This Day in History — April 4

• Dominical letter -

A letter from A to G = denoting Sundays in the ecclesiastical calendar for the year

~January 1 Sunday = A

~January 2 Sunday = B

~so on to Sunday G

————————————————————————————National Days:

- Vitamin C Day

- Jeep 4x4 Day

- Chicken Cordon Bleu Day

- School Librarian Day

- Hug a Newsperson Day

- Walk Around Things Day

- Love our Children Day (1st Sat. in April)

- Handmade Day (1st Sat. in April)

- Play Outside Day (1st Sat. of every month)

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What Happened:

— 1789 - The first Congress begins their regular session

— 1818 - Congress decides the U.S. flag will have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars

~13 stripes = 13 colonies

~20 stars = 20 states in the Union

*following the admission of Mississippi as the 20th state*

— 1841 - President William Henry Harrison becomes the first President to die in office

~gave the longest inauguration speech of ~ 2 hours outside in the freezing, wet, windy weather with no coat or hat and died a month later

~he was the oldest president elected at the time of 68 and wanted to prove his vitality = rejecting a hat and coat to prove he was not a weak old man. It did not work out.

— 1841 - VP John Tyler (1841-45) prelaces President Harrison after his death as the 10th president

— 1850 - Los Angeles was incorporated as an American city

~population = 1,600

— 1887 - Susanna M. Salter elected the first female mayor in the U.S. in Argonia, KS

— 1930 - The American Interplanetary Society founded

~later known as the American Rocket Society

~founded by a group of science fiction writers

— 1949 - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty is signed in Washington, D.C.

~32-member intergovernmental military alliance to ensure collective security = primarily against Soviet and now Russian aggression

~founding member countries of this military alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

— 1958 - The peace symbol, designed by Gerald Holtom, first public debut

~displayed on signage during a protest staged by the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

— 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray

— 1969 - US surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley implants worlds first totally artificial heart in a human

~The patient, Haskell Karp, received a donor heart days later

~then lived only a few days before dying of pneumonia and kidney failure

— 1973 - The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are officially dedicated

— 1975 - Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft

~the world's largest personal-computer software company

— 1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for a ban on chemical weapons

~Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) - a comprehensive treaty designed to ban the development, production, and stockpiling of chemical weapons

— 2023 - Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records

~first time in American history that a U.S. president faced criminal charges in court

~in connection with an alleged hush-money scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign

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Birth/Death:

— Dorothea Dix (April 1802-1887): Nurse

~advocated behalf of mentally ill and later created the first generation of American mental asylums

— Linus Yale Jr. (April 1821-1868): Inventor of the cylinder lock

— William Cumming Rose (April 1887-1985): Biochemist

~discovered the amino acid threonine

•consumed in diet = critical for producing proteins, collagen, elastin, tooth enamel, supporting immune function by creating antibodies, assisting in liver fat metabolism, and helps maintain a healthy central nervous system

— William Henry Harrison (1773-April 1841): Ninth U.S. President (March 4, 1841 - April 4, 1841)

~died of pneumonia a month after inauguration

~shortest term in American history of 32 days

— Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-April 1968): U.S. civil rights leader

~was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee

~set up!!

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Sources: nationaldaycalendar, farmersalmanac, britannica

#thisdayinhistory #april4 #ravenseyrie