April 8

April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). There are 267 days remaining.

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances

Events

• 1730 - Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
• 1742 - The first peformance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio The Messiah, in Dublin.
• 1832 - Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
• 1904 - France and Great Britain sign the Entente cordiale.
• 1913 - The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct election of Senators.
• 1935 - The Works Progress Administration is formed by when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
• 1942 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
• 1952 - In a radio address to the nation from the White House, President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all steel mills in the United States in order to prevent a nationwide strike.
• 1974 - At the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
• 1975 - Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians manages his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
• 1985 - Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
• 1986 - Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).
• 1987 - Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid great controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline. Campanis said that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to retain managerial-level positions in major-league baseball.
• 1992 - Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces to the world that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries. This announcement begins a more in-depth dialogue in the United States regarding AIDS and how it ought to be combatted.
• 2000 - A U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey crashes during landing at Marana, Arizona killing 19
• 2002 - Ed McMahon files a US$20 million lawsuit against his insurance company and others for alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress that was allegedly caused by a toxic mold infecting McMahon's Beverly Hills, California home.

Births

• 563 BC - Gautama Buddha, religious leader († 483 BC)
• 1320 - King Peter I of Portugal
• 1868 - King Christian IX of Denmark († 1906)
• 1872 - Ivan Bloch, physician († 1922)
• 1875 - King Albert I of Belgium († 1934)
• 1859 - Edmund Husserl, philosopher († 1938)
• 1892 - Mary Pickford, actress, studio founder († 1979)
• 1911 - Emil Cioran, philosopher and essayist († 1995)
• 1912 - Sonja Henie, Olympic and World Champion figure skater († 1969)
• 1918 - Betty Ford, former First Lady of the United States
• 1919 - Ian Smith, former Prime Minister of Rhodesia
• 1926 - Jürgen Moltmann, theologian
• 1928 - John Gavin, actor
• 1929 - Jacques Brel, composer († 1978)
• 1933 - Fred Ebb, composer
• 1938 - Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General
• 1940 - John Havlicek, basketball star
• 1944 - Barbara Kingsolver, novelist
• 1949 - John Madden, director
• 1963 - Julian Lennon, musician and singer
• 1972 - Gordie MacKenzie, Canadian

Deaths

• 217 - Caracalla, Roman Emperor
• 1492 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic
• 1848 - Gabriel Donizetti, composer
• 1936 - Robert_Barany, Nobel Prize winner in medicine
• 1973 - Pablo Picasso, artist
• 1983 - Omar Bradley, general
• 1945 - Dietrich Bonhoffer, theologian
• 1950 - Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer
• 1990 - Ryan White, AIDS activist
• 1993 - Marian Anderson, singer
• 1996 - Ben Johnson, actor
• 1997 - Laura Nyro, singer, composer
• 2000 - Claire Trevor, actress

Holidays and observances

• Worldwide Roma Nation Day

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See Also:

April 7 - April 9 - March 8 - May 8 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n