On This Day in History - April 14th - Almanac

Today is Sunday, April 14, the 105th day of 2024 with 261 to follow.

The moon is waxing. 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 Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens, founder of the wave theory of light, in 1629; Anne Sullivan, the "miracle worker" who taught a blind and deaf Helen Keller, in 1866; English historian Arnold Toynbee in 1889; Haitian dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier in 1907; actor Rod Steiger in 1925; actor Bradford Dillman in 1930; country singer Loretta Lynn in 1932; writer Erich von Daniken in 1935 (age 89); crusading New York police detective Frank Serpico in 1936 (age 88); actor Julie Christie in 1940 (age 84); Pete Rose, former baseball star and manager, in 1941 (age 83); musician Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) in 1945 (age 79); actor Peter Capaldi in 1958 (age 66); race car driver/actor Brian Forster in 1960 (age 64); actor Brad Garrett in 1960 (age 64); actor Robert Carlyle in 1961 (age 63); actor Anthony Michael Hall in 1968 (age 56); actor Adrien Brody in 1973 (age 51); rapper Da Brat, born Shawntae Harris, in 1974 (age 50); actor Sarah Michelle Gellar in 1977 (age 47); actor Rob McElhenney in 1977 (age 47); musician Win Butler (Arcade Fire) in 1980 (age 44); actor Chris Wood in 1988 (age 36); actor Graham Phillips in 1993 (age 31); actor Abigail Breslin in 1996 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1775, the first slavery abolition society in North America was founded by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

In 1828, Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language. It was the first dictionary of American English to be published.

In 1861, the flag of the Confederacy was raised over Fort Sumter, S.C., as Union troops there surrendered in the early days of the Civil War.

In 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next morning. He was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.

In 1918, two U.S. pilots of the First Aero Squadron shot down two enemy German planes over the Allied Squadron Aerodome in France during World War I. It was the first U.S.-involved dogfight in history. One of the pilots, Lt. Douglas Campbell, would eventually shoot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first U.S. flying ace.

In 1927, the first Volvo was produced in Sweden.

In 1931, King Alfonso XIII was deposed, ending 981 years of monarchical rule in Spain, and ushering in the Second Spanish Republic, the republican regime that governed Spain from 1931 to 1939.

In 1939, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck was published.

In 1963, police broke up an Easter Sunday anti-segregation protest march in Birmingham, Ala., that saw Black Americans attend services at two white churches.

In 1986, Bishop Desmond Tutu was named Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa.

In 1994, in what was called a tragic mistake, two U.S. warplanes shot down two U.S. Army helicopters in northern Iraq's no-fly zone. All 26 people aboard were killed.

In 2003, U.S. military officials declared that the principal fighting in Iraq was over after Marines captured Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

In 2008, Silvio Berlusconi swept back into power in a third term as prime minister of Italy in a new election that gave him control of both houses of Parliament.

In 2010, the devastating magnitude-7.1 Yushu earthquake staggered northwest China. Officials reported the death toll eventually surpassed 2,600, with many thousands of people injured.

In 2013, Nicolas Maduro was elected president of Venezuela.

In 2021, President Joe Biden announced he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, a plan that NATO's 30 member states agreed to following a meeting with U.S. military and foreign relations leaders.

A thought for the day: "It's OK to make mistakes. Just try not to make the same mistakes over." -- American rapper Da Brat