What Happened On
Oklahoma City Bombing
April 19, 1995
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168, injuring more than 680 others, and causing $652 million worth of damage. It was the largest domestic terrorist attack in the United States up to that date. The attack was perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. McVeigh claimed that the bombing was revenge against the government for the sieges at Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge. McVeigh was executed and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole.
Waco Disaster
April 19, 1993
After a 51-day standoff between federal agents and David Koresh and his Branch Davidian's, FBI agents begin battering holes in the walls and tossing in tear gas. Three separate fires broke out. The government claims the fires were deliberately started by Branch Davidians, while some survivors maintain that the fires were started by the tear gas. Of the 85 Branch Davidians in the compound when the day's siege began, 76 died - from falling rubble, suffocating effects from the fire and smoke, or killed by fellow Branch Davidians. The medical examiner reported that although federal law enforcement personnel fired no shots that day, 20 people, including five children under the age of 14, had been shot, and a three-year-old had been stabbed in the chest. David Koresh was shot in the head, but it is not known if it was suicide.
This ended a 51-day standoff which started when four federal agents and two Branch Davidians members were killed.
Timothy McVeigh would cite this and Ruby Ridge as his reasons for the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Simpsons as they appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show
Simpsons as they appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show
The Simpsons
April 19, 1987
The animated Simpson family gets their start as a series of 48 one-minute animated shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show, ultimately getting their own primetime slot two years later.
Creator Matt Groening modeled "Bart" after his older brother, Mark, naming him "Bart" - an anagram of "brat".
First African-American and Female U.S. Astronauts
April 19, 1982
NASA announces that Guion Bluford, Jr. would be the first African-American astronaut and Sally Ride would be the first U.S. female astronaut in space, both achieving that status the following year.
Soylent Green
April 19, 1973
The dystopian film, Soylent Green, about life in the year 2022 amid overpopulation, food shortages, climate change, and a mysterious new food source. It starred Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson.
In War There Is No Substitute For Victory
April 19, 1951
Gen. Douglas MacArthur in his farewell speech to Congress states: "War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory." U.S. President Harry S. Truman had relieved MacArthur of all command during the Korean War for making unauthorized statements.
Photo Credit: Siddharth Patil
Photo Credit: Siddharth Patil
First Bad LSD Trip (Bicycle Day)
April 19, 1943
Inventor of LSD, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, takes his first intentional dose of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). He had discovered its psychedelic effects several days earlier when he accidentally rubbed against some. However, unlike his first experience, this time it triggered frightening images and colors. He described, "I was alternately bewildered and in clear understanding of the situation, so that I sometimes stood outside myself as a neutral observer as I shrieked half madly or babbled unintelligible nonsense."
This is referred to as "Bicycle Day," because he began to feel the effects of the drug as he rode home on his bike.
James Murray, Chief Editor
James Murray, Chief Editor
Oxford English Dictionary
April 19, 1928
The OED is first published in its entirety. Published in parts (not necessarily in order), the dictionary of the English language is completed with the publishing of its last section, "Wise" to the end of "W". The completed edition comprised a 10-volume set. Portions of the dictionary were first published starting in 1884. It is considered one of the greatest literary achievements of all time. James Murray was its Chief Editor.
J. R. R. Tolkien worked on the OED from 1919-20 researching etymologies of the "Waggle" to "Warlock" range.
The Shot Heard Round the World
April 19, 1775
The American Revolution begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
Salem Witch Trials
April 19, 1692
Bridget Bishop is accused of witchcraft. She would be hanged eight weeks later, making her the first of 20 people executed in 1692 for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. She was accused of bewitching five young women, who claimed the "shape" of Bishop would pinch, choke, and bite them.
She was also accused of playing shuffleboard and "dressing more artistically than women of the village" by using colored lace - both signs of consorting with the devil.
Oldest Person to Give Birth
April 19, 2016
72-year-old Daljinder Kaur of India gives birth to a healthy son - her first child. She had been trying to have a child for 46 years without success. She was finally able to afford fertility treatments after an inheritance.
Thomas Hooker Murdered by Wife and Son
April 19, 1993
Thomas Hooker was a policeman who claimed to be the inspiration for the TV show T.J. Hooker (1982-85) character Thomas Jefferson Hooker, portrayed by William Shatner. Early in his career, he earned his department's Medal of Valor for braving 40-foot (12m) flames to save occupants of a burning apartment building.
He died in a house fire set by his wife and adopted son David. After Hooker's son David returned home after 10 years in prison for bank robbery, David and Hooker's wife began having an affair. They set fire to the house and escaped together leaving Hooker, blind and disabled from diabetes, unable to escape. He died of smoke inhalation.
Photo from the bridge shows the explosion
Photo from the bridge shows the explosion
USS Iowa Gun Turret Explosion
April 19, 1989
A gun turret explodes on the battleship USS Iowa killing 47 sailors. The navy originally accused one of the crew members killed in the blast of intentionally igniting it after a failed homosexual relationship. A later report by the GAO determined that the accused was not homosexual and that the explosion was likely caused by improper loading of the gunpowder.
Photo Credit: Maksym Kozlenko
Photo Credit: Maksym Kozlenko
First U.S. Consumer Product Sold in the Soviet Union
April 19, 1973
Pepsi signs a contract with the USSR. PepsiCo was granted exportation and Western marketing rights to Stolichnaya vodka in exchange for importation and Soviet marketing of Pepsi.
Critics viewed this as an attempt to usher in Western products and the term "Pepsi-stroika" began appearing as a pun on "perestroika", the reform policy of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1989, Russia paid for a delivery of Pepsi products with a flotilla of 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer, worth approximately three billion dollars. The armada made Pepsi the Pepsi the sixth largest navy in the world, although they were soon sold for scrap.
Soyuz docking with Salyut 1
Soyuz docking with Salyut 1
First Space Station
April 19, 1971
The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, becoming the first space station in orbit.
James Bond Spoof
April 19, 1967
The James Bond spoof Casino Royale premieres. The cast included Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Jacqueline Bisset, and John Huston.
Mario Andretti
April 19, 1964
The racing legend Mario Andretti makes his first Indy car appearance. He finished 11th.
Bill of Rights
April 19, 1939
Connecticut passes the Bill of Rights, only 150 years after it was passed by Congress.
First Boston Marathon
April 19, 1897
John J. McDermott of New York City wins with a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 10 seconds.
Birth of Protestantism
April 19, 1529
At the Second Diet of Speyer, Lutheran leaders "protest" for freedom of religion. From then on, the German Lutheran Reformers were known as "Protestants."
Birthdays
Jayne Mansfield (Vera Jane Palmer)
Born April 19, 1933 d. 1967
American actress, sex-symbol, and Playboy Playmate. She became the first major American actress starring in a Hollywood motion picture to have a nude scene with the film Promises! Promises! (1963).
Mansfield was regarded as the world's most-photographed Hollywood celebrity and is still one of the most recognized icons of the 1950s.
She was killed in a car crash at age 34 when the car she was riding in ran under the back of a slow-moving tractor-trailer, chopping off the top of her car. She and the two other front seat passengers were killed instantly. Three of her children who were riding in the back seat survived the crash. As a result of this crash, the NHTSA recommended requiring an underride guard on the back of tractor-trailers to stop cars from going underneath. This bar has become known as a "Mansfield bar".
Film: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (1955), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and Too Hot to Handle (1960).
Tim Curry
Born April 19, 1946
English Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975, Dr. Frank N. Furter), Legend (1985) and The Hunt For Red October (1990, Oscar).
Elinor Donahue
Born April 19, 1937
American actress. TV: Father Knows Best (1954-60, Betty "Princess" Anderson), The Andy Griffith Show (1960-61, Andy's girlfriend Ellie), and Get a Life (1990-92, Chris' mom).
Dudley Moore
Born April 19, 1935 d. 2002
English actor, composer. Film: 10 (1979) and Arthur (1981).
Dick Sargent (Richard Cox)
Born April 19, 1930 d. 1994
American actor. TV: Bewitched (1969-72, replacing Dick York as Darrin).
Hugh O'Brian (Hugh Krampe)
Born April 19, 1925 d. 2016
American actor. Founded Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (1958). TV: The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-61, Sheriff Wyatt Earp).
Glenn Theodore Seaborg
Born April 19, 1912 d. 1999
American Nobel-winning chemist. He was the co-discoverer of plutonium (1940), for which he shared a 1951 Nobel Prize, the isotope plutonium 239 (1941), americium (1944), curium (1944), berkelium (1949), and californium (1950).
Albert Wallace Hull
Born April 19, 1880 d. 1966
American physicist. Inventor of a number of vacuum tubes, including the magnetron (1921) which was important for its use in RADAR.
Invented the Outboard Engine
Ole Evinrude
Born April 19, 1877 d. 1934
Norwegian inventor. After rowing a boat to a picnic, he decided there had to be a better way and invented the outboard marine engine (1909).
Founded Boston Female Medical School
Samuel Gregory
Born April 19, 1813 d. 1872
American medical educator. He founded Boston Female Medical School (1848), the first medical school exclusively for women, because he was opposed to male doctors attending births.
By 1852, this school was called the New England Female Medical College. It merged with the Boston University School of Medicine in 1874 to become one of the first co-ed medical schools in the world.
Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler graduated in 1864 and was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree.
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
Born April 19, 1795 d. 1876
German biologist, founder of micropaleontology - the study of fossil microorganisms.
Photo Credit: Rasiel Suarez
Photo Credit: Rasiel Suarez
Gratian (Flavius Gratianus)
Born April 19, 359 d. 383
Roman Emperor (367-383). He helped establish Christianity by persecuting heretics and pagans, seizing their assets and revoking their privileges.
Deaths
Walter Mondale (Walter Frederick Mondale)
Died April 19, 2021 b. 1928
American politician. 42nd U.S. Vice-President (1977-81), U.S. Senator (1964-76, Minnesota), and U.S. Ambassador to Japan (1993-96).
Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum
Died April 19, 1987 b. 1910
American actor. TV: Captain Kangaroo (1956-84, Mr. Green Jeans). Prior to Captain Kangaroo, he hosted a local children's TV series called Uncle Lumpy's Cabin. He also narrated a series of children's records called "Little Orley".
Pierre and Marie Curie in the laboratory
Pierre and Marie Curie in the laboratory
Pierre Curie
Died April 19, 1906 b. 1859
French Nobel-winning physicist. He and his wife Marie Curie were pioneers in the study of radioactivity.
He died while crossing a street in the rain when he slipped and fell under a heavy horse-drawn cart. One of the wheels ran over his head, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly.
Had he not died of an accident, he likely would have eventually died of the effects of radiation, as did his wife, their daughter Irène, and her husband Frédéric Joliot. Even to this day, all their papers from the 1890s, even her cookbooks, are too dangerous to touch.
Charles Robert Darwin
Died April 19, 1882 b. 1809
English evolutionist. Author of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).
Allan Arbus
Died April 19, 2013 b. 1918
American actor. TV: M*A*S*H (Dr. Sidney Freedman).
Grete Waitz
Died April 19, 2011 b. 1953
Norwegian runner, world record holder, 9-time New York City Marathon winner (1978-80, 82-86, 88). She was the first woman run a marathon in under two and a half hours (1979, NYC Marathon 2:27:33)
Norris McWhirter
Died April 19, 2004 b. 1925
British writer, political activist, co-founder, with his twin brother Ross McWhirter, of Guinness Book of Records (1954). He was the timekeeper when runner Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile.
Thomas Hooker
Died April 19, 1993 b. 1934
American policeman. Thomas Hooker claimed to be the inspiration for the TV show T.J. Hooker (1982-85) character Thomas Jefferson Hooker, portrayed by William Shatner. Early in his career, he earned his department's Medal of Valor for braving 40-foot (12m) flames to save occupants of a burning apartment building.
Years later, he died in a house fire set by his wife and adopted son David. After Hooker's son David returned home after 10 years in prison for bank robbery, David and Hooker's wife began having an affair. They set fire to the house and escaped together leaving Hooker, blind and disabled from diabetes, unable to escape. He died of smoke inhalation.
David Koresh (Vernon Howell)
Died April 19, 1993 b. 1959
American religious leader. He was the leader of the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco Disaster, which was a 51-day stand off with federal agents resulting in the death of Koresh and 82 of his followers. His claimed to be Jesus Christ.
Daphne de Maurier
Died April 19, 1989 b. 1907
English gothic romance author. Writings: Rebecca (1938, later made into a Hitchcock film), The Birds (1952, later made into a Hitchcock film), and Jamaica Inn (1936, later made into a Hitchcock film).
Benjamin Disraeli
Died April 19, 1881 b. 1804
British prime minister. In his political novel The New Generation he wrote: "No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number which can be managed by the joint influences of fruition and hope. It offers vengeance to the discontented, and distinction to the ambitious; and employs the energies of aspiring spirits, who otherwise may prove traitors in a division or assassins in a debate."
Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron)
Died April 19, 1824 b. 1788
English poet. Writings: Don Juan (1818-24).
Benjamin Rush
Died April 19, 1813 b. 1746
American physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He co-founded the first U.S. anti-slavery society (1774), and established the first U.S. free medical dispensary (1786). He earned his B.A. from College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) at the age of fourteen.
Michael Stifel
Died April 19, 1567 b. 1487
German monk, mathematician. He also predicted that Judgment Day and the end of the world would occur on October 19, 1533 at 8 am. When his prediction failed, he had to be taken into protective custody with the villagers chanting death threats outside his cell. Many, believing his prediction, had not planted crops and had destroyed their possessions.
He was the first to use the term "exponent" and invented an early form of logarithms (years before John Napier - who is generally credited with the discovery).
Saint Leo IX
Died April 19, 1054 b. 1002
French-born religious leader, 152nd Pope (1049-54).