John George Lambdon(governor-general of British North America)β
Beverly Cleary(author)β
Dr. Peter Safar(originator of CPR)β
Montserrat Caballe(opera singer)β
Herbie Hancock(musician)β
David Letterman(talk show host)β
Tom Clancy(author)β
David Cassidy(singer and actor)β
Andy GarcΓa(actor)β
Vince Gill(musician)β
Shannen Doherty(actress)β
Jennifer Morrison(actress)β
Claire Danes(actress)β
Stubbs the Cat(honorary mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska)β
Died
Clara Barton(founder of the American Red Cross)β
Franklin D. Roosevelt(32nd U.S. president)β
Sugar Ray Robinson(boxer)β
Abbie Hoffman(social and political activist)β
Georgia Engel(actress, best known as Georgette Franklin on The Mary Tyler Moore Show)β
Events
Charles A. Gayler received a patent for a fireproof safeβ
Charles Gayler received a patent for a fireproof iron chest
β
First U.S. championship billiards gameβ
The US Civil War beganβ
Women granted the right to vote in Ontarioβ
Nova Scotia’s Moose River gold mine collapsed, trapping 3 peopleβ
Bill Haley and His Comets recorded Rock Around the Clockβ
The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Salk was found to be successful after subjection to a year of clinical trialsβ
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the 5th Dimension topped the charts for 6 weeksβ
Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope across Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland, by dipping his artificial leg into the Atlantic Oceanβ
Space shuttle Columbia first launchedβ
Harold Washington was elected the first African-American mayor of Chicagoβ
Texaco Inc. became the largest U.S. company in history to file bankruptcy after it is ordered to pay Pennzoil $8.53 billion in damages for unfair business practicesβ
Golfer Fred Couples won the Masters tournamentβ
Weather
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was hit by a tornado; 150 houses lost their roofsβ
Fourteen inches of snow at Bloomfield, Vermontβ
231-mph wind gust on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, second highest wind speed in the worldβ