April 8
is the 98th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (99th in
leap years). There are 267 days remaining.
*
217 -
Roman Emperor Caracalla is
assassinated (and succeeded) by his
Praetorian Guard prefect,
Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
*
1492 - Death of
Lorenzo de' Medici, dubbed "The Magnificent", ruler of
Florence and patron of arts.
*
1730 -
Shearith Israel, the first
synagogue in
New York City, is dedicated.
*
1767 -
Ayutthaya kingdom falls to
Burmese invaders.
*
1820 - The
Venus de Milo is discovered on the
Aegean island of
Melos.
*
1832 -
Black Hawk War: Around 300
United States 6th Infantry troops leave
Jefferson Barracks,
St. Louis, Missouri to fight the
Sauk Native Americans.
*
1864 -
American Civil War:
Battle of Mansfield -
Union General Nathaniel Banks'
Red River Campaign is thwarted by
Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at
Mansfield, Louisiana.
*
1886 -
William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first
Home Rule bill into the
British House of Commons.
*
1893 - First recorded
college basketball game occurs in
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania when the
Geneva College Covenanters defeat the
New Brighton YMCA.
*
1895 - The
United States Supreme Court declares
income tax to be
unconstitutional in
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.*
1899 -
Martha Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an
electric chair.
*
1904 - The
French Third Republic and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the
Entente cordiale.* 1904 -
Longacre Square in
Midtown Manhattan is renamed
Times Square after
The New York Times.
*
1913 - The
17th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct
election of
Senators.
*
1916 - In
Corona, California, car racer
Bob Burman crashes through a crowd barrier at the last
Boulevard Race, killing himself, his mechanic and a track policeman, and badly injuring five spectators.
*
1918 -
World War I:
Actors
Douglas Fairbanks and
Charlie Chaplin sell
war bonds on the streets of
New York, New York's financial district.
*
1929 -
Indian Independence Movement: At
Delhi Central Assembly,
Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts, and bombs in a corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest.
*
1935 - The
Works Progress Administration is formed when the
Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
*
1942 -
World War II:
Siege of Leningrad -
Soviet Union forces open a much-needed
railway link to
Leningrad.
*
1945 - At the
POW camp at
Flossenbürg,
pastor and
theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged.
*
1952 - In a radio address to the nation from the
White House,
President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all
steel mills in the
United States in order to prevent a nationwide
strike.
*
1953 -
Mau Mau leader
Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by
Kenya's
British rulers.
*
1967 - In
Vienna,
Austria,
Sandie Shaw wins the twelfth
Eurovision Song Contest for the
United Kingdom singing "
Puppet on a String".
*
1974 - At the
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium,
Hank Aaron breaks
baseball great's
Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th
home run.
*
1975 -
Frank Robinson of the
Cleveland Indians manages his first game as major league
baseball's first
African American manager.
*
1985 -
Bhopal disaster:
India files suit against
Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
*
1987 -
Los Angeles Dodgers executive
Al Campanis resigns amid great controversy over
racially-charged remarks he had made while on
Nightline.*
1989 -
South Africa: In
Johannesburg, the
Progressive Federal Party,
Independent Party,
National Democratic Movement and the force of "
Ontevrede Afrikaners" or dissatisfied
Afrikaners merge to form the
Democratic Party.
*
1992 - Retired
tennis great
Arthur Ashe announces to the world that he has
AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
*
1999 -
Haryana Gana Parishad, a
political party in the
Indian state of
Haryana, merges with the
Indian National Congress.
*
2004 -
Darfur conflict: The
Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the
Sudanese
government and two rebel groups.
*
2005 -
Funeral of Pope John Paul II.
*
2006 -
Shedden massacre: A farmer near
Shedden, Ontario,
Canada finds the bodies of eight men, all shot to death, in a field. The murders are soon linked to the
Bandidos motorcycle gang.
*
563 BC -
Gautama Buddha, Indian religious leader (d.
483 BC)
*
1320 - King
Peter I of Portugal (d.
1367)
*
1533 -
Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (d.
1604)
*
1541 -
Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (d.
1593)
*
1605 - King
Philip IV of Spain, (d.
1665)
*
1641 -
Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (d.
1704)
*
1692 -
Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (d.
1770)
*
1859 -
Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (d.
1938)
*
1865 -
Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist (d.
1940)
*
1868 - King
Christian IX of Denmark (d.
1906)
*
1869 -
Harvey Cushing, American
neuorosurgeon, pioneer of
brain surgery (d.
1939)
*
1874 -
Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising (d.
1960)
*
1875 - King
Albert I of Belgium (d.
1934)
*
1889 - Sir
Adrian Boult, British conductor (d.
1983)
*
1892 -
Mary Pickford, Canadian actress and studio founder (d.
1979)
*
1904 -
John Hicks, British economist,
Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d.
1989)
*
1905 -
Helen Joseph, South African anti-apartheid activist (d.
1992)
* 1905 -
Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d.
1971)
*
1908 -
Hugo Fregonese,
Argentine film director (d.
1987)
*
1911 -
Melvin Calvin, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1997)
* 1911 -
Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist (d.
1995)
*
1912 -
Alois Brunner, Austrian Nazi
* 1912 -
Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (d.
1969)
*
1914 -
María Félix, Mexican actress (d.
2002)
*
1918 -
Betty Ford,
First Lady of the United States* 1918 -
Glendon Swarthout, Award-winning American author (d.
1992)
*
1919 -
Ian Smith,
Prime Minister of Rhodesia*
1921 -
Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d.
2003)
*
1923 -
George Fisher, American cartoonist (d.
2003)
* 1923 -
Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (d.
1997)
*
1926 -
Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian
*
1928 -
John Gavin, American actor and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
*
1929 -
Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d.
2000)
* 1929 -
Jacques Brel, Belgian singer and composer (d.
1978)
*
1930 -
Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma, French-born fascist
*
1933 -
Fred Ebb, American composer (d.
2004)
*
1934 -
Kurokawa Kisho, Japanese architect
*
1937 -
Seymour Hersh, American journalist
*
1938 -
Kofi Annan, Ghanian
United Nations Secretary General, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize*
1940 -
John Havlicek, American basketball player
*
1941 -
Vivienne Westwood, British fashion designer
*
1942 -
Roger Chapman, British rock singer (
Family,
Streetwalkers)
*
1943 -
Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and theater director (d.
1987)
* 1943 -
Miller Farr, American football player
*
1946 -
Catfish Hunter,
Hall of Fame baseball player (d.
1999)
* 1946 -
Tim Thomerson, American actor
*
1947 -
Tom DeLay, American politician
* 1947 -
Steve Howe, British rock guitarist (
Yes,
Asia,
GTR)
* 1947 -
Robert Kiyosaki, American investor, businessman, and writer
* 1947 -
Larry Norman, American singer and songwriter
*
1949 -
John Madden, British director
* 1949 -
Brenda Russell, American singer and songwriter
*
1954 -
Gary Carter, baseball player
*
1955 -
Joolz Denby, English poet and novelist
* 1955 -
Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist
*
1960 -
John Schneider, American actor
*
1962 -
Izzy Stradlin, American musician (
Guns N' Roses)
*
1963 -
Julian Lennon, British musician and singer
* 1963 -
Alec Stewart, British cricketer
*
1964 -
Biz Markie, American rapper and disc jockey
*
1966 -
Robin Wright Penn, American actress
* 1966 -
Mazinho, Brazilian football player
* 1966 -
Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television personality and martial artist
*
1968 -
Patricia Arquette, American actress
*
1971 -
Chino XL, American rapper
*
1972 -
Paul Gray, American bassist (
Slipknot)
*
1973 -
Alex S. Gonzalez, American
Major League Baseball player
*
1975 -
Timo Pérez, Dominican Major League Baseball player
*
1977 -
Mark Spencer, computer programmer
*
1979 -
Alexi Laiho, Finnish guitarist and singer (
Children of Bodom)
*
1980 -
Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
* 1980 -
Grace Park, American actress
* 1980 -
Katee Sackhoff, American actress
*
1982 -
Judy Star, Canadian ex porn star
*
1984 -
Júlia Liptáková, Slovakian model
* 1984 -
Kirsten Storms, American actress
*
1986 -
Igor Akinfeev, Russian football player
* 1986 -
Felix Hernandez, Venezuelan baseball player
* 1986 -
Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
*
217 -
Caracalla,
Roman Emperor (b.
186)
*
956 -
Gilbert of Chalon,
Duke of Burgundy*
1143 -
John II Comnenus,
Byzantine Emperor (b.
1087)
*
1364 - King
John II of France (b.
1319)
*
1461 -
Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b.
1423)
*
1492 -
Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence (b.
1449)
*
1586 -
Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran reformer and theologian (b.
1522)
*
1587 -
John Foxe, English writer (b.
1516)
*
1691 -
Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b.
1611)
*
1697 -
Niels Juel, Danish admiral (b.
1629)
*
1704 -
Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist (b.
1624)
* 1704 -
Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (b.
1641)
*
1725 -
John Wise, English clergyman (b.
1652)
*
1848 -
Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b.
1797)
*
1857 -
Mangal Pandey, Indian soldier
*
1861 -
Elisha Otis, US elevator builder (b.
1811)
*
1870 -
Charles de Bériot, Belgian composer (b.
1802)
*
1919 -
Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist (b.
1848)
*
1920 -
Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b.
1884)
*
1931 -
Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1864)
*
1936 -
Robert Bárány, Austrian physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1876)
*
1938 -
Joe "King" Oliver, American musician (b.
1885)
*
1950 -
Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-born ballet dancer (b.
1890)
*
1965 -
Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b.
1886)
*
1973 -
Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist (b.
1881)
*
1978 -
Ford Frick, baseball commissioner (b.
1894)
*
1981 -
Omar Bradley, U.S. general (b.
1893)
*
1984 -
Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1894)
*
1985 -
J. Fred Coots, American songwriter (b.
1897)
*
1986 -
Yukiko Okada, Japanese idol singer (b.
1967)
*
1990 -
Ryan White, American activist (AIDS) (b.
1971)
*
1991 -
Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin, Norwegian musician (
black metal)
*
1992 -
Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born pharmacologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1907)
*
1993 -
Marian Anderson, American contralto (b.
1897)
*
1996 -
Ben Johnson, American actor (b.
1918)
*
1997 -
Laura Nyro, American singer and composer (b.
1947)
*
2000 -
Claire Trevor, American actress (b.
1910)
*
2002 -
Maria Felix, Mexican actress (b.
1914)
*
2003 -
Anita Borg, American computer scientist (b.
1949)
*
2004 -
Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (b.
1954)
*
2005 -
Eddie Miksis, baseball player (b.
1926)
*
2006 -
Gerard Reve, Dutch writer (b.
1923)
*
Buddha's Birthday in
Japan*
Saint Walter of Pontoise (died 1099)
*
Saint Constance*
Saint Julie Billiart of Namur (died 1816).
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day-
April 7 -
April 9 -
March 8 -
May 8 --
listing of all days
