ON THIS DAY~APR 7

     Lead Story ~ 1994  Civil War Erupts in Rwanda

On this day in 1994, Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers in a successful effort to discourage international intervention in the genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In approximately three months, the Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda brutally murdered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million innocent civilian Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the worst episode of ethnic genocide since World War II.

 

1770  William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic school of poetry, is Born.

Born near England's Lake District in 1770, Wordsworth lost his mother when he was eight and his father five years later. He attended Cambridge, then traveled in Europe, taking long walking tours with friends through the mountains.

While studying in France in 1791, Wordsworth fell in love and had a daughter. Intending to marry the mother, he returned to England to straighten out problematic financial matters, but a series of events prevented their reunion.

 

1891  P.T. Barnum Dies

American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Though he was gravely ill, the 81-year-old showman's sense of humor hadn't deserted him. He requested that a New York paper run his obituary before he died so he could enjoy reading it, and the paper obliged.

 

1927  First Telecast of Sound and Image

The first simultaneous telecast of image and sound takes place on this day in 1927. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover read a speech in Washington, D.C., which was transmitted to Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City, where an audience saw and heard a tiny televised image of Hoover, less than 3 inches square.

 

1940  Booker T. Washington became the first black to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp.  The cost of the stamp~10 cents.

 

1954  Eisenhower gives Famous "Domino Theory" speech

President Dwight D. Eisenhower coins one of the most famous Cold War phrases when he suggests the fall of French Indochina to the communists could create a "domino" effect in Southeast Asia. The so-called "domino theory" dominated U.S. thinking about Vietnam for the next decade.

 

1990  Twin Ferry Accidents on Opposite Ends of World

In a tragic coincidence, two separate ferry accidents in different areas of the world take the lives of a reported 325 people on this day in 1990. The first took place in Myanmar (formerly Burma) on the Gyaing River. Later in the day, Scandinavia was also rocked by tragedy.

 

BIRTHDAYS

 

1915  Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan)  ‘Lady’: Jazz Singer: Lover Man, They Can’t Take that Away from Me, Fine and Mellow, Don’t Explain, Strange Fruit, God Bless the Child; died July 17, 1959

1920  Ravi Shankar  Sitarist: played at Woodstock [1969] and with George Harrison in the Bangla-Desh Benefit concerts [1971]; was George Harrison’s sitar teacher; was resident lecturer at CCNY

1928  James Garner (James Scott Bumgarner)  Actor: Rockford Files, Maverick, The Americanization of Emily, Victor/Victoria, Tank, A Man Called Sledge, Duel at Diablo, The Distinguished Gentleman, My Fellow Americans, Space Cowboys

1954  Tony Dorsett  Pro Football Hall Famer: University of Pittsburgh: career record: for yards gained: Heisman Trophy winner [1976]; Dallas Cowboys running back: Super Bowls XII, XIII

1960  James ‘Buster’ Douglas  Boxing champion: defeated Mike Tyson