when he struck out his 3,509th batter of his career.

1984 - In London, Libyan gunmen left the Libyan Embassy 11 days after killing a policewoman and wounding 10 others.

1986 - Captain Midnight (John R. MacDougall) interrupted HBO.

1989 - Student protestors took over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

1987 - The U.S. Justice Department barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the U.S. He claimed that he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.

1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the Republic of Serbia and its ally Montenegro.

1992 - Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

2005 - The A380, the world's largest jetliner, completed its maiden flight. The passenger capability was 840.

2005 - Russian President Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit Israel.

2006 - In New York, NY, construction began on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower on the site of former World Trade Center.

[Nelson Muntz]

April 28



0357 - Constantius II visited Rome for the first time.

1282 - Villagers in Palermo led a revolt against French rule in Sicily.

1635 - Virginia Governor John Harvey was accused of treason and removed from office.

1686 - The first volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathamatic" was published.

1788 - Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. constitution.

1789 - A mutiny on the British ship Bounty took place when a rebel crew took the ship and set sail to Pitcairn Island. The mutineers left Captain W. Bligh and 18 sailors adrift.

1818 - U.S. President James Monroe proclaimed naval disarmament on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.

1896 - The Addressograph was patented by J.S. Duncan.

1902 - A revolution broke out in the Dominican Republic.

1910 - First night air flight was performed by Claude Grahame-White in England.

1914 - W.H. Carrier patented the design of his air conditioner.

1916 - The British declared martial law throughout Ireland.

1919 - The League of Nations was founded.

1920 - Azerbaijan joined the USSR.

1930 - The first organized night baseball game was played in Independence, Kansas.

1932 - The yellow fever vaccine for humans was announced.

1937 - The first animated-cartoon electric sign was displayed on a building on Broadway in New York City. It was created by Douglas Leight.

1945 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.

1946 - The Allies indicted Tojo with 55 counts of war crimes.

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. The trip began in Peru and took 101 days to complete the crossing of the Pacific Ocean.

1952 - The U.S. occupation of Japan officially ended when a treaty with the U.S. and 47 other countries went into effect.

1953 - French troops evacuated northern Laos.

1957 - Mike Wallace was seen on TV for the first time. He was the host of "Mike Wallace Interviews."

1959 - Arthur Godfrey was seen for the last time in the final broadcast of "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" on CBS-TV.

1965 - The U.S. Army and Marines invaded the Dominican Republic to evacuate Americans.

1967 - Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army and was stripped of boxing title. He sited religious grounds for his refusal.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigned as president of France.

1969 - In Santa Rosa, CA, Charles M. Schulz's Redwood Empire Ice Arena opened.

1974 - The last Americans were evacuated from Saigon.

1977 - Christopher Boyce was convicted of selling U.S. secrets.

1985 - The largest sand castle in the world was completed near St. Petersburg, FL. It was four stories tall.

1988 - In Maui, HI, one flight attendant was killed when the fuselage of a Boeing 737 ripped open in mid-flight.

1989 - Mobil announced that they were divesting from South Africa because congressional restrictions were too costly.

1992 - The U.S. Agriculture Department unveiled a pyramid-shaped recommended-diet chart.

1994 - Former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had given U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pled guilty to espionage and tax evasion. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton gave a 4 1/2 hour videotaped testimony as a defense witness in the criminal trial of his former Whitewater business partners.

1997 - A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons took effect. Russia and other countries such as Iraq and North Korea did not sign.

1999 - The U.S. House of Representatives rejected (on a tie vote of 213-213) a measure expressing supprot for NATO's five-week-old air campaign in Yugoslavia. The House also voted to limit the president's authority to use ground forces in Yugoslavia.

2000 - Jay Leno received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2001 - A Russian rocket launched from Central Asia with the first space tourist aboard. The crew consisted of California businessman Dennis Tito and two cosmonauts. The destination was the international space station