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  • Prohibition in the US is repealed for beer up to 3.2% alcohol by weight, although the 21st Amendment will not be ratified for another eight months (1939)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.