History Events on April 08

Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.

#Auguste_Deter

World War II: Siege of Leningrad: Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.

#World_War_II

A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

#Grace_Hopper

H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

#H._H._Asquith

World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.

#Empire_of_Japan

Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.

#Los_Angeles_Dodgers

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.

#Franklin_D._Roosevelt

The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

#Venus_de_Milo

The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.

#Winchester_Cathedral

The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.

#Islamic_State_of_Iraq

In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.

#Syria

The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.

#Works_Progress_Administration

Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.

#Prussia

India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact.

#India

The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.

#Netherlands

Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.

#Bahr_El-Baqar_primary_school_bombing

Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.

#Dutch_people

Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities.

#Otto_and_Elise_Hampel

South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.

#South_African_Airways_Flight_201

William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.

#William_Ewart_Gladstone

World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.

#World_War_I

At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.

#Atlanta-Fulton_County_Stadium

Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.

#Électricité_de_France

Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.

#Indian_independence_movement

Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.

#Roger_II_of_Sicily

The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.

#Organization_of_American_States

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.

#Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Baltimore

In Corona, California, race car driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three (including himself), and badly injuring five spectators.

#Corona,_California

American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield: Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.

#American_Civil_War

King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde), along with his infant son Chilperic.

#Charibert_II

Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.

#Frank_Robinson

The Gemini 1 test flight is conducted.

#Gemini_1

The construction of the world's first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.

#Bahrain_World_Trade_Center

Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.

#Congregation_Shearith_Israel

War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.

#War_in_Darfur

Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.

#Black_Hawk_War

War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess.

#War_of_Jenkins'_Ear

Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.

#Tennis

The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.

#French_Third_Republic

Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.

The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations.

BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.

A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238.

A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.

Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers.

U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike.

World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.

Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms.

The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.

Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.

Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.

In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.

English colonial patents are granted for the establishment of the Monmouth Tract, for what would eventually become Monmouth County in northeastern New Jersey.

Mongol-Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.

Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.

The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.

Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated. He is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.