April 5
Today in America's Present Past
1614 | Pocahontas wed John Rolfe.
1621 | The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, Massachusetts, on a return trip to England, leaving the Pilgrims it brought.
1676 | John Winthrop, the Younger, died.
1761 | War of Independence: Sybil Ludington, a military heroine, was born.
1764 | England imposed the Sugar Tax on the American settlers.
1768 | The first Chamber of Commerce formed.
1792 | POTUS: President Washington exercised the first presidential veto to strike down a Congressional bill to increase the number of seats for northern states in the House of Representatives.
1816 | SCOTUS: Justice Samuel Freeman Miller was born.
1827 | Revolutionary War heroine Deborah Sampson died.
1838 | Zoologist Alpheus Hyatt was born.
1856 | Booker T. Washington was born.
1862 | Civil War: The Siege of Yorktown, Virginia.
1865 | Civil War: Battle at Amelia Springs, Jetersville, Virginia.
1872 | Scientist Samuel Cate Prescott was born.
1888 | Navy Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh was born.
1900 | Actor Spencer Tracy was born.
1901 | Writer Chester Bowles was born.
1908 | Actress Bette Davis was born.
1916 | Actor Gregory Peck was born.
1922 | Eugenicists Margret Singer founded “The American Birth Control League” is a precursor to Planned Parenthood.
1923 | Firestone Tire and Rubber Company began mass producing inflatable tires.
1933 | Author Earl Derr Biggers died.
1933 | POTUS: Democrat President Roosevelt forces Americans to sell their gold to the Federal Reserve by signing Executive Order 6102.
1937 | Inventor Allan R. Thieme was born in Bridgeport, Michigan.
1937 | General Colin Powell was born.
1939 | Singer Ronnie White was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1951 | Cold War: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Soviet spies, were sentenced to death.
1956 | Wrestler Diamond Dallas Page was born.
1957 | Entrepreneur and author George S. Clason died.
1964 | General Douglas MacArthur died.
1968 | Civil Rights: MLK-related riots continue in Chicago, Illinois, Norfolk, Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1970 | Civil Rights: Coachella, California riots.
1973 | Singer Pharrell Williams was born.
1976 | Entrepreneur Howard Hughes died.
1977 | Entrepreneur John Marriott died.
1982 | SCOTUS: Justice Abe Fortas died.
1992 | Entrepreneur Sam Walton died.
1994 | Musician Kurt Cobain died.
1997 | Poet Allen Ginsberg died.
2005 | Novelist Saul Bellow died.
2008 | Actor Charlton Heston died.