4 - 9 April 2024

 This week’s items: Notable events; Nov 2024; Israel; bird flu; the world stood still. 

A short break until Tuesday, 30 April. 

Notable events. 3 April 1865: U.S. troops occupied Confederate capital of Richmond. 1944:  SCOTUS struck TX law limiting Democratic primaries to only Whites. 1948: President Truman signed Marshall Plan for European aid. 1968: MLK, Jr. made his final speech. 1973: Portable handheld phone demoed. 2017: Divided U.S. Senate committee recommended Neil Gorsuch. 2020: President DJT announced guidelines for face masks, but did not don on himself. 

4 April 1841: President Harrison died of pneumonia. 1917: U.S. Senate voted 82-6 to declare war on Germany. 1945: USSR “freed” Hungary from the Nazis. 1949: 12 nations signed NATO treaty. 1968: MLK, Jr. assassinated in Memphis. 1974: Hank Aaron’s 714th homer tied Ruth’s record. 1983: Shuttle Challenger’s initial orbit. 2018: President DJT ordered National Guard to U.S. - Mexico border. 

5 April 1621: The Mayflower sailed back to England. 1764: Parliament passed the hated Sugar Act. 1887: In AL, teacher Anne Sullivan helped a blind Hellen Keller to “see.” 1951: Atomic spies Ethel & Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death. 1987: Fox Broadcast began. 2010: In WV, 29 coal miners killed and in China 115 miners were freed. 2019: At the border in CA, President DJT declared the U.S. was “full.”

6 April 1896: Modern Olympics began in Athens.1864: LA opened a constitutional convention to write a document banning slavery. 1909: Peary expedition reached N. Pole. 1917: U.S. entered WW I. 1954: Sen. McCarthy (R, WI) charged respected newsman E. R. Murrow had been a communist. 1974: ABBA hit the music world. 2021: MLB switched All Star game from Atlanta to Denver. (*1 below)

7 April 1922: Tea Pot Dome financial scandal began. 1949: “South Pacific” opened on Broadway. 1954: President Eisenhower enunciated the flawed “domino theory” on communism’s spread. 1962: Cuba tried & convicted nearly 1,200 of treason for failed Bay of Pigs invasion. (*2) 1966: USN recovered H-bomb mistakenly dropped near Spain. 1994: Tribal civil war erupted in Rwanda. 2022: K. Brown Jackson confirmed as first Black female SCOTUS justice. 

8 April 1513: de Leon’s expedition reached FL. 1864: Senate passed (38-6) the 13th Amendment. 1913: 17th Amendment (direct election of senators was ratified. 1943: President FDR froze wages. 1953: President Truman seized steel industry to avert a strike. 1992: Tennis great A. Ashe said he had AIDS. 1974: Hank Aaron’s 715th homer broke Ruth’s record. (*3) 2013: Last living Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz died (103). 2024: Solar eclipse occurred. 

9 April 1865: Lee surrendered to Grant. 1939: Black operatic soprano Marion Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial. (*4) 1942: U.S. surrendered Bataan to the Japanese. (*5) 1959: NASA named and presented America’ first seven astronauts. 1996: President Clinton signed a line item veto bill. (*6) 2003: Jubilant Iraqis celebrated Hussain’s overthrow. 2010: SCOTUS Justice Stevens announced his retirement. 

*1 The move was a reaction to changes in GA voting laws that made it harder for minorities to vote. *2 Viking River Cruises offers a trip to the site; historical but otherwise unremarkable. *3 Aaron (a Black) was subjected to death threats and provided police protection. *4 The Daughters of the American Revolution had denied her permission to sing in Constitution Hall. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt arranged the outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial — perhaps an even more significant location. *5 President FDR ordered Gen. MacArthur off the island to avoid capture. *6 SCOTUS declared the law unconstitutional in 1998. 

November 2024: Despite pressure from DJT and Gov Pillen (R), legislators in NB overwhelmingly declined to enact a “winner take all” system for their Electoral College votes. NB and ME are the only two states that award EC votes to the winner of each congressional district. 

Israel. (1) President Biden told Israel’s Netanyahu that further support depends on swift steps to protect civilians. The well marked vehicles of aid workers bombed. (2) In U.K., > 600 lawyers and retired judges have called on their government to halt airs sales to Israel.  

Bird flu. The contagion appears to have sped  to dairy cows in several states and at least on person in TX. The cost to U.S. taxpayers is steadily rising as Dept. of Agriculture has allotted $500M for poultry farmers. 

A stopped world. Or so it seemed, depending on your location. That was certainly true if you lived along the path of totality! The eclipse certainly dominated U.S.TV coverage.