On This Day in History - April 4th - Almanac

Today is Thursday, April 4, the 95th day of 2024 with 271 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include social reformer Dorothea Dix in 1802; inventor Linus Yale, developer of the cylinder lock, in 1821; baseball Hall of Fame member Tris Speaker in 1888; actor Bea Benaderet in 1906; blues musician Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield, in 1913; author Maya Angelou in 1928; actor Anthony Perkins in 1932; music producer Clive Davis in 1932 (age 92); former baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1938; South African musician Hugh Masekela in 1939; golf Hall of Fame member JoAnne Carner in 1939 (age 85); author Kitty Kelley in 1942 (age 82); actor Craig T. Nelson in 1944 (age 80); actor Christine Lahti in 1950 (age 74); musician Steve Gatlin (Gatlin Brothers) in 1951 (age 73); actor Mary-Margaret Humes in 1954 (age 70); TV writer/producer David E. Kelley in 1956 (age 68); actor Hugo Weaving in 1960 (age 64); Irish television talk show host Graham Norton in 1963 (age 61); actor David Cross in 1964 (age 60); actor Robert Downey Jr. in 1965 (age 59); musician Josh Todd (Buckcherry) in 1970 (age 54); musician Magnus Sveningsson (Cardigans) in 1972 (age 52); singer Jill Scott in 1972 (age 52); magician David Blaine in 1973 (age 51); actor James Roday Rodriguez in 1976 (age 48); actor Heath Ledger in 1979; actor Natasha Lyonne in 1979 (age 45); actor Eric Andre in 1983 (age 41); singer/TV personality Todrick Hall in 1985 (age 39); singer/actor Jamie Lynn Spears in 1991 (age 33); singer Austin Mahone in 1996 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1841, President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after serving one month in office. He was the ninth President of the United States, and the first to die in office. He was succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, the first person to occupy the office without being elected to it.

In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

In 1887, Susanna Madora Salter was elected as the first female mayor in the United States -- in Argonia, Kan.

In 1933, the USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, is destroyed during a major storm off the coast of New Jersey. The tragedy claimed the lives of 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers.

In 1949, representatives of 12 nations gathered in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the NATO alliance.

In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tenn. He was 39.

In 1975, Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off on its inaugural mission.

In 1991, Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., and six others were killed in the midair collision of a chartered airplane and a helicopter that was inspecting the plane's landing gear near Philadelphia.

In 2005, the president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, officially resigned. He had been driven out by a coup a month earlier.

In 2013, Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago film critic Roger Ebert died after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.

In 2014, the United Nations announced that the millionth refugee from war-torn Syria had entered Lebanon.

In 2017, Syrian government forces kill dozens of civilians in a chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

In 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reversed its policy denying the children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents to be blessed as infants and baptized as members.

In 2023, former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to 34 felony counts related to falsifying records in multiple hush-money schemes, including one involving adult film actor Stormy Daniels. The trial is set for April 2024.

A thought for the day: "No place epitomizes the American experience and the American spirit more than New York City." -- former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg