April 21st
Today in America's Present Past
1649 | Civil Rights: The Maryland Toleration Act was passed in the American colony, allowing freedom of worship for Christians.
1789 | POTUS: John Adams was sworn in as the first Vice President.
1800 | SCOTUS: Justice Alfred Moore is sworn in.
1838 | Naturalist John Muir was born.
1855 | Opposition to “Sunday Blue Laws” erupts in the “Lager Beer Riot” in Chicago, Illinois.
1866 | Indian Wars: Circleville massacre.
1877 | Indian Wars: America’s victory in the Great Sioux War.
1878 | POTUS: First Lady Lucy Hayes begins “egg rolling” races on White House lawn.
1892 |Civil Rights: Longshoremen strike for higher wages in St Louis, Missouri.
1894 | The Bituminous Coal Miner’s Strike starts.
1898 | The Spanish-American War starts (with Spain declaring war on the U.S.).
1908 | The polar explorer Frederick Cook claims to have been the first person to reach the North Pole.
1910 | Novelist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a.k.a., Mark Twain died.
1911 | Entrepreneur Ivan Combe was born.
1915 | Actor Anthony Quinn was born.
1930 | Entrepreneur Don Tyson was born.
1935 | Politician Thomas Kean was born.
1936 | Psychologist and cleric James Dobson was born.
1947 | Musician Iggy Pop was born in Muskegon, Michigan.
1967 | Cold War: Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Allilueva defects to the U.S.
1995 | War on Terror: FBI arrests Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing case.
2012 | Watergate figure Charles Colson died.
2016 | Musician “Prince” Rogers Nelson died.