Today in History

Today is Friday, April 8, the 98th day of 2022. There are 267 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

On this date:

In 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition began exploring the Florida coastline.

In 1864, the United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)

In 1911, an explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Alabama, claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts loaned out from prisons.

In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for popular election of U.S. senators (as opposed to appointment by state legislatures), was ratified. President Woodrow Wilson became the first chief executive since John Adams to address Congress in person as he asked lawmakers to enact tariff reform.

In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a freeze on wages and prices to combat inflation.

In 1952, President Harry S. Truman seized the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The Supreme Court later ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority, opening the way for a seven-week strike by steelworkers.)

In 1973, artist Pablo Picasso died in Mougins (MOO’-zhun), France, at age 91.

In 1990, Ryan White, the teenage AIDS patient whose battle for acceptance had gained national attention, died in Indianapolis at age 18.

In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced at a New York news conference that he had AIDS (Ashe died the following February of AIDS-related pneumonia at age 49).

In 1993, singer Marian Anderson died in Portland, Oregon, at age 96.

In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START treaty in Prague.

In 2020, a 76-day lockdown was lifted in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global pandemic began; residents would have to use a smartphone app showing that they had not been in recent contact with anyone confirmed to have the virus. Sen. Bernie Sanders ended his presidential bid, making Joe Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump.

Ten years ago: A U.N.-brokered plan to stop the bloodshed in Syria effectively collapsed after President Bashar Assad’s government raised new, last-minute demands that the country’s largest rebel group swiftly rejected. The U.S. and Afghanistan signed a deal giving Afghans authority over raids of Afghan homes, resolving one of the most contentious issues between the two wartime allies. Bubba Watson saved par from the pine straw and won the Masters on the second hole of a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen (WUHST’-hy-zen).

Five years ago: Immigrant workers at the famed Tom Cat Bakery in New York who were threatened with being fired if they didn’t produce legal work papers rallied outside President Donald Trump’s Manhattan home.

One year ago: Medical experts testifying at the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin said George Floyd had died of a lack of oxygen from being pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck, emphatically rejecting the defense theory that Floyd’s drug use and underlying health problems killed him. American author John Naisbitt, whose 1982 bestseller “Megatrends” was published in dozens of countries, died in Austria at 92.

Today’s Birthdays: Comedian Shecky Greene is 96. Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Seymour Hersh is 85. “Mouseketeer” Darlene Gillespie is 81. Singer Peggy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 81. Songwriter-producer Leon Huff is 80. Actor Stuart Pankin is 76. Rock musician Steve Howe is 75. Former House Republican leader Tom DeLay is 75. Movie director John Madden is 73. Rock musician Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad) is 71. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is 67. Actor John Schneider is 62. “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch is 61. Rock musician Izzy Stradlin is 60. Singer Julian Lennon is 59. Actor Dean Norris is 59. Rock singer-musician Donita Sparks is 59. Actor Robin Wright is 56. Actor Patricia Arquette is 54. Actor JR Bourne is 52. Rock singer Craig Honeycutt (Everything) is 52. Rock musician Darren Jessee is 51. Actor Emma Caulfield is 49. Actor Katee Sackhoff is 42. Actor Taylor Kitsch is 41. Rock singer-musician Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) is 38. Actor Taran Noah Smith is 38. Actor Kirsten Storms is 38. Actor Sadie Calvano is 25.

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