On This Day in History - April 8th - Almanac

Today is Monday, April 8, the 99th day of 2024 with 267 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1726; actor Mary Pickford in 1892; Olympic figure skater/actor Sonja Henie in 1912; actor María Félix in 1914; former first lady Betty Ford in 1918; comedian Shecky Greene in 1926; composer Jacques Brel in 1929; actor/former Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin in 1931; journalist Seymour Hersh in 1937 (age 87); former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1938; basketball Hall of Fame member John Havlicek in 1940; choreographer Michael Bennett in 1943; musician Steve Howe (Yes) in 1947 (age 77); filmmaker John Madden in 1949 (age 75); baseball Hall of Fame member Gary Carter in 1954; novelist Barbara Kingsolver in 1955 (age 69); actor/singer John Schneider in 1960 (age 64); musician Izzy Stradlin, born Jeffrey Isbell, (Guns N' Roses) in 1962 (age 62); actor Dean Norris in 1963 (age 61); musician Julian Lennon in 1963 (age 61); actor Robin Wright in 1966 (age 58); actor Patricia Arquette in 1968 (age 56); musician Darren Jessee (Ben Folds Five) in 1971 (age 53); actor Sung Kang in 1972 (age 52); actor Emma Caulfield in 1973 (age 51); Navy SEAL veteran Chris Kyle in 1974; actor Taylor Kitsch in 1981 (age 43); musician Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) in 1984 (age 40); actor Gabriella Wilde in 1989 (age 35); actor Skai Jackson in 2002 (age 22).

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 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 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.

In 2021, archaeologists announced what they called the most important ancient Egyptian discovery since that of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 -- that of the so-called "Lost Golden City" of Aten.

In 2022, SpaceX made history by launching the first private crew of astronauts to the International Space Station to conduct dozens of science experiments. The Ax-1 mission docked with the ISS the next day.

A thought for the day: American writer Archibald MacLeish said Americans "were the first self-constituted, self-declared, self-created people in the history of the world."