What Happened On
Photo Credit: madmarlin
Photo Credit: madmarlin
Monica Seles Stabbed
April 30, 1993
The #1 ranked women's tennis player Monica Seles is stabbed in the back during a tournament in Germany. Her attacker, Günter Parche, didn't want her to compete against Steffi Graf. He stabbed Seles between her shoulder blades to a depth of 1.5 cm (0.59 inches), narrowly missing her spinal cord. Her attacker was sentenced to two years probation and psychiatric treatment. Although, her injuries weren't physically severe, she did not return to competitive tennis for more than two years.
U.S. marines provide security during the evacuation of Saigon
U.S. marines provide security during the evacuation of Saigon
Vietnam War - Fall of Saigon
April 30, 1975
The South Vietnam capital is captured by North Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War and the unification of the country under communist rule.
Original 1952 Mr. Potato Head
Original 1952 Mr. Potato Head
Mr. Potato Head
April 30, 1952
Mr. Potato Head becomes the first toy advertised on television. It was also the first TV advertisement targeted for children. The ad campaign was successful, with over one million sets sold in the first year. Mrs. Potato Head was added the following year.
The toy was invented and manufactured by George Lerner in 1949, but was first distributed by Hasbro in 1952.
The original Mr. Potato Head kit was offered as separate parts to be attached to a real potato, but starting in 1964 a plastic potato body was included with the kit.
In 1975, the "potato" doubled in size along with an increase in size of its attachments. This was done due to safety regulations and the larger attachments were easier for small children to attach to the potato head.
Hitler Commits Suicide
April 30, 1945
56-year-old German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his newly-wed bride Eva Braun reportedly commit suicide by taking cyanide capsules. Their bodies were taken to the garden outside, doused in petrol, and set on fire. Some accounts say Hitler shot himself as he bit down the cyanide capsule. In 2009, DNA tests were conducted on a skull Soviet officials had long believed to be Hitler's. The tests and examination revealed that the skull was actually that of a woman less than 40 years old.
Hitler married his mistress Eva Braun the previous day.
Germany surrendered a week later, ending the war in Europe.
ID of fictitious Captain Martin
ID of fictitious Captain Martin
World War II - Dead Man's Bluff
April 30, 1943
British intelligence plants the corpse of a tramp with a fictitious ID identifying him as Captain William Martin and with classified documents indicating a pending invasion of Sardinia, Greece. The Germans fell for the rouse. The Allies were then able to take Sicily which was under defended because of the buildup in Sardinia for the fake invasion. This was known as Operation Mincemeat.
Lou Gehrig
April 30, 1939
Baseball legend Lou Gehrig plays the last of his record 2,130 consecutive major-league games.
RCA Exhibit Building, New York World's Fair
RCA Exhibit Building, New York World's Fair
First U.S. President on Television
April 30, 1939
Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to appear on television. He was broadcast giving a speech from the RCA pavilion as part of the opening ceremonies of the 1939 New York World's Fair. NBC used the event to inaugurate regularly scheduled television broadcasts over their station W2XBS (now WNBC) in New York City. An estimated 1,000 people viewed the speech on about 200 television sets scattered throughout the New York metropolitan area. RCA began selling television sets to the general public the following day.
General Electric, DuMont, and Westinghouse also demonstrated television sets at the fair.
The first televised presidential address from the White House would be made by President Harry S. Truman in 1947.
First Black Female Pilot Dies in Accident
April 30, 1926
Bessie Coleman, an American daredevil aviator, was the world's first black female aviator to obtain a pilot's license (1921). Her father was of mostly Cherokee descent, making her also the first female of native American descent to earn a pilot's license. U.S. pilot schools were unwilling to take a black female student, so she learned French and went to Paris to earn her license.
She died in a plane crash while preparing for a show. While flying as a passenger with a student pilot, the plane suffered a mechanical failure and spun out of control. Not seat belted in, she fell out of the plane and plummeted to her death. The pilot died in the crash.
Germs
April 30, 1878
Louis Pasteur lectures at the French Academy of Science in favor of his theory that many diseases are caused by tiny organisms. He was met with skepticism by many scientists of the day.
Louisiana Purchase
April 30, 1803
828,000 square miles of land are purchased from France for $15,000,000.
Galileo Recants His Belief that the Earth Revolves Around the Sun
April 30, 1633
Under threat of torture, the astronomer Galileo Galilei recants his belief that the Earth revolves around the Sun (heliocentrism). In 1615, The Roman Inquisition had determined that heliocentrism contradicted the Holy Scripture, citing Biblical passages such as:
Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 - "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved."
Psalm 104:5 - "the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved."
Ecclesiastes 1:5 - "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place."
Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) supported heliocentrism and appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII. For this indiscretion, Pope Urban VIII had him brought before the Roman Inquisition. Under threat of torture, Galileo recanted. He was sentenced to house arrest for life and publication of any of his works was forbidden.
As late as 1990, the Church still showed support for Galileo's prosecution as evidenced in a speech by Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) in which he stated, "Her (the Roman Catholic Church) verdict against Galileo was rational and just, and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically opportune."
However, in 1992, the Catholic Church admitted they were wrong in this decision.
Ellen DeGeneres
April 30, 1997
Ellen DeGeneres' character comes out of the closet on the TV sitcom Ellen. DeGeneres first came out as a lesbian on The Oprah Winfrey Show and then DeGeneres' character came out on Ellen to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey.
Longest Time Between Birth of Triplets
April 30, 1993
A Vancouver, British Columbia woman delivers the first of her triplets. The other two were born 45 days later.
Watergate - Top Aids Resign
April 30, 1973
U.S. President Richard Nixon's top aids H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and Richard Kleindienst resign amid charges of White House efforts to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
Hawaii
April 30, 1900
Hawaii becomes a U.S. Territory. It would become a U.S. state in 1959.
Electron
April 30, 1897
Joseph John Thomson, amid much skepticism, announces his discovery of the elementary particle the electron.
Thomson proved that cathode rays were composed of previously unknown negatively charged particles (electrons), which are 1000 times smaller than the atom and have a very large charge-to-mass ratio.
Louisiana
April 30, 1812
Louisiana becomes the 18th state.
First Theatrical Performance in North America
April 30, 1598
A Spanish comedy given near present day El Paso.
Birthdays
Photo Credit: Robbiework
Photo Credit: Robbiework
Willie Nelson (Willie Hugh Nelson)
Born April 30, 1933
American singer, Country Music Hall of Famer. In 1980, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a fan of Willie Nelson, invited the country singer to perform on the South Lawn of the White House. Rosalynn Carter even joined Nelson for a duet, singing Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother. Nelson claims that later that night, he went on the roof of the White House where he lit up a "big fat Austin torpedo" (marijuana cigarette) and smoked it with Carter's son. President Carter claimed not to have known of Nelson's after-hours activities.
Music: Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain (1975, #1), Good Hearted Woman (1976, #1), and On The Road Again (1980).
Al Lewis as Grandpa
Al Lewis as Grandpa
Al Lewis (Albert Meister)
Born April 30, 1923 d. 2006
American actor. TV: Car 54, Where Are You? (1961-63, Leo Schnauser) and The Munsters (1964-66, Sam Dracula, aka Grandpa).
In 1998, Lewis ran as the Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, requesting to be listed on the ballot as "Grandpa Al Lewis", claiming he was best known by that name. His request was rejected by the Board of Elections.
Merrill Osmond
Born April 30, 1953
American singer, with The Osmonds. Music: One Bad Apple (1971, #1) and Go Away Little Girl (1971, #1).
Jill Clayburgh
Born April 30, 1944 d. 2010
American actress. Film: An Unmarried Woman (1978). TV: Search For Tomorrow (1969, brain tumor victim Grace Bolton).
Gary Collins
Born April 30, 1938 d. 2012
American Emmy-winning actor, talk-show host. TV: Hour Magazine (1980-88), The Home Show (1989-94), and Miss America Pageant (1982-90, host).
Cloris Leachman
Born April 30, 1926 d. 2021
American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Leachman was nominated for 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, making her the most nominated actress in Emmy history. She won eight, tying with Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most awarded actress in Emmy history.
Film: The Last Picture Show (1971), Young Frankenstein (1974, Frau Blücher, "neigh!"), and History of the World, Part I (1981). TV: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-75, Phyllis Lindstrom), Phyllis (1975-77, Phyllis Lindstrom), and Malcolm in the Middle (2001-2006, Ida).
She was a runner-up in the 1946 Miss America Pageant, from which she earned a scholarship that she used to study acting.
Eve Arden (Eunice Quedens)
Born April 30, 1908 d. 1990
Emmy-winning actress. TV: Our Miss Brooks (1952-56, title role). She also starred in the radio and film versions of Our Miss Brooks. She won the very first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1953, Our Miss Brooks).
Eugen Bleuler
Born April 30, 1857 d. 1939
Swiss psychiatrist. He coined the term "Schizophrenia" (1908, schizo=split, phrene=mind). He also coined the terms "ambivalence" (1911) and "autism" (1912).
Karl Friedrich Gauss
Born April 30, 1777 d. 1855
German mathematician, astronomer. The magnetic unit of flux density "Gauss" is named for him. He also devised the method of least squares used in statistics.
Mary II
Born April 30, 1662 d. 1694
Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689-94). She died of smallpox.
Deaths
Agnes Moorehead as Endora
Agnes Moorehead as Endora
Agnes Moorehead
Died April 30, 1974 b. 1900
American Emmy-winning actress. Film: Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1943). TV: Bewitched (1964-72, Samantha's mother Endora) and the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders (1961). Her death was attributed to radiation exposure received from an A-bomb test near the filming of the movie The Conqueror in 1953. By 1980, of the 220 members of the cast and crew, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease.
Braun and Hitler walking their dogs
Photo Credit: Bundesarchiv
Braun and Hitler walking their dogsPhoto Credit: Bundesarchiv
Hitler's Wife
Eva Braun
Died April 30, 1945 b. 1912
Adolf Hitler's mistress/wife. They were married shortly before committing suicide together.
Hitler met Braun when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his personal photographer. They began seeing each other about two years later. Hitler was 23 years her senior. Braun, started working as a photographer for the Nazi party and took many of the surviving color photographs and films of Hitler.
Adolf Hitler
Died April 30, 1945 b. 1889
German Nazi leader. Started World War II by invading Poland (1939) and was Time magazine's 1938 "Man of the Year." He committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun, whom he had married the day before.
Bessie Coleman
Died April 30, 1926 b. 1892
American daredevil aviator. She was the world's first black female aviator to obtain a pilot's license (1921). Her father was of mostly Cherokee descent, making her also the first female of native American descent to earn a pilot's license. U.S. pilot schools were unwilling to take a black female student, so she learned French and went to Paris to earn her license.
She died in a plane crash while preparing for a show. While flying as a passenger with a student pilot, the plane suffered a mechanical failure and spun out of control. Not seat belted in, she fell out of the plane and plummeted to her death. The pilot died in the crash.
Author of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
Sarah Josepha Hale
Died April 30, 1879 b. 1788
American author. Writings: the nursery rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb (1830). Reportedly, the poem was inspired by an actual event. Hale was teaching children at a small school when a student named Mary entered the classroom followed by her pet lamb. After the lamb disrupted the class, Hale put the lamb outside where it waited for Mary till class was dismissed later that day.
The very first voice recording was that of Thomas Edison's recitation of Mary Had a Little Lamb (1877).
Hale is known as "The Mother of Thanksgiving", as it was largely due to her 17-year campaign that in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday.
When construction of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston stalled, Hale raised $30,000 for its completion.
Hale also founded the Seaman's Aid Society (1833) to assist the families of Boston sailors who died at sea.
"Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go;
He followed her to school one day—
That was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school."
Inventor of the Sandwich
John Montagu
Died April 30, 1792 b. 1718
English diplomat. 4th Earl of Sandwich, for whom the Sandwich Islands are named, and inventor of the sandwich, which he devised as quick meal to allow him more time to gamble. The original sandwich was a piece of salt beef between two slices of toasted bread.
Photo Credit: State Farm
Photo Credit: State Farm
Naomi Judd (Diana Ellen Judd)
Died April 30, 2022 b. 1946
American Grammy-winning country singer. She and her daughter Wynonna Judd formed the duo The Judds. Music: Mama He's Crazy (1984, #1) and Why Not Me (1984, #1).
Tom Poston
Died April 30, 2007 b. 1921
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Mork & Mindy (1978-82, Mr. Bickley) and Newhart (1982-90, handyman George Utley).
Richard Scarry
Died April 30, 1994 b. 1919
American children's author, creator of Lowly Worm. His 250 books sold over 100 million copies in over 30 languages. Writings: Best Word Book Ever (1965) and Cars and Trucks and Things That Go (1974).
Sergio Leone
Died April 30, 1989 b. 1929
Italian director of "Spaghetti Westerns." Film: A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
Guy Williams (Armando Catalano)
Died April 30, 1989 b. 1924
American actor. TV: Zorro (1957-61, title role) and Lost in Space (1965-68, Dr. John Robinson, father of the family).
The Father of Chicago Blues
Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield)
Died April 30, 1983 b. 1915
American blues musician. Known as "The Father of Chicago Blues."
Alben W. Barkley (Alben William Barkley)
Died April 30, 1956 b. 1877
American politician. 35th U.S. Vice-President (1949-53, under President Harry S. Truman), U.S. Senator (1955-56, Kentucky), and U.S. House of Representatives (1913-27, Kentucky).
Edwin Stanton Porter
Died April 30, 1941 b. 1870
Italian-born American film director. Film: The Life of an American Fireman (1903, the first American film to use intercutting), The Great Train Robbery (1903, the first motion picture with a plot), and The Eternal City (1915).
Samuel Heinicke
Died April 30, 1790 b. 1727
German educator. He opened the first German institute for the deaf (1778). He believed that lip reading was the best training method because it made his students speak and understand the language as it was used in society, and was opposed to gesture-based languages.