This Day in History – April 19, 2011

1775 Revolution begins-Lexington Common, shot “heard round the world” 1782 Netherlands recognizes US 1909 Joan of Arc, declared a saint 1919 Leslie Irvin of US makes 1st parachute jump & free fall 1932 President Herbert Hoover suggests 5 day work week 1933 FDR announces US will leave the gold standard 1934 Shirley Temple appears in her 1st movie, “Stand Up & Cheer” 1939 Connecticut finally approves Bill of Rights (148 years late) 1948 ABC-TV network begins 1951 General Douglas MacArthur ends his military career 1960 Baseball uniforms begin displaying player’s names on their backs 1960 Comiskey Park’s famed “exploding” scoreboard begins operating 1965 1st all news radio station (WINS 1010 AM in NYC) begins operating 1965 At a cost of $20,000, the outer Astrodome ceiling is painted because of sun’s glare, this causes the grass to die and eventually led to the installation of Astroturf 1966 Roberta Bignay becomes the 1st woman to run in the Boston Marathon 1972 Bangladesh becomes a member of British Commonwealth 1979 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WFAT (Brooklyn NY) 1982 Sally Ride announced as 1st woman astronaut 1982 Guinon Bluford announced as 1st black astronaut 1984 Nemesis, death star of dinosaurs 1st appears in print (Nature magazine) 1987 Last wild condor captured on California wildlife reserve 1991 Battle of the Ages-Heavyweight champion Evander Hollyfield beats 42 year old George Foreman in 12 for heavyweight boxing title 1993 Branch Dividians/FBI 51 day standoff in Waco TX ends with the deaths of 4 FBI Agents and numerous deaths from suicide of the cult members 1994 Rodney King award $3,800,000 in compensation of police beating 1994 Supreme Court outlaws excluding people from juries because of gender 1995 Truck bomb outside Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, kills 168 & injures 500]]]]> ]]>