April 4, 2016

1,120 years ago
896

Died on this date
Formosus, 79-80 (?). Roman Catholic Pope, 891-896. Formosus became cardinal bishop of Porto in 864, and undertook several diplomatic missions before succeeding Stephen V as pope. Formosus' reign was marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Kingdom of West Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire. He was succeeded by Boniface VI.

175 years ago
1841

Died on this date
William Henry Harrison, 68. 9th President of the United States (1841). Major General Harrison served with the U.S. Army in wars agains the Indians and the War of 1812, earning the nickname "Old Tippecanoe" for his role in leading troops against Tecumseh in the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811). He held various political offices, including Governor of Indiana Territory (1801-1812), and U.S. Senator, representing Ohio (1825-1828) while a member of the Democratic-Republican Party. Mr. Harrison resigned from the Senate to accept the position of U.S. Ambassador to Gran Colombia (1828-1829). He was the unsuccessful Whig Party candidate for President of the United States in 1836, but was elected in 1840, becoming the oldest man yet elected to the presidency. On March 4, 1841, Mr. Harrison delivered a two-hour inaugural address on a rainy day while not wearing a hat, but it wasn't until March 26 that he developed cold-like symptoms, which turned into pneumonia. A recent analysis has concluded that President Harrison died from septic shock due to "enteric fever" (typhoid or paratyphoid fever) as a result of the White House water supply being downstream from public sewage. Mr. Harrison was the first American president to die in office, and was succeeded by Vice President John Tyler.

150 years ago
1866

World events
Czar Aleksandr II of Russia narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in St. Petersburg.

120 years ago
1896

Born on this date
Robert E. Sherwood. U.S. playwright and screenwriter. Mr. Sherwood was a film critic in the 1920s and an original member of the Algonquin Round Table before beginning his career as a playwright, with his plays often expressing an anti-war viewpoint. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Idiot's Delight (1936); Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1939); and There Shall Be No Night (1940). Mr. Sherwood began writing screenplays, often uncredited, in 1926; he won an Academy Award for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Mr. Sherwood changed his anti-war views when World War II began; he was a speechwriter for U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was director of the Office of War Information (1943-1945), resulting in his book Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (1948), which won the Pulitzer Prize for History or Biography. Mr. Sherwood died of a heart attack on November 14, 1955 at the age of 59.

Economics and finance
News of the Yukon's Klondike gold strike was reported Vancouver, British Columbia, the first time the news reached the outside world.

100 years ago
1916

Born on this date
David White. U.S. actor. Mr. White was best known for playing Larry Tate in the television comedy series Bewitched (1964-1972). He died on November 27, 1990 at the age of 74.

Nikola Ljubičić. President of Serbia, 1982-1984. Mr. Ljubičić, a Communist, was Yugoslavia's Secretary of Defense from 1967-1982 and was a member of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1984-1989. He died on April 13, 2005, nine days after his 89th birthday.

Mickey Owen. U.S. baseball player. Mr. Owen was a catcher with the St. Louis Cardinals (1937-1940); Brooklyn Dodgers (1941-1945); Chicago Cubs (1949-1951); and Boston Red Sox (1954), batting .255 with 14 home runs and 378 runs batted in in 1,029 games. He set a record for catchers in 1941 with 508 consecutive errorless fielding chances, but is best remembered for dropping a third strike in that year's World Series against the New York Yankees that would have ended the fourth game in favour of Brooklyn and tied the series at two games each. Instead, the Yankees rallied for 4 runs to take a 3-1 lead in the series, and won the series the next day. Mr. Owen played and managed with Veracruz in the Mexican League in 1946, but sat out the next two seasons. In later years, Mr. Owen ran a baseball camp for boys and served as a sheriff; he died on July 13, 2005 at the age of 89.

80 years ago
1936

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Louis Hector and Harry West, on MBS
Tonight’s episode: The Hindoo in the Wicker Basket

75 years ago
1941

War
King Peter II of Yugoslavia released a royal proclamation, dated April 1, ordering the mobilization of the country's "entire military might." German Fuehrer Adolf Hitler promised Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka that if Japan got into a war with the United States, Germany would declare war at once.

World events
The Iraqi government of Seyid Taha al-Hashimi was reportedly overthrown by nationalist extremists aided by military elements.

Defense
The Mexican Senate ratified the air pact with the United States, permitting reciprocal use of airfields.

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye appointed Vice Admiral Tijero Toyoda as minister of commerce and industry, and Lieutenant General Teichi Suzuki as president of the planning board.

Crime
A U.S. federal grand jury in New Orleans indicted 64 Italian seamen for sabotaging their two ships.

Scandal
A U.S. federal jury convicted the American Medical Association and the Medical Society of Washington of Sherman Antitrust Act violations, but acquitted 18 individual defendants.

Agriculture
Germany and France signed an agreement for the exchange of food surpluses.

Labour
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned that direct federal action may be taken if the strike at the Allis-Chalmers plant in Milwaukee continued much longer. The U.S. Senate and passed to President Roosevelt a bill extending the Bituminous Coal Act, or Guffey Act, for two years from its April 26, 1941 expiration date--a move designed to speed settlement of the coal strike.

Ford Motor Company closed 34 plants on the grounds that they lacked parts.

70 years ago
1946

Radio
RCA President David Sarnoff urged the United Nations to establish an international broadcasting system.

Politics and government
Greek Archbishop Damaskinos swore in State Council President Panayotis Poulitsas and his cabinet to serve as an interim government until the Populist Party could choose its own leader.

Diplomacy
Brazilian Foreign Minister Joao Neves de Fountoura said that his country would continue friendly relations with the Argentine government of President Juan Peron.

Crime
Dr. Marcel Petiot, 49, the "Bluebeard of Paris," was convicted and sentenced to death for robbing and killing 24 people.

Defense
A U.S. Senate Military Affairs subcommittee sent President Harry Truman the draft of a bill calling for a single Department of National Defense. Mr. Truman named Clark Clifford as hs naval aide.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Senate Banking and Currency Committee approved the Wagner-Ellender-Taft bill, providing federal aid for construction of one million homes a year for the next 10 years.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Finals
Montreal 4 @ Boston 2 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-0)

Ken Mosdell and Dutch Hiller scored in the 3rd period to break a 2-2 tie as the Canadiens defeated the Bruins at Boston Garden.

50 years ago
1966

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Yo Soy Aquel--Raphael (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Sea Around Us--The Ludlows (2nd week at #1)

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Woman--Peter & Gordon
2 Homeward Bound--Simon & Garfunkel
3 Magic Town--The Vogues
4 Nowhere Man--The Beatles
5 Elusive Butterfly--Bob Lind
6 Daydream--The Lovin' Spoonful
7 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry--B.J. Thomas and the Triumphs
8 It's Too Late--Bobby Goldsboro
9 19th Nervous Breakdown--The Rolling Stones
10 Spanish Flea--Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass

Singles entering the chart were Hold Tight by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (#81); Memories are Made of This by the Drifters (#84); Caroline, No by Brian Wilson (#85); Hi Heel Sneakers by the Ramsey Lewis Trio (#86); Till the End of the Day by the Kinks (#92); Helpless by Kim Weston (#93); Young Love by Lesley Gore (#94); Follow Me by Lyme and Cybelle (#95); Try Too Hard by the Dave Clark Five (#97); Still by the Sunrays (#98); Don't Push Me by Hedgehoppers Anonymous (#99); and The Big Hurt by Del Shannon (#100).

Space
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced the selection of its fifth group of astronauts, consisting of 19 men: Vance Brand; John Bull; Jerry Carr; Charlie Duke; Joe Engle; Ron Evans; Ed Givens; Fred Haise; Jim Irwin; Don Lind; Jack Lousma; Bruce McCandless; Ken Mattingly; Edgar Mitchell; Bill Pogue; Stu Roosa; Jack Swigert; Paul Weitz; and Al Worden.

Agriculture
Canada started a five-year, $350,000 project to help increase wheat production in Kenya.

40 years ago
1976

World events
Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigned as leader of Cambodia and was placed under house arrest. Khieu Samphan replaced him as head of state.

Hockey
NHL
Kansas City 2 @ Vancouver 5
Toronto 2 @ Buffalo 5
Los Angeles 2 @ California 5

The Scouts' loss to the Canucks at Pacific Coliseum was the last game the team ever played under that name; they moved to Denver and became the Colorado Rockies to begin the 1976-77 season. The Scouts finished the 1975-76 season with a 27-game winless streak--21 losses and 6 ties, 2 more than the 25-game streak of the Washington Capitals earlier in the same season.

Danny Gare scored 3 goals for the Sabres, reaching the 50-goal mark for the season, as they defeated the Maple Leafs at War Memorial Auditorium in the last regular season NHL game ever broadcast on CBC radio.

Dennis Maruk scored 2 goals to help the Golden Seals defeat the Kings at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in the Golden Seals' last game under that name, and the last National Hockey League game ever played in Oakland. The franchise moved to Cleveland after the season and became the Cleveland Barons for the next two seasons before merging with the Minnesota North Stars.

30 years ago
1986

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Geil--Bruce and Bongo

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that unemployment had declined 0.1% in March to 7.1%, after rising 0.6% in February.

Hockey
NHL
Edmonton 3 @ Calgary 9

Wayne Gretzky assisted on all 3 Oilers' goals in their loss to the Flames at Olympic Saddledome to break his own single-season record, and also set a single-season NHL record with his 213th point.

25 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Deep Deep Trouble--The Simpsons

Died on this date
John Heinz, 52. U.S. Senator. Senator Heinz (Republican--Pennsylvania), heir to the H.J. Heinz food company fortune, was one of five people killed when a chartered plane and a helicopter collided above a suburb of Philadelphia. Two children on the ground were also killed by falling wreckage. Mr. Heinz had been in the Senate since 1977.

Asiatica
During the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress, the current flag of Hong Kong was adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong.

Scandal
Wiliam Kennedy Smith, 30, a nephew of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, was identified by police as the suspect in a reported rape on March 30 at the Kennedy family estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Protest
Thousands of workers in Minsk, the capital of Byelorussia, went on strike, protesting price increases and demanding the removal from office of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Crime
Nine children who had been removed from their homes in the Orkney Islands off Scotland because of allegations that they were victims of satanic ritual abuse were reunited with their families after the case was thrown out of court.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Semi-Finals
Minnesota 4 @ Chicago 3 (OT) (Minnesota led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Detroit 6 @ St. Louis 3 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Edmonton 3 @ Calgary 1 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 1-0)
Vancouver 6 @ Los Angeles 5 (Vancouver led best-of-seven series 1-0)

20 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Firestarter--The Prodigy (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Denmark (Nielsen Music Control & IFPI): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (10th week at #1)

Died on this date
Barney Ewell, 78. U.S. athlete. Mr. Ewell was a long jumper, but was best known as one of the world's best sprinters in the 1940s, winning numerous championships while at Pennsylvania State University from 1940-1942. He interrupted his athletic and academic career to serve in the military in World War II, but returned to Penn State after the war to finish his education and resume his athletic career. Mr. Ewell won silver medals--barely falling short of gold medals--in the men's 100 and 200 metre runs, and was a member of the gold medal-winning American team in the 4 x 100 metre relay at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. He competed professionally in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1950s and eventually returned to Pennsylvania.

Space
Comet Hyakutake was imaged by the U.S. Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

Hockey
NHL
Toronto 3 @ St. Louis 1

10 years ago
2006

World events
The Iraq tribunal charged former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and six others, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from a crackdown against Kurds in the 1980s.

Politics and government
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein announced plans to step down early after he won only 55% support at the Progressive Conservative Party's annual meeting.