April 7th in History
National Beer Day: Beer Prohibition in the US ended April 7, 1939
Today in History
- Attila the Hun sacks Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul (451)
- The Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England (1141)
- The first “friction match” goes on sale (1827)
- Joseph Smith, Jr., by his own account, begins translating the golden plates containing the “reformed Egyptian” Book of Mormon into English (1829)
- American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh ends (1862)
- Mount Vesuvius erupts, devastating Naples (1906)
- The US Secretary of the Interior leases the “Teapot Dome” petroleum reserves in Wyoming (1922)
- The first public television broadcast over a distance (Washington, DC, to New York City) displays an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover (1927)
- Prohibition in the US is repealed for beer up to 3.2% alcohol by weight, although the 21st Amendment will not be ratified for another eight months (1939)
- World War II: The largest battleship ever built, 大和 (Yamato) is sunk by American planes (1945)
- The World Health Organization is established (1948)
- President Dwight Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech (1954)
- Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister (1955)
- IBM announces the System/360 computer (1964)
- Roger Ebert publishes his first film review in the Chicago Sun-Times (1967)
- The first Space Shuttle spacewalk takes place during Mission STS-6 (Challenger) (1983)
- The Mars Odyssey is launched (2001)
- Iraq War: US troops capture Baghdad (2003)
Birthdays
- Francis Xavier, missionary and saint, co-founder of the Jesuits (1506)
- William Wordsworth, poet (1770)
- Charles Fourier, philosopher (1772)
- Walter Camp, “father of American football” (1859)
- Will Keith Kellogg, cereal magnate (1860)
- John McGraw, baseball player and manager (1873)
- Gabriel Mistral, poet, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1889)
- Ole Kirk Christiansen, founded Lego (1891)
- Allen Dulles, CIA director (1893)
- Walter Winchell, broadcast journalist (1897)
- Edwin T. Layton, cryptanalyst (1903)
- Percy Faith, composer and bandleader (1908)
- Stanley Adams, actor and screenwriter, “Cyrano Jones” on Star Trek (1915)
- Billie Holiday, singer-songwriter (1915)
- Henry Kuttner, science fiction writer (1915)
- Bobby Doerr, baseball player and coach (1918)
- রবি শংকর (Ravi Shankar), sitar player and composer (1920)
- James Garner, actor (1928)
- Alan J. Pakula, director, producer, screenwriter (1928)
- James White, science fiction writer (1928)
- Joe Gallo, gangster (1929 — died on the same day in 1972)
- Donald Barthelme, journalist (1931)
- Daniel Ellsberg, analyst and theorist, released the Pentagon Papers (1931)
- Wayne Rogers, actor (1933)
- Ian Richardson, actor (1934)
- Hodding Carter III, journalist and politician (1935)
- Jerry Brown, California governor (1938)
- Freddie Hubbard, trumpet player
- Frances Ford Coppola, film and wine maker (1939)
- David Frost, television journalist and game show host (1939)
- Julia Phillips, producer, wrote You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again (1944)
- Stan Winston, special effects artist (1946)
- John Oates, singer-songwriter, half of Hall & Oates (1949)
- Janis Ian, singer-songwriter (1951)
- 陳港生 (Jackie Chan), actor and martial artist (1954)
- Christopher Darden, prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson trial (1956)
- Buster Douglas, boxer (1960)
- Hugh O’Connor, actor (1962)
- Russell Crowe, actor (1964)
- Rondé and Tiki Barber, football players (1975)
- Kevin Alejandro, actor (1976)
Deaths
- El Greco, painter (1614)
- Dick Turpin, criminal (1739)
- Thomas Bayes, mathematician (1761)
- Toussaint L’Ouverture, Haitian revolutionary (1803)
- William Godwin, utilitarian (1836)
- P. T. Barnum, showman (1891)
- Henry Ford, car manufacturer (1947)
- Walter Huston, actor (1950)
- Theda Barr, actress (1955)
- Joe Gallo, gangster (1972 — born on the same day in 1929)
- Frank Church, US senator (1984)
- Ronald Evans, astronaut (1990)
- Alex Schomburg, painter and comic book artist (1998)
- David Graf, actor (2001)
- John Agar, actor (2002)
- Cecile de Brunhoff, co-creator of Babar (2003)
- Johnny Hart, newspaper cartoonist (2007)
- Barry Nelson, first actor to play James Bond (2007)
- Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons (2009)
- Mike Wallace, television journalist (2012)
- Lily Pulitzer, fashion designer (2013)
- Carl Williams, boxer (2013)
Holidays
- Day of Maternity and Beauty (Armenia)
- Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda)
- International Beaver Day (Worldwide)
- International Bird Migration Day (Costa Rica)
- Metric System Day (Worldwide)
- National Beer Day (US, celebrates the legalization of 3.2% beer in 1939)
- National Coffee Cake Day (US food holidays)
- Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
- Women’s Day (Mozambique)
- World Health Day (International)
Informal and made-up holidays include Caramel Popcorn Day, International Snailpapers Day, No Housework Day, and Tater Day.
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April 7 is the 97th day of the year (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining until the end of the year.