Today in History

[DianaB]

Originally Posted by katcarasella

1897: Grant's Tomb is dedicated

I remember this day well, I was kneehigh to a grasshopper.

More likely you were a twinkle in some great-great-grandmother's eye!!!! LOL

[goofywife]

1945: Mussolini is executed
Italian partisans killed deposed dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci today. Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, had been removed from office following the defeat of the Italian army. After his execution, his body was brought to Milan, where he was hung upside down.

On April 30, 1945, The Oakland Tribune reported, "The body of Benito Mussolini swung from its heels against the rusty steel framework of a half-completed gasoline station in the heart of Milan, the object of the vengeful wrath of the Italian people whom he had promised a place in the sun but instead had led to defeat and misery."

NOTE: Following the execution, Mussolini’s body was hung upside down from meathooks at a petrol station, and he was stoned by civilians. His body was then buried in an unmarked grave. Later he was interred at the town of Predappio, his birthplace.

2001: Dennis Tito becomes first space tourist
U.S. millionaire Dennis Tito blasted into space on the Russian Soyuz craft today, making him the world’s first “space tourist.” “Never mind NASA’s stern admonition that space is no place for amateurs. Tito hopes his weekend launch aboard a Russian rocket and six day stay on the international space station will prove anyone can – and should – experience space,” explained the Tyrone Daily Herald on April 28, 2001. NOTE: Despite controversy from NASA, Tito’s trip went well. He stayed in space for a total of 7 days and 22 hours in space, and orbited the earth 128 times. He has since testified in Congress in favor of commercial human spaceflight.


1994: Former CIA spy pleads guilty
Former CIA spy Aldrich Ames was sentenced to life in prison today after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit espionage. "Ames, 52, pleaded guilty without a trial and admitted being paid $2.5 million by the Soviet Union and then Russia since April 1985 for U.S. secrets. Once head of counterintelligence in the CIA's Soviet East Europe section, Ames admitted disclosing the identities of 10 Russian officials and one East European who were spying for the United States or Great Britain," informed The Intelligencer on April 29, 1994.

1965: U.S. Marines land in Dominican Republic
U.S. Marines landed in the Dominican Republic today in order to evacuate American citizens and protect them from the fighting taking place in Santo Domingo. On April 29, 1965, The Daily Times News reported, "[President] Johnson's order marked the first such use of Marines in Latin America in years. U.S. officials expected criticism from Latin Americans mindful of American 'gunboat diplomacy' of a bygone era. But under international law, they said, a nation can send its forces to another land to protect its nationals when the local government breaks down."


1952: Eisenhower resigns from NATO“President Truman yesterday appointed dynamic Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway to succeed General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe to build up defenses against the threat of Soviet aggression,” reported The Troy Record on April 29, 1952. “The appointments are effective June 1, the date Eisenhower is scheduled to doff his uniform and return to the U.S. to press his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.” NOTE: Eisenhower did receive the Republican nomination and was elected to the presidency in 1953, with Richard Nixon as his running mate.

[katcarasella]

1952: Eisenhower
This is not a joke so don't expect one.
When I was 2 or 3, I really don't remember this, but my Mom told me that Eisenhower came to Chicago to campaign and she was running down the street with my sister and I in the buggy so she could see him in his motorcade.
(and that's a fact)

[Janet]

That would be pretty cool Kat. Too bad you don't really remember it.

[goofywife]

1992: Riots break out in L.A.
The city of Los Angeles was a scene of violence today after riots broke out following the acquittal of four white police officers charged with the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

"Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency and 2,000 National Guardsmen were sent to armories and other gathering points to await orders as the city tried to quell the worst outbreak of violence since the Watts riots of 1965," reported The Capital on April 30, 1992. "Blacks dragged motorists from their cars and beat them, looters – most of them black – emptied a supermarket, and more than 300 fires were reported. At dawn, police with shotguns guarded firefighters as they battled more than 30 blazes, authorities said. Streets were largely deserted."

NOTE: An estimated 55 people were reported dead when the rioting finally ceased several days later. The acquitted police officers faced a second trial one year later, in which two were found guilty of violating King's civil rights.


1993: Buckingham Palace opens to public
Buckingham Palace announced today it will open its doors to the public in order to raise money to repair the fire-damaged Windsor Castle. "Treasures on view will include a raft of Old Master paintings, the world's finest collection of Sevres porcelain and antique French furniture, some from Versailles," informed The Intelligencer on April 30, 1993. "Admission will cost $12.50 for adults, and the palace expects up to 400,000 tourists a year. The government said the tours of Buckingham Palace plus new charges for visiting Windsor Castle are expected to meet 70 per cent of the repair bill."

1967: Muhammad Ali stripped of title
Boxer Cassius Clay, known as Muhammad Ali, was stripped of his heavyweight championship title today after refusing induction into the United States Army on religious grounds. "I had the world heavyweight title, not because it was 'given' to me, not because of my race or religion, but because I won it in the ring through my own boxing ability," said Ali in a statement published in The Lima News on April 29, 1967. "Those who want to 'take' it and hold a series of auction-type bouts not only do me a disservice but actually disgrace themselves," he continued. NOTE: Two months later, Ali was found guilty of draft evasion and was sentenced to prison for five years. He was allowed to box again in 1970, and the Supreme Court reversed his conviction the following year.


1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated
United States forces freed 32,000 captives at the Dachau concentration camp today. "The political prisoners at Dachau wept with hysteria when troops of the U.S. Seventh Army cleared the enemy guards from the camp where gruesome torture rooms and gas chambers were located," read an article in The Daily Courier on April 30, 1945. Another 27,000 American and British prisoners of war were also freed when the U.S. Third Army found a large prisoner of war camp at Moosburg, just northeast of Munich.

[Janet]

1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated
United States forces freed 32,000 captives at the Dachau concentration camp today. "The political prisoners at Dachau wept with hysteria when troops of the U.S. Seventh Army cleared the enemy guards from the camp where gruesome torture rooms and gas chambers were located," read an article in The Daily Courier on April 30, 1945. Another 27,000 American and British prisoners of war were also freed when the U.S. Third Army found a large prisoner of war camp at Moosburg, just northeast of Munich.

Whenever I read of the horrible things that happened...it makes me ashamed to be human.

[goofywife]

1945: Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler and his wife for one day, Eva Braun, committed suicide today. . Early newspaper reports stated Hitler was thought to have been slain by the Russians or to have died of a stroke, but no mention was made of suicide. It was not until almost two months later that newspapers revealed the couple had made a suicide pact.

"Hitler shot himself through the temple, the chauffer said, while Eva Braun sent a bullet through her heart. Both died almost instantly. The source of this information apparently clarifying the mystery of Hitler's end as overlord of Europe was Erich Kempke, his driver since 1936," reported The Port Arthur News on June 21, 1945. "The bodies of Hitler and his bride were taken out into the chancellory garden, Kempke said, soaked with gasoline and burned."

NOTE: Reports revealed that Hitler and his wife shot themselves while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule. Though some remains were discovered, many still believe that Hitler may have faked his death and gone into hiding, and that the remains are inauthentic.

1980: Beatrix crowned queen of Netherlands
Princess Beatrix became queen of the Netherlands today upon the abdication of her mother, Queen Juliana. "Juliana signed the abdication document surrendering the throne at 10 a.m. in the royal palace on Dam Square, and Beatrix, her energetic, 42-year-old eldest daughter, succeeded her, becoming Holland's fourth successive female monarch and its sixth constitutional ruler," explained The Daily Intelligencer on April 30, 1980. NOTE: As the inaugural ceremonies were taking place, rioting erupted in the capital as protesters threw a smoke bomb into a crowd of spectators.

1975: South Vietnam surrenders
The Vietnam War ended today when the Saigon government announced its surrender. "The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops – jubilant over the unconditional surrender that ended 35 years of war against American, French, Japanese and South Vietnamese forces – seized Saigon Radio and announced they were renaming the South Vietnamese capital 'Ho Chi Minh City,'" informed the Delta Democrat-Times on April 30, 1975. "One by one, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops overwhelmed the holdouts and gained complete control of all of Saigon. They crashed tanks through the wall at the presidential palace and hoisted a huge Viet Cong flag – red on the top, blue on the bottom with a gold star in the center."

1973: Nixon's top aides resign
Four of President Richard Nixon's closest aides resigned today. "Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and three trusted White House aides – H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman and John W. Dean II – were swept out of office today by the Watergate bugging scandal," reported The Lowell Sun on April 30, 1973. "The resignations came amid growing pressures from within the Republican party for a housecleaning and full disclosure of the facts of administration involvement in the Watergate bugging."

1939: First regular TV service begins in U.S.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared on television today for the opening of the New York World's Fair. His appearance opened the first regular television service in the United States. "Popular television in America, for years a fantasy of dreamers and a problem for scientists, was realized today. President Roosevelt and other guests at the New York World's fair inaugural were among the subjects telecast to homes and radio stores as far as 50 miles away," explained The Helena Independent on May 1, 1939. NOTE: At that time, television could only be broadcast 50 miles from the Empire State Building. Even then, television sets needed to be installed in positions that were in "the line-of-sight route."

[katcarasella]

1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated

When Pete and I were in Germany we visited The Memorial site, I'll never forget it.

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Dachau...ook/index.html

[goofywife]

1971: Amtrak service begins

Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation created by Congress, began operating 182 passenger trains today despite efforts to delay its official start. The government-backed system was met with criticism since more than 170 passenger trains throughout the U.S. were halted once the Amtrak changeover became effective.

"The corporation was established by Congress last year to establish and maintain a backbone national rail passenger system connecting the nation's principal cities. This came in the face of mounting railroad requests to get rid of passenger trains being operated at losses running $200 million a year," reported the Iowa City Press-Citizen on May 1, 1971.

NOTE: Even after cutting service to nearly half of the U.S.'s railroad passenger trains, Amtrak expected to lose $110 million within the first year of operation. The organization had hoped to achieve financial independence by 1974, but has not to this day.

1999: Mercury capsule from 1961 is discovered

The Liberty Bell 7, which sank after Gus Grissom's manned space flight on July 21, 1961, was found today by an underwater salvage team. "The only U.S. spacecraft ever lost following a successful mission, the capsule is still shiny in spots with an intact window and the name 'Liberty Bell 7' clearly printed beneath it," informed The Intelligencer on May 3, 1999.

1967: Elvis marries Priscilla

Elvis Presley, 32, married his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Ann Beaulieu, 21, at a Las Vegas hotel today. Elvis met Priscilla, the daughter of a lieutenant colonel, when he was serving in the army in Germany in 1959. "With the life I had, I decided it would be best to wait (to marry). You know, all the shows and record engagements," Elvis told reporters in 1967.

1931: Empire State Building formally opens

The Empire State Building formally opened today when President Hoover pressed a button in the telegraph room at the White House which turned on the lights. "On the site of the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel, at Thirty-fourth street and Fifth avenue, it reaches nearly a quarter of a mile in the sky. In the words of former Governor Smith it is 'the tallest thing in the world today created by the hand of man,'" explained The Gettysburg Times on May 2, 1931.

1900: Hundreds of miners killed in Utah

A powder explosion at the No. 4 mine in Scofield, Utah, killed more than 200 people today. "The appalling nature of the disaster had not fully dawned upon the people of this place last night, as the company kept the grief stricken wives and children away from the scene of operation. All night long lights were kept burning in every home in Scofield and winter quarters and the moans of mothers and the piteous cries of the many orphans are heart-rending," reported the Reno Evening Gazette on May 2, 1900.

1893: World's Fair opens in Chicago

The Columbian Exposition, a World's Fair held as a tribute to the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, opened today in Chicago. "Every great nation of the Old World was represented at today's ceremonies. England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain had their officials there, men of travel and experience, who have studied every great exposition of modern times, and they will see the glories of the last and greatest European one, eclipsed and diminished," informed the Davenport Daily Leader on May 1, 1893. "Within reach of Paris there are six millions of people to the one million within the same reach of Chicago, yet this country has so far spent double as much money upon its great Columbian fair as France did upon its late exposition. The tremendous confidence and hopefulness of the Americans is made clear by this fact alone." NOTE: The fair was known as the Great White City since the exposition buildings were based on classical architecture and made out of a material resembling marble.