Important Events From This day in History April 20th

 

 

1999 Columbine High School Shooting

1999: Two students (Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold) wearing balaclavas go through Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, firing automatic weapons and throwing homemade bombs killing 13 people and wounded 24 others before the two students committed suicide. They had originally planted two home made bombs in the cafeteria and were planning on murdering the students as they ran from the building, when the bombs failed to go off they went into the school and began the massacre.

1957 UK Mayflower Replica Sets Sail

1957: A replica of the original Mayflower which transported Pilgrims to the New World Mayflower II recreating the original voyage sets sail from from Brixton, England, across the Atlantic arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 13th June 1957. The Mayflower II was an exact copy of the original with no engine which took 55 days to complete the journey, The Mayflower II is currently at Plimoth Plantation Museum at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Find More What happened in 1957

1961 Texas Sales Tax Introduced

1961: The House Members in Texas approved a bill for a general retail sales tax of $2 on all sales in Texas but all foods, medicines and Farm Machinery will be exempt.

1871 Third Force Act also known as the "Ku Klux Act" Passed

1871: Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fires

1906: Firefighters finally end the spread of flames in San Francisco after the earthquake two days earlier on April 18th. The earthquake caused large parts of the city to burn and it had taken 2 days of constant fire fighting to stop the spread and bring the fires under control. Nearly 700 people lost their lives from the earthquake and fires and 200,000 were left homeless.

1914 USA Striking Miners

1914: Men, women and children were killed today when violence broke out between militiamen and striking coal miners in Ludlow, Colorado.

1916 United States Wrigley Field

1916: First game at Weeghman Park (renamed Wrigley Field 1926 after William Wrigley bought controlling interest in the Cubs) home of the Chicago Cubs between Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds.

1929 US World's Tallest Building Planned

1929: Plans were announced to build the tallest building in the world in New York for the bank of Manhattan which will be 63 stories high.

1934 USA Robbery at Iredell State Bank

1934: Local Texas Newspaper reports a robber identified as the notorious south western outlaw Clyde Barrow robbed the Iredell State Bank, it was not known if he had an accomplice with him in the getaway car a red Plymouth Convertible.
A visitor to The People History Dave Mitchell, the grandson of the bank owner, has taken the time to contact me with the true facts of the case:
"Clyde Barrow did not hold up the Iredell Texas Bank on that date. It was a former associate of Raymond Hamilton (who once ran with Barrow) named George Henry Ward. There was a lone occupant of the bank at the time of the robbery, my father Roi C. Mitchell, who was 20 years old at the time. His father, my grandfather, owned the bank. While the younger Mitchell was attempting to open the safe for Ward, a local resident (a distant relative of mine) entered the bank's back door, and Ward panicked and fled (in a pickup truck, not a red convertible) without getting any money. He was later arrested in Fort Worth. Although I was born 13 years after the incident, it was related to me on many occasions by my father. I have a copy of Ward's mugshots if you are interested."
I think what this shows as much as anything is that even back more than 80 years ago newspaper reporting was sensationalist much as it can be today.

1945 USA "Your Lucky Hit Parade"

1945: For the first time on radio, the show "Your Lucky Hit Parade" is broadcast in homes all over the country. It last for nearly 25 years before television led to its downfall in popularity.

1945 Germany World War II

1945: The German Army in Leipzig surrendered and U.S. troops now control Leipzig and now continue the march to Munich.

1953 North Korea Prison Camps

1953: More information is coming out as the continued exchange of prisoners held in North Korea continue of semi-starvation, calculated brutality and forced marches in communist prison camps.

1975 Vietnam Communist Final Push

1975: Communists have amassed 100,000 troops and Armour on the outskirts of Saigon for a final push and President Thieu has resigned saying the US promised aid which has not been forthcoming.

1983 Iraq Car Bombs

1983: 2 cars packed with high explosives blew up in Baghdad today killing and injuring a large number of people, the bombings have been blamed on Iran by Saddam Hussein the Iraq President.

1990 USSR Economy Worsens

1990: The economy in USSR continues to worsen with more food and other items becoming scarcer and more rationing put in place.

2005 USA New Bankruptcy Law

2005: President George W. Bush signed the "New Bankruptcy Law" making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy. The Act of Congress attempts to make it more difficult for consumers to discharge debt (under which most debts are forgiven or discharged) under Chapter 7 (Chapter 7 which was the most common form of bankruptcy in the United States). The second most popular form of Bankruptcy Chapter 13 was "reorganization," or debt adjustment. **** Personal Opinion *** It appears from reading that due to some means test associated with the new laws approximately 85% of debtors are not subject to its "means test" and a large percentage of the rest are able to "pass" the means test. And although Chapter 7 is slightly more complicated it appears it is still in wide spread use.

2008 The Pope visits Ground Zero

2008: Benedict XVI has visited Ground Zero in New York, the scene of the 11 September 2001 attacks on Twin Towers, at the end of his six-day tour of the United States. He has greeted survivors, fire and police workers, and relatives of some of the 2,749 people who died there. The Pope prayed for the rescuers and victims, as well as "those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred". He then celebrated Mass at New York's Yankee stadium.

2009 Oracle Agrees to Buy Sun Microsystems

2009: The database giant Oracle has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in cash. The unexpected move follows I.B.M.'s walkout of an earlier attempt to purchase it. Oracle has said that the boards of both firms have approved the transaction, and it is expected to take place over the summer of 2009. It is still subject to shareholder approval, as well as regulatory requirements.

2010 US Supreme Court Allows Animal Cruelty Videos

2010: The Supreme Court has ruled that a law which makes it illegal to sell videos of animals being tortured violates the right to free speech. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the law was too broad and invalid to be used under the First Amendment. The ruling is a victory for Robert Stevens, who was sentenced in 2005 to three years for making and selling videos of dog fights. The 1999 law that was used to convict him was intended to prevent depictions of animal cruelty. It was adopted by Congress and originally aimed at limiting internet sales of "crush" videos which show women crushing small animals with high-heeled shoes. Stevens has argued that the videos were intended to educate people about the pit bull breed and that he was not trying to promote illegal dog-fighting.

2010 US Deepwater Horizon Explodes

2010: The Transocean / BP Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible offshore oil drilling rig explodes and is followed by a fire that engulfed the platform, the platform is located 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and injured 17 others. Following the explosion a sea-floor oil gusher began pumping oil directly into the water, by the time the gusher was capped in mid July more than 200 million gallons of crude oil were released into the environment, causing an environmental disaster including extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats as well as the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Investigations are still ongoing to define who is exactly to blame with the guilty parties including Transocean, BP, Halliburton Energy Service. Questions are also asked over the cozy relationship between Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. BOEMRE and the oil and gas industry.

2011 Japan Legally Enforces Evacuation Zone

2011: Japan declared it illegal to enter the twelve mile evacuation zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant. The evacuation had originally been voluntary but because of an increased danger risk due to radiation leaks the country decided to ban entry into the area with either a fine or jail time as punishment for defying the ban. Police had stated that around sixty families were still living in the area before the ban.

2012 Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano Spews Rock and Ash

2012: Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano, the second highest peak in the country, had been spewing rock fragments down its slopes and spewing columns of ash from openings in the crust. The volcano had its last major eruption in 2000. The assistant mayor of a nearby town warned people to take the activity seriously and the National Disaster Prevention Center of the country raised the alert level around the volcano.

2013 Iraq Holds First Election Since US Troops

2013: Provincial elections were held for the first time in Iraq since US troops left the country in 2011. The election also marked the first time Iraqi forces were in charge of security during an election since the 2003 US invasion.

2014 Iranian President Calls For Women's Rights

2014: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani makes a speech about the importance of equal rights and opportunities for women in Iran. Iran has come under foreign scrutiny before for having laws that are perceived to discriminate against women in the country. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei showed disagreement by stating that equality is not always the correct path and that women's freedoms should not conflict with their roles in a family.

Today in Labor History April 20, 2026

 Ludlow, Colorado

10,000 demonstrators celebrated textile workers’ win of a 10-percent pay hike and grievance committees after a one-month strike in Lowell, Massachusetts. – 1912

The Ludlow Massacre occurred in Colorado. National Guards opened fire on a mining camp during a strike in Ludlow, Colorado, killing five miners, two women, and twelve children. By the end of the strike, more than 75 people had been killed. The strike involved 10,000 members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW), 1,200 of whom had been living in the Ludlow tent colony. Many of the “Guards” were actually goons and vigilantes hired by the Ludlow Mine Field owner, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who were temporarily sworn into the State Militia for the occasion. During the assault, they opened fire on strikers and their families with machine guns and set fire to the camp.
Mining was (and still is) a dangerous job. At the time, Colorado miners were dying on the job at a rate of more than 7 deaths per 1,000 employees. The working conditions were not only unsafe, but terribly unfair, too. Workers were paid by the ton for coal that they extracted but were unpaid for so-called “dead work” like shoring up unstable roofs and tunnels. This system encouraged miners to risk their lives by ignoring safety precautions and preparations so that they would have more time to extract and deliver coal. Miners also lived in “company towns” where the boss not only owned their housing and the stores that supplied their food and clothing but charged inflated prices for these services. Furthermore, the workers were paid in “scrip”, a currency that was valid only in the company towns. So even if workers had a way to get to another store, they had no money to purchase anything. Therefore, much of what the miners earned went back into the pockets of their bosses. – 1914

United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins. He survived and ultimately died in a plane crash in 1970. Reuther also survived an attempted kidnapping in April 1938, while his brother Victor was shot and nearly killed by police in 1949. The UAW headquarters was also bombed in 1949. Both Walter and Victor were again nearly killed in a small private plane near Dulles Airport. Despite this history of attempts on his life, virtually no media addressed the possibility that his actual death may have been an assassination. – 1948

The National Association of Post Office Mail Handlers, Watchmen, Messengers & Group Leaders merged with Laborers. – 1968

United Auto Workers members ended a successful 172-day strike against International Harvester, protesting management demands for new work rules and mandatory overtime provisions. – 1980

Eleven workers were killed and 17 injured when BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. Lax, profit-focused procedures “that saved … significant time and money” for BP and other companies were found to blame. An estimated 5 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf before the well was capped after 85 days. – 2010

Sunday Morning in the Blogosphere

 

This Billionaire Wants To Save America’s Newspapers - Forbes

Here’s why a printed weekly newspaper is important - Wilcox Newspapers

Chinese AI firm suspected of hacking area newspaper’s Facebook - The New Era

TV weatherman saves newspapers, forecasts fair winds and growth - The Seattle Times

Online Personalities and Comedians Overtake TV and Newspapers as Primary News Sources - HR

Important Events From This day in History April 19

 

 

1995 USA Oklahoma Bombing

1995: A truck full of explosives destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people. In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the bombing and on June 11, 2001 he was executed by lethal injection.

1943 Poland Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

1943: On the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, the police and SS auxiliary forces entered the Ghetto under the command of SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, planning to clean out insurgents who had begun an uprising in January. But Jewish insurgents, who shot and launched Molotov cocktails and hand grenades at them from alleyways forced them to halt the exercise and withdraw. SS-Oberführer Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg was replaced by Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop who proceeded with a better organized assault that included artillery support and on April 29, 1943, the Jewish resistance was crushed. Following two years of misery for thousands of Jews forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazi's where they had been starved, and living with disease and deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps which had dropped the population of the ghetto from an estimated 450,000 to approximately 71,000. The Nazi's planned effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the Treblinka extermination camp caused the Jewish people to begin a revolt against the Nazi's beginning on January 18th, 1943.

1993 USA Waco Cult Raid

1993: An assault on the Waco cult headquarters of the Branch Davidian sect near Waco, Texas ends in a deadly fire (believed to have been started by those inside) and ends with the death of 70 cult members including the cults leader Mr Koresh. The buildings have been surrounded since February when four agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) were killed as they attempted to arrest Mr Koresh on firearms charges.

1897 USA Boston Marathon

1897: The Worlds oldest annual marathon run in Boston, Massachusetts, United States races for the first time. The Boston Marathon ranks as one of the world's most prestigious road racing events with an average of 20,000 taking part. The marathon is one of five members of the World Marathon Majors which include the cities of Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City.

1927 Mae West Sentenced

1927: Mae West was sentenced for an obscene stage performance to ten days in a work house and fined $500.

1928 China Civil War

1928: The combined nationalist Northern Armies under Chiang continue drive onto Peking as part of the Civil war continuing in China.

1934 USA Shirley Temple

1934: Shirley Temple appears in the American musical movie with many well known actors and actresses steals the show and goes on to appear in 10 movies in 1934 , including 4 starring roles in major feature-length films.

1936 German Military

1936: In the biggest show of military strength since World War I Germany pays homage to Hitler with a show of 300 tanks.

1940 Jimmy Dorsey

1940: Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra record the song "Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga."

1942 France Vichy Government

1942: The New Vichy Government Headed by Pierre Laval at the bidding of his German masters in an attempt to bring the insurgent french people back into line with Nazi ruling by promising to protect the people from the Nazi Regime by gaining concessions.

1945 Popular Musical Carousel

1945: The popular musical "Carousel" opens at the prominent Majestic Theatre in New York City. The production was based on the 1909 play by Ferenc Molnar about a man named Liliom and his lover, Julie.

1956 Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier Honeymoon

1956: Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier start their honeymoon on Deo Javante II 138 ft Yacht but due to heavy seas spent the night in the harbor.

1961 Cuba Bay of Pigs

1961: On April 17th 1,500 CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles invade southern Cuba at the "Bay of Pigs" by the 19th 118 are killed and 1,202 are captured by Cuban forces. President Kennedy inherited the operation from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and approved the operation but it has to be one of the worst planned and executed covert invasions in modern times poorly thought out, as Cuban and Soviet Forces knew almost to the day where and when the operation would occur.

1969 Students Occupy Willard Straight Hall

1969: Militant black students at Cornell Univ. use force to take over Willard Straight Hall demanding a black studies program, after a deal was reached with the administration the news showed students leaving the hall carrying rifles although they were never used.

1972 Lunar Rover Apollo 16

1972: Apollo 16 the fifth mission to land on the Moon with astronauts John W Young and Charles M Duke are preparing to descend from lunar orbit and land on the moons surface in the Descartes Mountains, When landed they drove an electric powered Lunar Rover to explore fully the Descartes Plateau. Young and Duke spent three days exploring the Descartes highland region and testing the Lunar Rover getting up to a top speed of eleven miles per hour which still stands as the record speed for any wheeled vehicle on the Moon.

1987 USA The Simpsons

1987: The Simpsons which had originally been created as a series of shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show with the first showing on This Day 1987

1989 Central Park Attack on Jogger

1989: On the 19th approximately 30 teenage perpetrators committed several attacks, assaults, and robberies in the northernmost part of New York City's Central Park. Around the same time an attack on Trisha Meili occurred, who was jogging on her own on her usual path in Central Park shortly before 9 pm. She was raped and beaten almost to death, at 1:30 AM she was found naked, gagged, and tied up, covered in mud and blood. Five juveniles (called the "Central Park 5") were interviewed for hours about the crime and intimidated into confessions. Since no DNA evidence tied the suspects to the crime, the prosecution's case rested almost entirely on the confessions. They were all found guilty but the convictions were overturned in 2002 after Matias Reyes, a convicted rapist and murderer, confessed to the crime and was linked to it with DNA evidence. The city was forced to pay out $41 million in damages.

2001 South Africa Aids Drugs Profit Before The Lives Of Millions

2001: The world's biggest pharmaceutical companies bring legal action to fight legislation which would allow generic versions of their patented drugs being made in or imported to South Africa. Following uproar around the world and the pharmaceutical industry accused of putting profit before the lives of millions of people in the developing world, they have backed out of the court battle over cheap, non-branded anti-Aids drugs and also after dropping the case, agree to sell Aids drugs at cost price in developing countries - a discount of up to 90%.

2005 Vatican Pope Benedict XVI

2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been elected as the successor to Pope John Paul II The new Pope has taken the name Pope Benedict XVI and is the head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

Today in Labor History April 19

 

Oklahoma City bombing

On April 19, 1861, the first blood of the American Civil War is shed when a secessionist mob in Baltimore attacks Massachusetts troops bound for Washington, D.C. Four soldiers and 12 rioters were killed - 1861

The Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike:

This strike, the first of the West Virginia Mine Wars, saw workers in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek coal fields walk off the job - 1912

More than 6,000 furniture workers went on strike in Grand Rapids, Michigan, over hours, wages, working conditions, and the right to bargain collectively. The strike – which affected nearly all of the 60+ furniture manufacturers in the city – lasted throughout the summer, bringing much of the city to a standstill for four months. A monument, “The Spirit of Solidarity,” was dedicated in 2007 to the striking workers. – 1919

An American domestic terrorist bomb destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people, 99 of whom were government employees. – 1995

Saturday Morning in the Blogosphere

The Globe Lobby at the Los Angeles Times

 

Pete Hegseth uses the Bible to demonize the press - Poynter

Why traditional British newsagents are on their last legs - BBC

Journalism job cuts in 2026 tracked: BBC to cut up to 2,000 jobs - Press Gazette

Why is everyone wicked obsessed with this Boston Globe reporter? - The New York Times

How Tangle is rebuilding trust in news through transparent multi-perspective reporting - EP

Important Events From This day in History April 18

 

  

1956 Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier of Monaco

1956: Academy Award winning American film and stage actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco. Find More What happened in 1956

1939 USA Gene Autry

1939: Gene Autry records the popular song "Back in the Saddle Again." Several decades later, the rock band Aerosmith records a song that shares the same title.

1974 Worldwide Recession

1974: The secretary of the United Nations warns the world could be heading for a recession caused by the underlying increase of the price of oil causing trade deficits in the western world.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake

1906: An earthquake, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, shook the town of San Francisco , California and Thirty thousand homes were either partially or wholly destroyed and an estimated 3,000 are reported dead. The earthquake set off a series of fires which swept through the city.

1922 USA Moonshine Bust

1922: Federal Prohibition Agents find moonshine made in tea kettles by 2 local farmers and confiscate mash in Wisconsin.

1923 USA Yankee Stadium

1923: The first baseball game is played at Yankee Stadium in New York City, with the Yankees beating the Boston Red Sox 4-1.

1934 USA Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping

1934: Some $5000 dollars from the ransom paid in the Lindbergh kidnapping is recovered out of ($50,000) and a man is in custody with ongoing investigations by federal authorities.

1949 China War

1949: The China Red Ultimatum is about to expire as the armies of Red China and Nanjing face each other across the Yangtze River the government of Nanjing feared this is the last days of independence as the red army will walk in and take power on behalf of Red China.

1955 USA Albert Einstein

1955: Celebrated physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein died today at the age of 76.

1956 UK Premium Bonds

1956: The British Chancellor Harold Macmillan has unveiled plans for a new state saving scheme (Premium Bonds) offering cash prizes of up to by £1,000 instead of interest. The Bonds are introduced in November and Premium Bond winning numbers were generated by an Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment, a computer otherwise known as Ernie. In Britain over 20 million people own premium bonds with the chance of winning two monthly jackpots of £1m.

1956 Grace Kelly Becomes Princess Grace

1956: The Movie star Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco in a a 16-minute civil ceremony in the Palace Throne Room of Monaco on This Day, 1956, The Napoleonic Code of Monaco and the laws of the Roman Catholic Church necessitated two ceremonies, the first a civil ceremony and on the following day the church ceremony took place at Monaco's Saint Nicholas Cathedral.

1958 Satellite Maps

1958: The US Military hinted that it will be possible with satellites orbiting the earth to pinpoint any place on the earth and make a detailed drawing including unfriendly countries.

1960 UK Ban The Bomb March

1960: Tens of thousands of people joined the Aldermaston "ban the bomb" March organized by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) that ended with a rally in Trafalgar Square with an estimated 60,000 - 100,000 present.

1968 UK London Bridge / Rennie's Bridge Sold To America

1968: London Bridge is sold for 1 million to an American oil magnate to be reassembled back at Lake Havasu City, Arizona. The bridge was disassembled, and each piece was numbered to aid reassembly.

1978 Panama Canal to be given to Panamanian Control

1978: The US Senate has backed a treaty to transfer the Panama Canal to the control of Panama. The building of the Panama Canal was started by the French in 1880 but in 1904 the US took over the construction of the canal which was completed 10 years later.

1983 Lebanon Car Bomb US Embassy

1983: A car bomb is used as a terrorist weapon successfully in an attack on the U.S. embassy complex in Beirut, Lebanon killing 12 people. The terrorist a member of Islamic Jihad drove at high speed up the main drive of the consulate in a truck containing 500 kg of high explosive exploding in front of the U.S. embassy.

1988 Israel Ivan the Terrible Found Guilty

1988: A retired US car worker identified as "Ivan the Terrible" is found guilty of Nazi war crimes in a court in Israel and is sentenced to the death penalty. Ivan the Terrible was a guard at the Treblinka death camp in Poland during World War II. His conviction was quashed in 1993 by the Israeli Supreme Court, after evidence suggested that another Ukrainian was Ivan the Terrible and returned to the US, he was later deported back to Ukraine when a US judge ruled that even if Demjanjuk were not Ivan the Terrible, there was enough evidence to prove he had been a death camp guard.

1994 Rwanda Ethnic Violence

1994: The ethnic violence which started in the Rwandan capital Kigali following the death of Rwanda's president in a plane crash is now spreading throughout the country. Reports have come in that soldiers have been hacking Tutsi civilians to death with machetes in the streets in Kigali.

1996 Egypt Greek Tourists Killed By Gunmen

1996: Egyptian gunmen open fire on a group of tourists outside the Europa Hotel in Cairo, killing Seventeen Greek tourists and an Egyptian tour guide. The terrorist Islamic group, al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, admitted it was behind the attack but thought the tourists were Israelis.

1997 USA Flooding

1997: Major floods in Grand Forks North Dakota caused by the Red River breaching a dike gave way causing flooding in the city and 50,000 residents were forced to leave homes and in some areas only roofs of houses were seen when the river broke it's banks and could not be held up any longer.

Today in Labor History April 18, 2026

 Clarence Darrow

Clarence Darrow was born. Darrow was the lawyer who defended Eugene V. Debs and the Wobblies, as well as John Scopes, the teacher who was prosecuted for teaching evolution in the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial”. – 1857

Canada’s Prime Minister Sir John Macdonald introduced the Trade Union Act to legalize unions in the country. Two days earlier, leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union, whose members are on strike for a nine-hour workday,  were arrested for common conspiracy. – 1872

260 women laborers at Shotwell, Clerihew & Lothman walked out of the clothing factory in downtown Minneapolis to protest a pay cut. They became known as the “striking maidens of 1888”, inspiring women in the cause of social justice. – 1888

The IWW poem, We Have Fed You All For A Thousand Years, was published in the Industrial Union Bulletin. – 1908

We have fed you all for a thousand years

& you hail us still unfed

Though there’s never a dollar of all your wealth

But marks the workers dead

We have yielded our best to give you rest

& you lie on crimson wool

But if blood be the price of all your wealth

Good God we have paid in full…

The National Guard was called out against striking West Virginia coal miners, initiating one of the most violent strikes in the nation’s history. UMWA miners were demanding to be paid the same as other area miners in the area and to have their union recognized. – 1912

After a four-week boycott led by Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., bus companies in New York City agreed to hire 200 black drivers and mechanics. – 1941

Some 200,000 CWA telephone workers struck the Bell System. The strike ended after 18 days, with workers winning wage and benefit increases totaling nearly 20 percent over three years. – 1968

Members of Columbia’s Graduate Student Employees United and Yale’s Graduate Student Employees and Students Organization begin a five-day strike for union recognition. It was the first multi-university strike by Ivy League graduate students. – 2005

Important Events From This day in History April 17

 

 

1964 USA Ford Mustang Unveiled

1964: The Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new Mustang model at the New York World's Fair on This Day 1964. The Mustang was championed by Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, with a suggested retail price of $2,368. The car was a great success and sold over one million cars in its first 18 months. Find More What happened in 1964

1927 Airship Race From New York to Paris

1927: An airship race scheduled today from New York to Paris has been forced to reschedule due to injuries and problems with an engine on one of the airships.

1932 USA Lynching

1932: A mob of western Kansas Farmers today went back to old fashioned justice when they lynched a man who admitted killing an 8 year old girl by overpowering the sheriff and hanging the man from a tree in Kansas.

1940 USA World War II

1940: Anglo-French purchasing mission announced the purchase of huge quantities of the latest aircraft including Douglas Bombers and Curtiss Pursuit Ships from American Companies.

1950 Soviet Union Shoot Down US Plane

1950: America accuses the Reds of shooting down a US Plane over the Baltic Sea in an unprovoked attack.

1951 England Submarine Lost

1951: The crew of the British submarine "Affray" is feared dead after going missing off the south coast of England. Two months later, the Affray was found in 300 ft of water 46 miles south of Portland.

1961 Cuba Bay of Pigs

1961: A group of 1,500 Cuban exiles supported by the US government invaded the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. The invasion failed miserably and by April 21st all had been killed or captured. One year earlier the CIA had recommended to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration to recruit, support, equip and train Cuban exiles for action against the new government of Fidel Castro. Following the change to the new U.S. President John F. Kennedy in February who was also advised the operation would be a success, the operation was continued. Cuba was tipped off by senior KGB agents and intelligence forces arrested more than 100,000 Cubans who they suspected would be allies of the expected invading force, ensuring that the invading forces would be cut off from support.

1962 Worldwide Oral Polio Vaccine

1962: Around the world after the approval by Governments of the Oral Polio Vaccine developed by Albert Sabin. Schools, Health Clinics and Doctors were preparing to administer the Polio Vaccine to children who had not received the injected Salk vaccine . Polio had been increasing at an alarming rate prior to the development of the Salk vaccine and in 1952 alone over 58,000 cases of Polio occurred in the United States.

1969 USA Robert Kennedy Assassin

1969: The assassin of Robert Kennedy Sirhan B. Sirhan was found guilty of first degree murder for assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the brother of slain President John F. Kennedy.

1969 Northern Ireland Bernadette Devlin

1969: Bernadette Devlin, becomes Britain's youngest ever female MP and the third youngest MP ever.

1970 USA Apollo 13

1970: Apollo 13, the U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered oxygen tank No. 2 blowing up in the spacecraft on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth landing in the Pacific Ocean.

1973 Egypt Syria / Israel War

1973: Egypt has warned it may get involved in the Syria Israel War and warned it may fight alongside the Syrians if the Golan Heights becomes threatened.

1984 UK WPC Yvonne Fletcher

1984: WPC Yvonne Fletcher a London police officer is shot and killed while helping control a small demonstration outside the Libyan People's Bureau Embassy in central London. The police can not enter The Libyan building as it has diplomatic immunity but the building is surrounded by armed police officers. Meanwhile Libyan soldiers have now surrounded Britain's embassy in Tripoli trapping the 18 diplomats inside. Following the breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries British Diplomats leave Libya and the Libyan diplomats leave England including the person who had killed Yvonne Fletcher. Diplomatic relations with Libya are restored after 15 years in 1999 after the Libyan Government admitted it bore "general responsibility" for WPC Fletcher's death. (It is also believed that when the killer returned to Libya he was immediately executed but this can not be confirmed).

1985 USA Organ Donation

1985: The US Government has announced a campaign to increase awareness of Organ Donation hoping to make the donation of organs as widespread as the giving of blood this follows similar campaigns from other countries around the world as organ transplants become more common.

1986 Lebanon John McCarthy

1986: John McCarthy, a British TV journalist, is abducted on his way to the airport in the war-torn capital of Lebanon, Beirut. On August 8 1991 having spent more than five years held captive by militant group Islamic Jihad, John McCarthy is released making him Britain's longest-held hostage in Lebanon.

1991 USA Dow Jones

1991: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 3,000 for the first time.

1993 USA Rodney King Beating

1993: Two former police officers are convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles of violating the civil rights of beaten motorist Rodney King.

1999 England Nail Bomb

1999: A nail bomb outside a busy supermarket in Brixton, south London, has injured dozens. This was the fist in a series of bombs planted by a right-wing extremist David Copeland, 22, who was captured after a nail bomb in a central London pub killed three people.

2006 Israel Suicide Bomber

2006: A Palestinian suicide bomber strikes a Tel Aviv restaurant during Passover, killing nine people.

2007 New Tolkien Book Released

2007: The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien has been released in North America and Europe. The book has been developed by Christopher Tolkien over twelve years, and is taken from the unfinished material written by his father. It includes new color plates and black and white illustrations. Houghton Mifflin has acquired U.S. rights to publish the book, which is Tolkien's first work since 1977's posthumous Silmarillion. HarperCollins U.K. had acquired the project from The Tolkien Estate in a world rights deal. The Children of Húrin was started in 1918.

Today in Labor History April 17th

 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a New York maximum hours law for bakery workers was unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Legislation limiting hours of employment was not passed until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. – 1905

The Polish labor union "Solidarity" was granted legal status, which paved the way for the downfall of the Communist Party - 1989

An explosion at a West Texas fertilizer plant kills 15 people and injures nearly 300 when 30 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate — stored in sheds without sprinkler systems — catch fire. Of those killed, ten were emergency responders - 2013

Charles M. Blow on the crisis facing local newspapers

By some estimates, more than 3,200 print newspapers have vanished since 2005, with an estimated two newspapers closing each week. As funding for public broadcasting also shrinks, political analyst Charles M. Blow talks about the importance of local media as the connective tissue of communities – an essential public good jeopardized by industry consolidation and funding cuts.

Thursday Morning in the Blogosphere

 LAX

Late-night becomes free speech battleground - E&P Magazine

BBC will cut up to 2,000 jobs to reduce costs by about 10% - The Associated Press

Prediction markets are breaking the news and becoming their own beat - Nieman Lab

Graduating into an uncertain profession: Why I’m choosing journalism anyway - E&P Magazine

Nonprofit Lifeline for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as More Papers Seek Nonprofit Sector Help - USN

Important Events From This day in History April 16

 

  

2007 USA Virginia Tech

2007: Student Cho Seung Hui killed 32 students and injured 17 others before taking his own life at Virginia Tech. What happened in 2007

1964 UK Great Train Robbery

1964: At the old Bailey in London the great train robbers were sentenced to up to 30 years for their part in the Great Train Robbery. Seven of the defendants - Ronald Biggs, Charles Wilson, Douglas Goody, Thomas Wisbey, Robert Welch, James Hussey and Roy James each received sentences of 30 years. The robbery was from a mail train carrying 3.8 million pounds between Glasgow and London when 15 masked robbers stopped the train at by changing the signals to red and boarding the train armed with weapons.

1947 USA Freighter Blast

1947: A French freighter "Grandcamp," loaded with ammonium nitrate (fertilizer), exploded at a port in Texas. The blast caused other explosions at a nearby chemical plant, spreading fires across oil refineries along the port. An estimated 500 People were killed by the blast and the ensuing fires which swept the port and the surrounding town.

1922 USA Prohibition

1922: The Prohibition Department is to enforce the law making it illegal to manufacture beer or wine in the home for home use, this follows the supreme court that home brewing is illegal.

1935 USA Work Fund to Create Jobs

1935: President Roosevelt unveils plans to allocate a work fund and more than $900,000,000 in funds for work based projects has been received so far , this will help with the mass unemployment and misery caused by the severe depression.

1943 Switzerland LSD

1943: Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist accidentally consumes LSD-25. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations.

1944 World War II

1944: Allied Bombers hit Budapest and Belgrade as continued attacks on enemies lines of communications and Rail Lines were carried out overnight.

1953 UK Royal Yacht Britannia

1953: The Queen launches the Royal Yacht Britannia in at a ceremony at the Clydebank yard of John Brown and Co. The Royal Yacht had a 250 strong crew who ensure Britannia is always immaculate for its foreign trips. The Royal Yacht Britannia after travelling more than one million miles is decommissioned in 1997 and is now a tourist attraction at the port of Leith, in Edinburgh.

1963 USA Birmingham, Alabama

1963: Police break up walk to city hall to register to vote in Birmingham Alabama and arrested the first 15 Negroes in the walk to the county courthouse.

1964 UK The Rolling Stones

1964: The Rolling Stones band's debut album, "The Rolling Stones" issued in the US as "England's Newest Hit Makers" was released. The band consisted of Jagger, Jones, Richards, Wyman, and Watts.

1970 Northern Ireland Reverend Ian Paisley

1970: The Protestant hard liner the Reverend Ian Paisley has won a seat in parliament. The Reverend Ian Paisley is opposed any form of power sharing in Northern Ireland.

1972 USA Apollo 16

1972: NASA launched the Apollo 16 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1974 Israel Golan Heights

1974: Israeli and Syrian troops continue fighting along the Golan Heights and Mt Herman for 37th consecutive day of fighting in the middle east.

1983 Vietnam / China Conflict

1983: China and Vietnam continue fighting on the border over the killing of farmers and other Chinese civilians working near the border.

1987 UK MP Harvey Proctor

1987: The British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor has appeared in court and is accused of committing acts of gross indecency with two male teenagers.

1993 Bosnia Muslim Enclave

1993: The United Nations stepped in today to protect Srebrenica in Bosnia that is a haven for Muslim civilians from a Bosnian Serb onslaught.

2003 USA Michael Jordan

2003: Michael Jordan played his last NBA game for the Washington Wizards.

2006 Pope Calls for Iranian Nuclear Issues Solution

2006: Pope Benedict XVI calls for a negotiated solution to the Iran nuclear crisis in his Easter message in St Peter's Square. "May an honorable solution be found for all parties, through honest and serious negotiations," he said, whilst affirming Israel's "right to exist in peace." He also calls for the international community to help the Palestinians achieve statehood. This is Pope Benedict's first Easter as pontiff, and "Urbi et Orbi" is broadcast to more than fifty countries. About one hundred thousand people are said to have gathered in the square.

2007 Wal-Mart First Place in Fortune 500

2007: Wal-Mart is awarded the first place in sales and company size in this year's Fortune 500, with revenues of $351,139,000,000, profits of 11,284,000,000, assets of 151,193,000, 000, and a stockholder equity of 198,107,900,000 for the year-ending 2006. It narrowly beat Exxon Mobil to first place.

2008 US Supreme Court Upholds Lethal Injection

2008: The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge on the use of lethal injections as a means of execution. The Court rejected the case that was made by two death row inmates in the state of Kentucky. They have already sued the state, and said that the commonly used combination of three chemical injections violated the Constitution's ban on cruel punishment. Executions nationwide have been on hold since September 2006, and Virginia has just said that it was lifting its moratorium on it.

Today in Labor History April 16th, 2026

 Jacob Coxey

Jacob Coxey was born on this date in Massillon, Ohio. Coxey, a populist businessman, proposed ending the 1893 depression by issuing Treasury notes to pay for a work-relief program. When Congress refused to pass his bill, Coxey led an “Army of the Poor” from Ohio to Washington, DC, where Coxey and his lieutenants were arrested and 50 of his followers were beaten or trampled. – 1854

25,000 garment workers in New York City were locked out by employers in a dispute over hiring practices. A General Strike was called by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union that ended in 14 weeks, with the 60,000 striking workers winning union recognition and the contractual right to strike. – 1916

2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate on board a ship docked in the port of Texas City detonated, setting off a chain reaction of explosions and fires on other ships and nearby oil storage facilities. At least 581 people were killed and thousands more were seriously injured in the deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history. As a result, changes in chemical manufacturing and new regulations for the bagging, handling, and shipping of chemicals were enacted. – 1947

Thousands protested in Washington, D.C. at meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund One against policies that aided corporate profits while increasing poverty and environmental degradation. – 2000

Important Events From This day in History April 15

 

 

1942 Malta George Cross

1942: The people from the tiny Island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea (121 sq miles) are awarded The George Cross by King George VI. Malta played a crucial role in World War II owing to its proximity to Axis shipping lanes and the Germans and Italians bombed the Island on daily basis and sunk any ships trying to supply food and medical supplies to the Island. In the first 200 days of 1942 there was only one 24 hour period when no bombs fell and the Maltese people spent so much time in their underground shelters that health standards declined, malnutrition spread and scabies was rife. The Island continued under siege with little food arriving right until May 1943 when the siege of Malta was finally lifted.

1912 RMS Titanic Sinks

1912: The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg just before midnight on 14th April. The Ship with 2,200 passengers and crew on board on it's maiden voyage was thought to be unsinkable but it sank after 2 1/2 hours when the ship breaks in two in the Atlantic Ocean, With More than 1,500 people on the ship lost to the sea.

1926 French Franc

1926: The French Franc dropped again today against the US Dollar to an all time low of 29.73 to the Dollar.

1927 United States Great Mississippi Flood

1927: 15 inches of rain fall in 18 hours causing the Mississippi River to brake out of its levee system at 145 locations, more than Twenty-seven thousand square miles of land is flooded in 10 states AR, IL, KY, LA, MS, MO, TN, TX, OK and KS, Arkansas is the worst affected with 14% of the state flooded.

1937 Spanish Civil War

1937: Countries around the world are seeking to intervene in the Spanish Civil War and to ask all parties to join peace talks.

1945 Germany Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

1945: British troops liberate the German Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp finding thousands of dead and rotting corpses and many more thousands of sick and starving prisoners kept in severely overcrowded and dirty compounds. The prisoners were suffering from acute typhus, typhoid and tuberculosis due to no running water in the camp . Over 30,000 had died in the previous months many from typhus but even more from starvation.

1946 China 30 Million Starving

1946: Nearly 30 million people are close to dying of starvation and the countries of the world are trying to send food to help those starving including the US the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation department is coordinating efforts.

1947 USA Jackie Robinson

1947: Jackie Robinson, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1959 Cuba Fidel Castro

1959: Fidel Castro, Prime Minister of Cuba, flew to Washington for an 11-day visit to promote Cuba to Americans.

1967 USA Vietnam War Protestors

1967: 180,000 Protesters were in New York and San Francisco to protest against the Vietnam War with a number of protesters burning draft cards.

1977 USA Roman Polanksi

1977: Roman Polanski the director of China Town and Rosemary's baby pleads innocence to charge of drug rape of 13 yr old girl.

1981 USA Janet Cooke

1981: Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke relinquished the Pulitzer Prize she had received two days earlier for her feature "Jimmy's World published in The Washington Post on September 29, 1980" about an 8-year-old heroin addict after admitting she had fabricated the story.

1986 Libya US Air Strikes

1986: The US launches air strikes on Libya in retaliation for Libyan backed terrorism including the bombing of La Belle discotheque in West Berlin 10 days earlier. USA planes bombed targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region. Colonel Muamar Gaddafi residential compound took a direct hit that killed Hanna Gaddafi, the adopted baby daughter of the Libyan leader.

1989 England Hillsborough Stadium Disaster

1989: The FA Cup semi-final between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England, turned to tragedy. At least 200 people were injured and 96 crushed to death, many of them teenagers and children. The problems were caused by too many Liverpool fans being sent to standing pens in to the back of an already full stand at the Leppings Lane end of the ground. As more fans were allowed in, those already there were pushed forward and crushed against the high, wired-topped safety fences. In 2017, six people were charged with manslaughter by gross negligence, misconduct in public office, and perverting the course of justice for their actions related to the disaster. As of 2021, only one person, Graham Mackrell, has been convicted of crimes related to the disaster, for which he paid a fine.
Comment from Neil, a man who lived through the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster: "The Liverpool fans were not as you reported allowed in the ground they were forced into an overfilled section of leppings lane. Sadly, I, as one of many that got out of the death pen, now relive that day over and over it ruined my life. Now after all the years not a single Liverpool fan has been charged with an offence regarding the death or the 96 in the ground and have probably never heard about the 97th victims who died in a coma later, nor will you have reported or the terror and guilt of those of us that escaped that day."

1990 Soviet Union Lithuania Independence

1990: Lithuania continues it's goal of Independence but The Soviet Union president threatens to cut off supplies including Oil and Natural Gas unless they rescind request for independence and laws that would mean seizing Soviet buildings and facilities.

1992 USA Leona Helmsley

1992: Leona Helmsley, starts a four-year prison term in Lexington, Kentucky for failing to pay her taxes, she served a total of only 18 months in jail. Her famous quote "Only the little people pay taxes." turned the press and the public against her who never forgave her for the infamous saying.

2000 Zimbabwe Farmer Murdered

2000: Approximately 1,000 farms are now occupied by "war veterans" backed by President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. And one white farmer "David Stevens" in Zimbabwe was taken from his farm and has been shot dead. In spite of pressure from the international community, President Robert Mugabe pressed on with his plan to remove Zimbabwe's farms from white ownership, and a further 10 white farmers were murdered. Many farmers have given up their farms and left the country but others stayed hoping to keep their farms but in September 2002 Zimbabwe's parliament adopted new legislation making it easier to evict them.

2008 World Food Prices Problem

2008: As food prices continue to increase due to multiple reasons including gas prices, poor harvests and the increased use of ethanol based fuel. The people who are the most affected are the poorest members of the world who spend the highest percentage of income on feeding themselves. The World Bank President Robert Zoellick has appealed to richer nations to increase the food aid to some of the countries worst effected after riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Egypt and other countries over surging food prices.

2008 United States Pope Benedict XVI Visit

2008: Pope Benedict XVI has received a Presidential greeting from George Bush and his wife on his first official visit to the United States. Mr. Bush was waiting on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base when the Pontiff's plane touched down. As part of his six-day visit, the Pope will be addressing the U.N. and leading prayers at Ground Zero. The Pope will be leaving on April 20th.

2010 Volcanic Ash Grounds European Flights

2010: All flights in and out of several European countries have been suspended as ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland continues to move south. Up to four thousand flights are being canceled with airspace closed in Norway, Britain, Sweden, France, Finland and Denmark. The U.K.'s air traffic control service has said that no flights will be allowed to enter U.K. airspace until at least 0700 BST on April 16th. Eurocontrol has said that the problem will persist for at least forty-eight hours. The volcano is still spewing ash and the wind direction is expected to continue bringing clouds into European airspace for some time.