On This Day in History...

0672 Deusdedit III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0678 Donus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1471 King Edward IV of England conquers London from Henry VI
1512 Battle at Ravenna France under Gaston de Foix beat Spanish Army
1551 English premier John Dudley appointed duke of Northumberland
1564 England & France sign Peace of Troyes
1564 Liege Prince-Bishop Robert van Bergen resigns
1567 Dutch Prince William of Orange flees from Antwerp to Breda
1579 Venlo joins Union of Utrecht
1580 Drenthe joins Union of Utrecht
1677 Battle at Montcassel, French troops beat Prince William III
1689 William III & Mary II crowned as joint rulers of Britain
1713 Peace of Utrecht; France cedes Maritime provinces to Britain - English, Prussian, Savoois, Portuguese & French peace treaty
1801 Johann von Schiller's "Die Jungfrau von Orleans", premieres in Leipzig
1814 1st abdication of France by Napoleon; he is exiled to Elba
1830 Robert Schumann attends piano concerto by Paganini
1848 Hungary becomes constitutional monarchy under king Ferdinand of Austria
1856 Battle of Rivas; Costa Rica beats Wm Walker's invading Nicaraguans
1862 Rebels surrender Fort Pulaski GA
1863 Battle of Suffolk VA (Norfleet House)
1865 Battle of Mobile AL - evacuated by Confederates
1865 Lincoln urges a spirit of generous conciliation during reconstruction
1876 Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks is organized
1876 Sir Charles Gordon ends religious tolerance in Sudan
1881 River ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks in Thames River Ontario, 180 die
1881 Spelman College founded
1890 Ellis Island designated as an immigration station
1891 8 year old Jewish tailor's daughter disappears in Greece, rumour spreads that she was a Christian girl ritually killed by Jews
1895 Anaheim completes its new electric light system
1898 President William McKinley asks for Spanish-American War declaration
1899 Treaty of Paris is ratified, ending war; Spain cedes Puerto Rico to US
1900 US Navy's 1st submarine made its debut
1902 Battle at Rooiwal, South-Africa
1906 Einstein introduces his Theory of Relativity
1907 New York Giant Roger Bresnahan becomes 1st catcher to wear shin guards
1912 Cornerstone of Technion in Haifa Palestine laid
1914 George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion", premieres
1917 Babe Ruth beats New York Yankees, pitching 3-hit 10-3 win for Red Sox
1921 Iowa imposes 1st state cigarette tax
1921 KDKA broadcast the 1st radio sporting event, a boxing match (Ray-Dundee)
1921 Turkestan ASSR is established in Russian SFSR
1924 1st men's college swimming championships begin
1924 WLS-AM in Chicago IL begins radio transmissions
1924 Socialists win Denmark's parliamentary elections
1925 Abd el-Krims Rifkabylen beats French army in Morocco
1926 Flemish Economic Covenant (VEV) forms in Ghent
1927 Chilean General Carlos Ibáñez names himself president
1929 KLO-AM in Ogden UT begins radio transmissions
1929 Loetafoon celluloid film system demonstrated in Amsterdam
1933 Hermann Göring becomes premier of Prussia
1936 Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "On Your Toes", premieres in NYC
1936 Stanley Cup Detroit Red Wings beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3 games to 1
1939 Hungary leaves League of Nations
1941 Germany blitzes Conventry, England
1941 Jewish Weekly newspaper taken control by Nazi's
1941 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands confiscate Jewish assets
1942 Distinguished Service Medal for Merchant Marines authorized
1943 Frank Piasecki, Vertol founder, flies his 1st (single-rotor) craft
1944 RAF bombs census bureau in The Hague
1945 Allies liberate 1st Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald, Germany
1945 SS burns & shoots 1,100 at Gardelegen
1945 US captures Tsugen Shima
1945 US troops conquers Mülheim, Oberhausen, Bochum, Unna, Essen
1948 12th Golf Masters Championship Claude Harmon wins, shooting a 279
1950 Prince Rainier III becomes ruler of Monaco
1950 US B-29 bomber shot down above Latvia
1951 President Harry Truman fires General Douglas McArthur
1953 Oveta Culp Hobby becomes 1st at Health, Education, & Welfare
1954 Marlene Bauer wins LPGA New Orleans Golf Open
1955 Sobers starts run of 85 Test Cricket appearances for West Indies uninterrupted
1956 Singer Nat Cole attacked on stage of Birmingham theater by whites
1956 French government decides to sends 200,000 reservists to Algeria
1957 Ryan X-13 Vertijet becomes 1st jet to take-off & land vertically
1957 Pablo Neruda arrested in Buenos Aires
1958 Brooks Hall in Civic Center dedicated (San Francisco)
1959 "Jamaica" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 558 performances
1959 Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale hits his 2nd Opening Day homerun
1959 Dutch prince Bernhard visits Lockheed factory
1960 1st weather satellite launched (Tiros 1)
1961 Bob Dylan's 1st appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village
1961 Israel begins the Adolf Eichman WWII crimes trial
1961 15th NBA Championship Boston Celtics beat St Louis Hawks, 4 games to 1
1961 Austrian 4th & last government of Raab resigns
1962 New York Mets make a losing debut
1963 John XXIII encyclical "On peace in truth, justice, charity & liberty"
1963 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1963 Warren Spahn beats Mets 6-1 for his 328th win (most by a lefty)
1964 "Anyone Can Whistle" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 9 performances
1965 40 tornadoes strike US midwest killing 272 & injuring 5,000
1965 29th Golf Masters Championship Jack Nicklaus wins, shooting a 271
1966 Emmett Ashford becomes 1st black major league umpire
1966 30th Golf Masters Championship Jack Nicklaus wins, shooting a 288; Jack Nicklaus is the 1st man to win consecutive Masters
1967 Harlem (NYC) voters defy Congress & reelect Adam Clayton Powell Jr
1967 "Illya Darling" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 320 performances
1967 Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead", premieres
1968 President Lyndon Johnson signs 1968 Civil Rights Act
1968 Polish Marshal Spychalski succeeds Ochab as president
1968 West Berlin student Rudi Dutschke seriously wounded at demonstration
1968 WHED TV channel 15 in Hanover NH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 South African President Frederik de Klerk marries Marike Willemse
1970 Apollo 13 launched to Moon; unable to land, returns in 6 days
1970 Beatles' "Let It Be", single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
1970 San Francisco beats Cincinnati 2-1, only day Reds aren't in 1st place in 1970
1971 "Johnny Johnson" opens/closes at Edison Theater NYC for 1 performance
1971 35th Golf Masters Championship Charles Coody wins, shooting a 279
1971 WBFF TV channel 45 in Baltimore MD (IND) begins broadcasting
1972 Benjamin L Hooks, named to the FCC
1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
1974 WWII war criminal JP Philippa arrested
1975 JP Parise 11 second OT goal-Islanders 1st playoff advance eliminates Rangers
1975 Hank Aaron returns as a Milwaukee player (Brewers)
1976 40th Golf Masters Championship Ray Floyd wins, shooting a 271
1977 Ireland sets fishing zone at 50 mile
1979 Ugandan dictator Idi Amin overthrown; Tanzania takes Kampala
1980 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulates sexual harrassment
1980 Paul McCartney releases "Coming Up"
1981 Ronald Reagan arrives home from hospital after Hinkley shot him
1981 Valerie Bertinelli marries Eddie Van Halen
1981 Larry Holmes beats Trevor Holmes in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1981 Race riot in London area of Brixton
1982 Pittsburgh Penguins 5-New York Islanders 2-Preliminary-Series tied at 2-2
1982 46th Golf Masters Championship Craig Stadler wins, shooting a 284
1983 NASA launches RCA-F
1983 3rd Golden Raspberry Awards Inchon! wins
1983 47th Golf Masters Championship Seve Ballesteros wins, shooting a 280
1983 55th Academy Awards - "Gandhi", Ben Kingsley & Meryl Streep win
1984 Challenger astronauts complete 1st in space satellite repair
1984 Soyuz T-11 returns to Earth
1984 Chinese troops invade Vietnam
1984 General Secretary Konstantin U Chernenko named President of Soviet Union
1985 Washington Capitals 2-New York Islanders 1 (OT)-Patrick Division Semifinals- Capitals hold 2-0 lead
1986 Dodge Morgan completes nonstop sail solo around the world in 150 days
1986 Halley's Comet makes closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 million km
1986 KXA-AM in Seattle WA changes call letters to KRPM
1986 A Canadain 1921 50¢ piece auctioned in NYC for $22,000
1987 Yankees score 12 runs in 7th inning vs Kansas City Royals
1987 Zoja Ivanova wins 2nd female World Cup marathon (2:30:39)
1988 Royal Concert building in Amsterdam reopens
1989 1st playoff goal scored by a goalee, Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers
1989 Philadelphia Flyers score short-handed into an empty net beating Capitals 8-5
1990 California Angels Mark Langston & Mike Witt, no-hit Seattle Mariners, 1-0
1990 New York Rangers beat New York Islanders 6-1, Rangers lead 3-1 in preliminary
1990 New York Lotto pays $35 million to two winners (#s are 6-14-24-32-34-51)
1991 NYC's Museum of Broadcasting becomes "Museum of Radio & Television"
1991 Space Shuttle STS 37 (Atlantis 8) lands
1991 UN Security Council issues formal cease fire with Iraq declaration
1991 "Miss Saigon", opens at Broadway Theater NYC
1992 Boston Red Sox beat Cleveland Indians, 7-5, in 19 innings
1992 BPAA US Open by Robert Lawrence
1992 Cleveland Indians set team record for long game lose to Boston Red Sox (19 innings - 6½ hours)
1992 Country singer Lee Greenwood weds Miss Tennessee 1989 (Kimberly Payne)
1992 Euro-Disney opens near Paris France
1992 Irish Republican Army bombs London financial district, killing 3
1993 57th Golf Masters Championship Bernhard Langer wins, shooting a 277
1993 Jeff Rouse swims world record 100 meter backstroke (51.43 seconds)
1993 Kirsan Ilumzjinov installed as President of Kalmukkie
1996 "King & I", premieres at Neil Simon Theater in NYC for 781 performances
1996 Detroit Red Wings become 2nd NHL team to win 60 games in a season
1999 63rd Golf Masters Championship
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Missing In Action...

1965 SWANSON WILLIAM E. MINNEAPOLIS MN FLAK CRASH EXPLODE
1968 WHITTEMORE FREDERICK H. CARSON CITY NV
1970 NELSON JAN HOUSTON CLEARWATER FL
1971 BUERK WILLIAM CARL LOS ANGELES CA

Births which occurred on April 11:

1370 Frederick I the Warlike elector of Saxony
1586 Pietro Della Valle composer
1602 Johann Neukrantz composer
1638 Diogo Diaz Melgaz composer
1661 Antoine Coypel French painter/poet
1681 Anne Danican Philidor composer
1682 Jean-Joseph Mouret composer
1715 John Alcock composer
1722 Christopher Smart English poet & journalist (Ceremony of Carols)
1735 Pierre Nicolas La Houssaye composer
1769 Johann Georg Lickl composer
1770 George Canning © British PM (1827)
1772 Manuel José Quintana Spanish author/poet (El Duque de Viseo)
1775 Charles-François Dumonchau composer
1779 Louise Reichardt composer
1793 Nicolaas C Kist Dutch church historian/archivist
1794 Edward Everett Dorchester MA, (Governor-MA), statesman/orator
1801 Claude Tillier French journalist/writer (My Uncle Benjamin)
1815 Klara Fey German orchestra leader (Deutscher Arbeiterverein)
1825 Ferdinand Lassalle French politician/founder (Allgemeiner)
1837 Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth Colonel (Union Army), died in 1861
1838 Joseph Leopold Rockel composer
1840 John Conrad Nordqvist composer
1854 Hugh Massie cricketer (Australian batsman of the 1880's)
1856 Arthur Shrewsbury cricketer (dominant England bat late 19th cent)
1856 Constantly Lievens Flemish missionary in India
1859 Basil Harwood composer
1862 Charles Evans Hughs 11th Chief Justice of Supreme Court (1930-41)
1862 William W Campbell US astronomer/director Lick Observatory
1866 Carla Ford Henry's wife
1867 John P Lotsy Dutch botanist/geneticist (Genetics)
1879 Leendert Round Dutch sculptor (entrance Rotterdam Zoo)
1881 Harvey Bartlett Gaul composer
1883 Leonard Mudie England, actor (Magnetic Monster, British Intelligence)
1888 Donald Calthrop London, actor (Blackmail, Scrooge, Rome Express)
1889 Nick La Rocca US coronetist/composer (Tiger Rag)
1893 Dean G Acheson statesman/US Secretary of State (1949-53)
1893 Johannes T Thijsse Dutch founder (Waterloopkundig lab Delft)
1897 Caspar Neher German set designer/librettist
1898 Lou Holtz comedian/actor (Follow the Leader)
1899 Percy L Julian chemist (drugs for treatment of arthritis)
19-- Cathie Shirriff Toronto Ontario Canada, actress (Ripley's Believe It or Not, Shaping Up)
1901 Glenway Wescott American writer (Apartment in Athens)
1901 Adriano Olivetti Italian engineer/manufacturer (typewriter)
1901 Theodor Rogalski composer
1902 Quentin Reynolds New York NY, newscaster (Its News to Me)/author (FBI)
1904 Arthur Ernest Mourant haematologist
1904 Paul McGrath Chicago IL, actor (Witness, No Time for Love)
1907 Paul Douglas Philadelphia PA, actor (Adventure Theater, Clash by Night)
1907 William Henry Swinburne music teacher
1908 Karel Ancerl Czechoslovakia, conductor (Prague/Toronto)
1908 Leo Rosten writer/humourist
1908 Masura Ibuka industrialist
1910 Antonio Sebastiao Ribiero de Spínola General/President of Portugal
1910 Henry William Collins artist
1911 Stella Walsh-Stanislawa-Walasiewicz Poland, sprinter (Olympics-gold-32, won 41 AAU track titles)
1912 John Larkin Oakland CA, actor (Saints & Sinners, 12 O'Clock High)
1913 Oleg Cassini Paris France, fashion designer (Jackie Kennedy)
1915 [Hanlon] Pat Clarke cyclist
1916 Alberto E Ginastera Buenos Aires Argentina, composer (Panambi)
1916 Dan Fortmann NFL guard (Chicago Bears)
1916 Howard Koch producer/director (Frankenstein, Airplane II)
1918 Cameron Mitchell actor (Hombre, How to Marry a Millionaire)
1918 Jean-Claude Servan-Schreiber journalist
1918 Richard Wainwright MP
1918 William Perrie British prison governor
1919 Hugh Carey (Governor-Democrat-NY)
1919 Raymond Carr Warden (St Antony's College Oxford)
1920 Marlen Haushofer writer
1921 Jeff Stollmeyer cricketer (West Indies batsman pre/post-war)
1921 Virginia O'Brien Los Angeles CA, actress (Francis in the Navy)
1921 Viscount Buckmaster
1922 Alexander Raichev composer
1922 Antoine Blondin writer
1925 Johan van Zonderen painter
1925 Oscar De Ville CEO (Meyer International)
1925 Rik Kuijpers Belgian director (Sea gulls die in the harbor)
1926 Gervase de Peyer clarinettist
1926 Robert Hall Lewis composer
1927 Domenico Guaccero composer
1928 Ethel [Skakel] Kennedy Chicago IL, wife of Bobby
1929 Lawrence Coughlin (Representative-Republican-PA, 1969- )
1930 Carl Franklin Richmond CA, actor (Fantastic Journey)
1930 Nicholas F Brady US Secretary of Treasury (1988-93)
1930 Clive Exton scriptwriter & playwright
1930 James Alan Ferman secretary (British Board of Film Classification)
1930 Joseph Burnett-Stuart CEO (Robert Fleming Holdings)
1930 Kazuo Fukushima composer
1930 W G [Bill] Hefner (Representative-Democrat-NC, 1975- )
1931 John[ny] Sheffield Pasadena CA, actor (boy in many Tarzan movies)
1932 F Gregory Neubeck USAF pilot
1932 Joel Grey [Joe Katz] Cleveland OH, actor (Cabaret, Remo Williams, 7% Solution)
1932 Max Schubel composer
1933 Tony Brown Charleston WV, newsman (Tony Brown's Journal)
1934 Mark Strand American poet/editor/translator (Another Republic)
1934 Dame Anne Poole chief nursing officer (Department of Health)
1934 Richard A Garland artist/photographer
1935 Pierre Kartner [Father Abraham], Dutch singer (Smurf Song)
1935 Richard Berry musician
1936 Janet Allen Headmistress (Benenden School)
1938 Michael Deaver politician/influence peddler (S&L scandal)
1939 Louise Lasser New York NY, actress (Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!)
1941 Frederick "Rick" Hauck Long Beach CA, astronaut (STS-7, STS 51-A, STS-26)
1941 David Lyle Boren (Senator-Democrat-OK, 1979- )
1942 Anatoli Nikolayevich Berezovoi Enem Adygeya Russia, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-5)
1943 E J Dommering Dutch lawyer
1943 Elmer R Wilsoe Island mayor (Curaçao)
1944 John Milius writer (Red Dawn, 1941, Big Wednesday)
1944 R J B Knight deputy director (National Maritime Museum)
1945 Robert Fripp guitarist (King Crimson)
1947 Peter Riegert New York NY, actor (Americathon, Animal House, Crossing Delancey)
1947 Michael Hindley British Member of European Parliament
1947 Michael Wright Vice-Chancello, (Aston University)
1947 Ulrich Edel Neuenburg am Rhein West Germany, film director (The Little Vampire, Body of Evidence)
1948 Ellen Goodman syndicated columnist
1950 Bill Irwin Santa Monica, actor (My Blue Heaven, Scenes From a Mall)
1951 Robbie House rocker (Snuff)
1952 Michael Daly Toronto Ontario Canada, Canadian Tour golfer (1991 British Columbia Winter Tour)
1954 Chris Difford rocker (Squeeze)
1955 Michele Scarabelli Montréal Québec Canada, actress (Jo Santini-Airwolf, Alienation, Dallas)
1955 Piers J Sellers Sussex England, PhD/astronaut
1957 Everton Mattis cricketer (West Indies batsman early 80's)
1958 [William] Stuart Adamson Manchester England, rock vocalist/guitarist (Big Country-Wonderland)
1958 John Castellanos San Diego CA, actor (John Silva-Young and Restless)
1958 Sally Clark Feilding New Zealand, equestrian 3 day event (Olympics-silver-96)
1961 Lucky Vanous Lincoln NE, model (GQ, Diet Coke)
1962 André Wasiman soccer player (FC Volendam)
1962 Terry Hoage NFL wide receiver (Arizona Cardinals)
1963 Eddy Moya El Paso TX, actor
1963 Elizabeth Smylie Perth Australia, tennis star (1987 Oklahoma City)
1966 Dave Richards NFL guard (Atlanta Falcons)
1966 Kara McGaw Toronto Ontario Canada, softball rightfielder (Olympics-96)
1966 Lisa Stansfield English pop singer (Around the World)
1966 Mark Higgs NFL running back (Arizona Cardinals)
1966 Steve Scarsone Anaheim CA, infielder (San Francisco Giants)
1967 Lachlan Dreher Australian field hockey goal keeper (Olympics-silver-92, 96)
1967 Mark Seay NFL wide receiver (San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles)
1967 Stefan Johnstown Norwegian speed walker (world record 20 km)
1967 Wendel Suckow Marquette MI, luger (Olympics-1994)
1968 Eric Moten NFL guard/tackle (San Diego Chargers)
1969 Gavin Briant cricketer (Zimbabwe Test batsman 1993)
1969 J Nick Adamson Freeport Bahamas, US laser yachter (Olympics-21st-1996)
1969 Janeth Arcain WNBA forward (Houston Comets)
1969 Jesse Campbell NFL safety (New York Giants, Washington Redskins)
1970 Delroy Pearson Romford Essex England, rocker (Five Star-Between the Lines)
1970 Joe Vitiello Cambridge MA, infielder (Kansas City Royals)
1970 Sean Bergman Joliet IL, pitcher (San Diego Padres)
1970 Trevor Linden Medicine Hat, NHL right wing (Canucks, New York Islanders)
1972 Avo Avetisyan WLAF defensive linesman (Amsterdam Admirals)
1972 Dietrich Jells wide receiver (New England Patriots)
1972 Kunihiko Sakurai hockey forward (Team Japan 1998)
1972 Nicole Levesque WNBA guard (Charlotte Sting)
1972 Ted Johnson linebacker (New England Patriots)
1973 Blake Brockermeyer NFL tackle (Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers)
1973 Monica Chala Miss Ecuador-Universe (1996)
1973 Reggie Tongue NFL safety (Kansas City Chiefs)
1974 Alex Corretja Barcelona Spain, tennis star (1990 Orange Bowl boys 16)
1974 Sascha van Wissen Dutch soccer player (MVV)
1975 Terry Cousin NFL cornerback (Chicago Bears)
1978 Victor Sikora soccer player (Go Ahead Eagles)
1984 ? 1st deep freeze baby, in Australia
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Deaths which occurred on April 11:

0678 Donus Italian Pope (676-78), dies
1034 Romanus III Argyrus Byzantine emperor (1028-34), assasinated by wife
1240 Llywelyn ab Iorwerth the Great monarch of Wales (1194-1240), dies
1500 Michael T Marullus Greeks poet, drowns
1512 Gaston de Foix French pretender to Navarra throne, dies in battle
1648 Matthaus Apelles von Lowenstern composer, dies at 53
1729 Manuel de Egues composer, dies at 71
1783 Nikita I Panin Russian earl/ambassador in Denmark, dies at 64
1810 Jakob Zupan composer, dies at 75
1812 Gottlieb Schick German painter (Opfer Noachs), dies at 35
1838 Pieter L Uys South African pioneer (Great Pull), murdered at 40
1839 John Galt Scottish writer (Last of the Lairds), dies at 59
1842 John England bishop of Charleston Carolina, dies
1853 Louis Emmanuel Eadin composer, dies
1854 Karl Adolph von Basedow German Democratic Republic (Ziekte van Basedow), dies at 55
1875 Heinrich Schwabe discoverer of 11-year sunspot cycle, dies
1881 Kristian Mandrup Elster Norwegian author (Torn Trondal), dies at 40
1887 Pyotr Petrovich Sokal'sky composer, dies at 54
1901 Ivar Christian Hallstrom composer, dies at 74
1902 Hendrik Potgieter South African Boer General, dies in battle
1903 Gemma Galgani Italian saint, dies at 25
1906 James A Bailey circus showman (Barnum & Bailey), dies at 58
1906 Georgi Apollonovitch Gapon Russian-orthodox clergyman/tsarist agent, dies
1916 Richard Harding Davis journalist, dies at 52
1918 Arthur Ochse cricketer (WWI played for South Africa in 1889 aged 19), dies
1921 Virginia O'Brien Los Angeles CA, actress (Francis in the Navy)
1921 Augusta Victoria Queen of Prussia/wife of Emperor Wilhelm II, dies
1936 Mitya Stillman composer, dies at 44
1939 SS Van Dine [William Huntingdon Wright] detective writer, dies at 50
1945 Kamiel van Baelen Flemish resistance fighter (in Dachau), dies at 29
1952 Wadi' Sabra composer, dies at 76
1961 Francis de Bourguignon composer, dies at 70
1969 Ludvig Irgens Jensen composer, dies at 74
1970 Cathy O'Donnell dies at 66
1970 John H O'Hara US journalist (Pal Joey, Rage to Live), dies at 65
1973 Ted Decorsia actor (Police Chief Hegedorn-Steve Canyon), dies at 69
1974 Curt Conway dies
1975 Dorothy Patten dies at 70
1976 Liam Dunn dies a 59
1977 Jacques Prévert French poet (La puil et le beau), dies at 77
1980 Charlotte Henry dies
1980 Florence Lake dies
1981 Marie Ney dies at 85
1983 Dolores Del Rio actress (Cheyenne Autumn), dies at 78
1985 Enver Hoxha party leader/premier of Albania, dies at 76
1987 Erskine Caldwell novelist (Tobacco Road), dies at 83
1987 Kent Taylor actor (Boston Blackie, Rough Riders), dies at 79
1987 Primo Levi Italy, chemist/writer (Survival in Auschwitz), dies at 67
1988 David Prater US singer (Sam & Dave-Soul Man), dies in car crash at 50
1988 Jeff Donnell actor (Hoedown, 9 Girls), dies of a heart attack at 66
1989 Henk van Galen Last Dutch journalist, dies at 68
1990 Barbara Ann Miller dies
1991 Tom Rosqui dies at 62
1992 Adele Dixon singer/actress (Uneasy Virtue), dies of pneumonia at 83
1992 Eve Merriam poet (Inner City Mother Goose), dies of cancer at 75
1992 James Brown actor (Rip-Adventures of Rin Tin Tin), dies at 72
1993 Mohammed el-Himi Brigadier-General of Egyptian police, murdered
1993 Rachmon Nabiyev President of Tadzjikistan (1973..92), dies at 63
1994 Johan Block Dutch aviation pioneer (Martinair/Transavia), dies at 64
1996 Daniel Wolf journalist, dies at 80
1996 Edwin Clarke historian/neurologist, dies at 76
1996 Jessica Dubroff hoped to be youngest to fly across US, crashed at 7
1996 Louis Osman artist/goldsmith/craftsman, dies at 82
1996 Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet advertising magnate, dies at 89
1997 Michael Dorris writer, commits suicide at 52

1721 Moravian missionary David Zeisberger is born

David Zeisberger, a Moravian missionary whose Native American converts were slaughtered by Pennsylvania militiamen in the Gnaddenhuetten Massacre of 1781, is born in Zauchental, Moravia, near Ostrava, in what is now the Czech Republic, on this day in 1781.

The Zeisberger family moved to Herrnhut, Saxony, to join a Moravian community there in the late 1720s. In 1736, David’s parents left for the Moravian settlement in the new colony of Georgia, leaving their son to complete his schooling in Herrnhut. Zeisberger joined his parents in 1738 and traveled with them to Pennsylvania, where they settled in 1740. Although he was slated to return to Germany in 1743, leading Moravian Bishop David Nitschmann noticed the young man’s reluctance to depart and convinced him to remain in Pennsylvania.

Zeisberger then began learning the languages essential to his future role as a missionary among Native Americans. Beginning with Delaware and Mohawk, Zeisberger eventually mastered Onondaga, Cayuga, Mahican and Ojibwa, as well as a second dialect of the Delaware language.

The Moravians’ pacifism placed them and their Native American converts in a difficult position during the violent second half of the 18th century. In 1781, David Zeisberger was taken to Detroit for questioning by the British. Although he was eventually released, the Indians he had converted and offered shelter at Gnaddenhuetten, Ohio, were murdered by members of the Pennsylvania militia in his absence.

Tension between Euro-Americans and Native Americans in the Ohio Valley forced Zeisberger and his followers to mover further north into Michigan and Ontario in the late 1780s and early 1790s.
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1862 Fall of Fort Pulaski, Georgia

Fort Pulaski, guarding the mouth of the Savannah River in Georgia, surrenders after a two-day Union bombardment tears great holes in the massive fort.

Fort Pulaski was constructed in 1847 as part of the country's coastal defense network. The imposing masonry stronghold was named for Polish Count Casimir Pulaski, who was killed at Savannah by British troops during the American Revolution. The Union landed troops on Tybee Island, a mile south of Pulaski, in early 1862 and prepared for an attack. An engineering officer, Captain Quincy Gilmore, spent two months moving heavy artillery into place. These included large smoothbore cannon and smaller, rifled guns that shot conical shells at high speed and with greater accuracy than the larger pieces.

The attack began on April 10, and Gilmore's work paid off. The rifled cannon fired shots that penetrated two feet into Fort Pulaski's seven-foot-thick walls. By the morning of April 11, two huge gaps had been torn in the fort walls and a group of Federal infantry was poised for an attack. Colonel Charles Olmstead, commander of Fort Pulaski, recognized that further resistance was futile, and he surrendered the fort to Union troops.

The Savannah River was sealed and a vital Confederate port was closed, although Savannah itself would not be captured until General William T. Sherman marched across Georgia two and a half years later. The destruction of Fort Pulaski signaled an end to the era of brick fortifications, though, which had been made obsolete by the new rifled artillery.
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1919 International Labor Organization founded

On this day in 1919, in Paris, France, the International Labor Organization (ILO) is founded as an independent, affiliated agency of the League of Nations.

The call for just and equal labor standards and improved working and living conditions for the world’s workers had begun to be heard long before the outbreak of World War I. As the Industrial Revolution swept from France and Britain across the rest of Europe over the course of the 19th century, it completely altered the economic and social landscape of the continent (and eventually the world). Among the early advocates of an international organization to regulate labor were Robert Owen, a Welsh socialist and the founder of the first, short-lived British trade union in 1833; Charles Hindley (1800-1857), a cotton spinner and member of the British parliament from 1853 to 1857; and Daniel Legrand, a French industrialist, philanthropist, and writer.

Though these 19th-century thinkers were ahead of their time, the unparalleled destruction wrought by the Great War of 1914-1918 led to increased support among the world’s leaders for just such an organization, not only to regulate labor standards for the steadily growing international population of industrial workers, but also to preserve peace in the volatile atmosphere of the post-war world. For U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, especially, this peace-keeping organization—the League of Nations—was the most important part of the Versailles negotiations.

The creation of an international labor organization as a separate but affiliated agency of the League was seen by its founders as a necessary and vital part of the League itself. The ILO Constitution, written between January and April 1919, by a commission of representatives from nine countries—Belgium, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States—and chaired by Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labour (AFL), eventually became Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles.

Its preamble began with a statement of purpose—“…The League of Nations has for its object the establishment of universal peace, and such a peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice”—and went on to lay out the threefold motivation behind the creation of the ILO. First, there was a necessity to improve the conditions of the average worker, who without regulation was increasingly subject to exploitation by industrial management, including long hours, low wages and harsh treatment. There was also a political motive: if conditions did not improve, the growing discontent among the world’s workers threatened to explode into large-scale demonstrations of unrest and possibly revolution, as had occurred in Russia in 1917 and to a lesser extent in Germany and Austria-Hungary near the end of the war. Thirdly, without universal standards of labor that could be enforced across international borders, any country that instituted social reform would find itself at a disadvantage economically.

The ILO as created in April 1919 was a tripartite organization—half the members of its governing body, the executive council, were representatives of various governments, one-fourth were employers’ representatives and one-fourth were workers’ representatives. The first annual International Labor Conference, which convened in Washington, D.C., in October 1919, issued the organization’s first six conventions, which addressed, among other issues, limitations on working hours, unemployment, maternity protection and minimum working age. The following summer, the International Labor Office, the ILO’s permanent secretariat, was set up in Geneva, Switzerland.

Though the League of Nations faltered in the post-war years, the ILO flourished, even as its mission expanded from setting universal labor standards to guarding against more general human rights violations worldwide and facilitating technical cooperation to assist developing nations. In 1946, after the Second World War, the ILO became the first specialized agency associated with the League’s replacement, the United Nations (UN). The original membership of 45 countries in 1919 grew to 121 in 1971; two years earlier, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its founding in April 1969, the ILO was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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1945 The U.S. army liberates Buchenwald concentration camp

On this day in 1945, the American Third Army liberates the Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, Germany, a camp that will be judged second only to Auschwitz in the horrors it imposed on its prisoners.

As American forces closed in on the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, Gestapo headquarters at Weimar telephoned the camp administration to announce that it was sending explosives to blow up any evidence of the camp--including its inmates. What the Gestapo did not know was that the camp administrators had already fled in fear of the Allies. A prisoner answered the phone and informed headquarters that explosives would not be needed, as the camp had already been blown up, which, of course, was not true.

The camp held thousands of prisoners, mostly slave laborers. There were no gas chambers, but hundreds, sometimes thousands, died monthly from disease, malnutrition, beatings, and executions. Doctors performed medical experiments on inmates, testing the effects of viral infections and vaccines.

Among the camp's most gruesome characters was Ilse Koch, wife of the camp commandant, who was infamous for her sadism. She often beat prisoners with a riding crop, and collected lampshades, book covers, and gloves made from the skin of camp victims.

Among those saved by the Americans was Elie Wiesel, who would go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
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1963 Troops from Hawaii sent to South Vietnam

One hundred U.S. troops of the Hawaiian-based 25th Infantry Division are ordered to temporary duty with military units in South Vietnam to serve as machine gunners aboard Army H-21 helicopters. This was the first commitment of American combat troops to the war and represented a quiet escalation of the U.S. commitment to the war in Vietnam.
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1972 B-52s strike North Vietnamese positions

On this day, B-52 strikes against communist forces attacking South Vietnamese positions in the Central Highlands near Kontum remove any immediate threat to that city. Air strikes against North Vietnam continued, but were hampered by poor weather. Also on this day, the Pentagon ordered two more squadrons of B-52s to Thailand.

These actions were part of the U.S. response to the ongoing North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive, which had begun on March 30. This offensive, later more commonly known as the "Easter Offensive," was a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces designed to strike the blow that would win the war for the communists. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north, were Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc farther to the south. The fighting, which continued into the fall, was some of the most desperate of the war. The South Vietnamese prevailed against the invaders with the help of U.S. advisors and massive American airpower.