April 2, 2016

175 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Clément Ader. French engineer and inventor. Mr. Ader improved on the telephone in 1878 and in 1881 invented the théâtrophone, a system of telephonic transmission where listeners received a separate channel for each ear, enabling stereophonic perception of the actors on a set; it was this invention which gave the first stereo transmission of opera performances, over a distance of 2 miles. He was best known for his prototype aircrafts, especially the Avion III, a steam-powered aircraft that failed to impress the French military when it was given a trial in 1897. Mr. Ader died on May 3, 1925 at the age of 84.

130 years ago
1886

Academia
Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy at Sackville, New Bruswick received a college charter; today it's known as Mount Allison University.

125 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Jack Buchanan. U.K. actor. Mr. Buchanan was known for portraying debonair British gentlemen on stage and screen in a career lasting for more than three decades. He died of spinal cancer on October 20, 1957 at the age of 66.

Max Ernst. German-born painter and sculptor. Mr. Ernst was a pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism. He spent much of his life in France, and died on April 1, 1976, the day before his 85th birthday.

Died on this date
Albert Pike, 81. U.S. military officer and Freemason. Mr. Pike was a captain in a cavalry unit during the U.S.-Mexican War in the 1840s, and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865). He was best known for his involvement with and influence within Freemasonry; his book Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (first published in 1872) remains an influential textbook of Scottish Rite Freemasonic philosophy.

Ahmed Vefik Pasha, 67. Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, 1878, 1882. Vefik Pasha held various positions, and was Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) under Sultan Abdul Hamid II from February 4-April 18, 1878 and December 1-3, 1882.

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Johnny Golden. U.S. golfer. Mr. Golden turned professional in 1915 and won 10 professional tournaments, including the Connecticut Open four straight years (1932-1935). He died on January 27, 1936 at the age of 39, three days after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia.

75 years ago
1941

War
German troops massed along the Romanian and Hungarian borders with Yugoslavia, while Yugoslavia rejected Italian Duce Benito Mussolini's offer to mediate its border dispute with Germany. The Peruvian Navy announced that German freighters that had fled Peru on March 31 had been found aflame and sinking several hundred miles off the coast. Mexican marines seized 10 German ships at Tampico to prevent their scuttling. Noted British scientists Sir Lawrence Bragg and Charles Darwin arrived in Ottawa to do war research.

Diplomacy
Pope Pius XII received Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka at the Vatican in a conference lasting over an hour. The German and Italian embassies in the United States protested for the second time to the U.S. State Department over the seizure of their merchant ships.

Defense
U.K. Commanding Officer in East Asia Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham arrived in Manila to confer with U.S. Navy Admiral Thomas Hart and U.S. Army Major General Douglas MacArthur on defense plans for the Philippines. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Navy to prepare secret Hemispheric Defense Plan No. 1, calling for aggressive action by U.S. warships against German submarines in the western Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 324-1 in favour of a resolution authorizing its Military and Naval Affairs Committee to investigate the progress of the defense program, including the effects of labour strikes.

Politics and government
The Chinese government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek named Kuo Tai-chi as Foreign Minister, replacing Wang Chung-hui, who became Secretary General of the Supreme National Defense Council.

Labour
200 Congress of Industrial Organizations United Auto Workers strikers and non-strikers were injured in clashes at Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant, and Michigan state police were ordered to the scene. Ford personnel director Harry Bennett wired U.S. President Roosevelt, describing the incident as "a Communistic demonstration of violent terrorism." U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins sent the 71-day Allis-Chalmers strike in Milwaukee to the National Defense Mediation Board. United Mine Workers of America President John L. Lewis said that he would oppose any move to submit the coal strike to the NDMB. Four striking miners were shot to death in a coal company commissary near Harlan, Kentucky.

70 years ago
1946

War
At the Nuremberg trials of accused Nazi war criminals, former German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop admitted supporting Fuehrer Adolf Hitler's repressive policies against Jews, but said that he did so in order not to upset the Fuehrer.

Defense
The U.S. Senate Atomic Energy Committee approved the revised Vandenberg amendment, calling for a military committee appointed by the Navy and War secretaries which would have jurisdiction over military applications of atomic energy.

Medicine
Dr. John Enders reported isolation of the virus that caused mumps, making serums and vaccines possible.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Boston 2 @ Montreal 3 (OT) (Montreal led best-of-seven series 2-0)

Jim Peters scored 16:55 into the 1st overtime period to give the Canadiens their second straight overtime win over the Bruins at the Montreal Forum.

60 years ago
1956

On television today
As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiered on CBS, becoming the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): These Boots are Made for Walkin'--Nancy Sinatra (5th week at #1)

#1 single in France: Mon Crédo--Mireille Mathieu

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Nessuno mi può giudicare--Caterina Caselli (8th week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): 19th Nervous Breakdown--The Rolling Stones

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): These Boots are Made for Walkin'--Nancy Sinatra (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore--The Walker Brothers (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): The Ballad of the Green Berets--SSgt Barry Sadler (5th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 19th Nervous Breakdown--The Rolling Stones
2 Nowhere Man--The Beatles
3 The Ballad of the Green Berets--SSgt Barry Sadler
4 Daydream--The Lovin' Spoonful
5 Homeward Bound--Simon & Garfunkel
6 (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration--The Righteous Brothers
7 California Dreamin'--The Mamas and the Papas
8 Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)--Cher
9 634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)--Wilson Pickett
10 Sure Gonna Miss Her--Gary Lewis and the Playboys

Singles entering the chart were Sloop John B by the Beach Boys (#56); Try Too Hard by the Dave Clark Five (#60); Till the End of the Day by the Kinks (#69); Eight Miles High by the Byrds (#77); A Groovy Kind of Love by the Mindbenders (#80); I'm Comin' Home, Cindy by Trini Lopez (#83); La La La by Gerry and the Pacemakers (#87); A Lover's Concerto by Sarah Vaughan (#90); Message to Michael by Dionne Warwick (#93); History Repeats Itself by Buddy Starcher (#97); Killer Joe by the Kingsmen (#98); Greetings (This is Uncle Sam) by the Monitors (#99); History Repeats Itself by Cab Calloway (#100); You've Got My Mind Messed Up by James Carr (also #100); and I'm the Sky by Eddie Rambeau (also #100).

Died on this date
C. S. Forester, 66. U.K. author. Cecil Scott Forester, born Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, was best known for the novel The African Queen (1935) and his 12 novels published from 1937-1962 about Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Navy officer during the Napoleonic Wars.

40 years ago
1976

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Mississippi--Pussycat (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Rocky--Frank Farian

#1 single in Switzerland: Fernando--ABBA

Baseball
The Oakland Athletics traded outfielder Reggie Jackson and pitchers Ken Holtzman and Bill Van Bommel to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Don Baylor and pitchers Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell. Mr. Jackson batted .253 with 36 home runs and 104 runs batted in 157 games in 1975, tying Milwaukee's George Scott for the American League lead in homers. Mr. Holtzman posted a record of 18-14 with an earned run average of 3.15 in 39 games. Mr. Van Bommel split the 1975 season between Birmingham in the AA Southern League and Tucson in the AAA Pacific Coast League, posting a 7-9 record and 2.90 ERA in 16 games with Birmingham and a 0-4 record and 9.00 ERA in 13 games with Tucson. Mr. Baylor batted .282 with 25 home runs, 76 runs batted in, and 32 stolen bases in 145 games with Baltimore in 1975. Mr. Torrez was 20-9 with a 3.06 ERA in 36 games, leading the AL with a winning percentage of .690. Mr. Mitchell divided the season between the Orioles and the Rochester Red Wings of the AAA International League, posting a 10-1 record and 2.06 ERA with 3 shutouts in 14 games with Rochester and a 3-0 record and 3.63 ERA in 11 games with Baltimore.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Brother Louie--Modern Talking (5th week at #1)

Terrorism
Four people, including an eight-month-old baby, were sucked out of a TWA Boeing 727 jet flying 11,000 feet over Greece on a Rome-to-Cairo route when a bomb blew a hole in the plane’s side.

Defense
U.S. President Ronald Reagan implemented by executive order some of the recommendations of his commission on defense management and asked Congress to approve the commission’s call for a stronger role for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and for the creation of an undersecretary of defense for acquisition.

Politics and government
Alabama governor George Wallace announced that he would not seek a fifth four-year term and would retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.

Basketball
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted the 3-point field goal for men’s basketball and decided to use instant replay to check scoring and timing errors.

25 years ago
1991

War
France and Turkey asked the United Nations to intervene on behalf of insurgents in Iraq, while the U.S. State Department reiterated its hands-off policy toward the insurrection by Kurds and Shiites against the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

Politics and government
Bill Vander Zalm resigned as Premier of British Columbia after a commissioner found that the premier had violated B.C.'s conflict-of-interest guidelines. The conflict-of-interest concerned the sale of Mr. Vander Zalm's botanical garden and Christian theme park Fantasy Gardens to a Taiwanese businessman. Mr. Vander Zalm insisted that the sale had been a family business decision handled by his wife Lillian. Conflict-of-interest commissioner Ted Hughes found that Mr. Vander Zalm found that the premier had been actively involved in the sale and had accorded the buyer, Tan Yu, "red-carpet treatment," and had set up meetings for Tan with prominent provincial officials. Mr. Vander Zalm was succeeded by Rita Johnston, the first woman to become premier of a Canadian province.

20 years ago
1996

Health
The U.S. Defense Department stated that a study of 18,598 Gulf War veterans failed to establish the existence of the alleged Gulf War Syndrome.

10 years ago
2006

Disasters
Over 60 tornadoes broke out in the United States; Tennessee was hardest hit, with 29 people killed.