ON THIS DAY ~ APR 5

 

     1859  Darwin sends first three chapters of The Origin of Species to his Publisher

Naturalist Charles Darwin sends his publishers the first three chapters of Origin of Species, which will become one of the most influential books ever published.

Knowing the fates of scientists who had published radical theories and been ostracized or worse, Darwin held off publishing his theory of natural selection for years. He secretly developed his theory during two decades of surreptitious research following his return from a five-year voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle as the ship's unpaid botanist.

 

1933  The first operation to remove a lung was performed -- at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

 

1931  Fox Drops John Wayne

Fox Film Corp. drops John Wayne from its roster of actors. Wayne had started playing bit parts at the studio in 1928 after working on the lot as a laborer. His performances evidently failed to impress the studio, and Wayne spent the next eight years playing mediocre parts in 80 films

 

After leaving Fox, Wayne went to work for LoneStar/Monogram, where he starred in 16 mediocre westerns between 1933 and 1935. He continued churning out westerns, at a pace of two a week, and occasionally played "Singing Sandy," a musical cowpoke a la Roy Rogers.

In 1939, Wayne finally had his breakthrough when his friend Ford cast him in Stagecoach. Wayne went on to play larger-than-life heroes in dozens of movies. In 1969, he won an Oscar for his role in True Grit. During four decades of acting, Wayne appeared in 250 films. Ford directed many of them, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952).

Wayne was married three times and had seven children. He battled cancer for more than a decade. In 1963, his left lung was removed. He boasted of beating "the big C," but the cancer returned and he died in 1979.

 

1955  Richard J. Daley was elected mayor of Chicago, IL, starting one of the most colorful political careers not only of the Windy City, but anywhere.

 

1955  Winston Churchill Resigns

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, retires as prime minister of Great Britain.

 

1969  Antiwar Demonstrations Held across United States

Approximately 100,000 antiwar demonstrators march in New York City to demand that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. The weekend of antiwar protests ended with demonstrations and parades in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities. The National Mobilization Committee, the Student Mobilization Committee, and the Socialist Workers Party were among the groups that helped organize the demonstrations. At the same time, Quakers held sit-ins at draft boards and committed other acts of civil disobedience in more than 30 cities.

 

1976  Howard Hughes Dies

Howard Robard Hughes, one of the richest men to emerge from the American West during the 20th century, dies while flying from Acapulco to Houston at the age of 70.

 

1992  Abortion Rights Advocates Mon Washington

A march and rally in support of abortion rights for women draws several hundred thousand people to demonstrations in Washington, D.C. One of the largest protest marches on the nation's capital, the pro-choice rally came as the U.S. Supreme Court was about to consider the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania state law that limited access to abortions. Many abortion rights advocates feared that the high court, with its conservative majority, might endorse the Pennsylvania law or even overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that made abortion legal.