On This Day in History - April 8th - Almanac

Today is Saturday, April 8, the 98th day of 2017 with 267 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1726; pioneer neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing in 1869; actor Mary Pickford in 1892; Olympic figure skater/actor Sonja Henie in 1912; former first lady Betty Ford in 1918; comedian Shecky Greene in 1926 (age 91); composer Jacques Brel in 1929; actor/ former Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin in 1931 (age 86); journalist Seymour Hersh in 1937 (age 80); former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1938 (age 79); basketball Hall of Fame member John Havlicek in 1940 (age 77); choreographer Michael Bennett of A Chorus Line fame in 1943; baseball Hall of Fame member Jim "Catfish" Hunter in 1946; rock musician Steve Howe in 1947 (age 70); baseball Hall of Fame member Gary Carter in 1954; novelist Barbara Kingsolver in 1955 (age 62); actor/singer John Schneider in 1960 (age 57); musician Julian Lennon in 1963 (age 54); actor Robin Wright in 1966 (age 51); actor Patricia Arquette in 1968 (age 49); actor Taylor Kitsch in 1981 (age 36) and Taran Noah Smith in 1984 (age 33).

On this date in history:

In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, requiring that U.S. senators be "elected by the people."

In 1918, actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin pitch Third Liberty Loan bonds in front of the Sub-Treasury (now Federal Hall National Memorial) in New York City.

In 1935, the U.S. Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.

In 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.

In 1960, the United States Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign it into law on May 6, 1960.

In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding career record. Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762.

In 1990, Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the disease at age 18.

In 1992, former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.

In 1993, Marian Anderson, the first African-American singer to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera, died at age 91.

In 2005, about 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome's St. Peter's Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.

In 2008, American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled about 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers.

In 2011, with less than 2 hours to spare, U.S. President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders reached agreement on a federal budget, narrowly averting a government shutdown.

In 2012, a church in Makurdi, Nigeria collapsed during Easter mass, killing 22 people.

In 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, or ISIS.

A thought for the day: "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." -- William Shakespeare