On This Day in History - April 7th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, April 7, the 97th day of 2019 with 268 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include missionary St. Francis Xavier in 1506; English poet William Wordsworth in 1770; "Father of American Football" Walter Camp in 1859; CIA Director Allen Dulles in 1893; gossip columnist Walter Winchell in 1897; singer Billie Holiday in 1915; sitar player Ravi Shankar in 1920; actor James Garner in 1928; former Defense Department analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, in 1931 (age 88); California Gov. Jerry Brown Jr. in 1938 (age 81); film director Francis Ford Coppola in 1939 (age 80); British TV personality David Frost in 1939; former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 1944 (age 75); musician John Oates in 1948 (age 71); singer/songwriter Janis Ian in 1951 (age 68); actor/martial arts expert Jackie Chan in 1954 (age 65); football Hall of Fame member Tony Dorsett in 1954 (age 65); actor Russell Crowe in 1964 (age 55); British astronaut Timothy Peake in 1972 (age 47); pop singer Anne-Marie, born Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson, in 1991 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1862, Union forces under the command of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at Shiloh, Tenn.

In 1922, under the direction Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall, petroleum reserves at Wyoming's Teapot Dome Oil Field were leased without competitive bidding to private companies. A Senate investigation ensued, leading to a bribery case that would become known as the Teapot Dome scandal.

In 1933, less than a month after President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to permit the manufacture and sale of beer, the Volstead Act was modified to allow for this request.

In 1947, auto pioneer Henry Ford died in Detroit at the age of 83. In 1896, he built his first self-propelled, gas-engine vehicle, and in 1903 incorporated the Ford Motor Company. He is credited for developing the first affordable, mass-produced car, the Model T, and pioneering the assembly line.

In 1990, suspected arson fires aboard the ferry Scandinavian Star killed at least 75 people in Scandinavia's worst post-war maritime disaster.

In 2009, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was re-elected to a third five-year term despite failing health since a reported stroke in August 2008. He died in 2011.

In 2010, air travel resumed, most roads reopened and crews worked to restore power in Rio de Janeiro after a rainstorm and mudslide left more than 133 people dead.

In 2011, a 23-year-old former student returned to his public elementary school in Rio de Janeiro and opened fire with two revolvers, killing 12 children and injuring 12 others before shooting himself in the head as police closed in.

In 2012, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace, the CBS 60 Minutes icon, died in New Canaan, Conn. He was 93.

In 2013, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri used an Internet video to urge rebels in Syria to fight to establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law.

In 2017, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk missiles into a west Syrian airfield from where it was believed President Bashar al-Assad's regime launched a deadly chemical attack that killed and injured hundreds of civilians.

In 2018, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a gas attack in the town of Douma, killing some 40 people.

A thought for the day: "Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." -- Bruce Lee