April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Early “News” Music

Claude de Lisle

April 24, 1792: Claude de Lisle (1760 –1836) wrote “La Marseillaise” which became the French National Anthem three years later.

Hard Times Come Again No More

In 1854: Stephen Foster. “Hard Times Come Again No More,” is a song by Stephen Foster. It was written in 1854 as Foster’s Melodies No. 28. Well-known and popular in its day, both in America and Europe, the song asks the fortunate to consider the plight of the less fortunate and ends with one of Foster’s favorite images: “a pale drooping maiden”.

Follow the Drinking Gourd

In 1860s: African Americans sang of their dream for freedom and equality before the Civil War, during it, and long after. Though its origin is sometimes disputed, Follow the Drinking Gourd is still thought of as a song used by “riders” on and “conductors” of the Underground Railroad system used to help slaves escape to safety and freedom by using coded directions. The “drinking gourd” likely refers to the North Star in the Little Dipper’s handle.

The Internationale

In 1871:  Frenchman, Eugène Pottier (1816–1887), wrote “The Internationale.”  Pierre De Geyter (1848–1932) set the poem to music in 1888 and shortly thereafter it became widely used. In 1944 it became the national anthem of the Soviet Union and is often still sung today as a worker anthem. Its lyrics are even more rousing than “La Marseillaise.” (see “News music)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Reconstruction Ends

April 24, 1877: as part of a political compromise that enabled his election, President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew federal troops from Louisiana—the last federally-occupied former Confederate state—just 12 years after the end of the Civil War. The withdrawal marked the end of Reconstruction and paved the way for the unrestrained resurgence of white supremacist rule in the South, carrying with it the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black people. [EJI article] (next BH, see April 17, 1878)

Lije Strickland and Albert Sewell lynched

April 24, 1899: at some point during his lynching, Sam Hose (see April 23, 1899) was said to have implicated Lije Strickland, a preacher, in the murder. That same night, the same mob fell upon Rev. Strickland and despite pleas and explanations from the plantation owner Major Thomas who repeatedly vouched for Strickland’s innocence, a crowd took Strickland. Despite Thomas’s repeated pleadings and insistence of his innocence from Strickland himself, he was murdered.

The Detroit Evening News reported, “The body of Lige Strickland, the negro who was implicated in the Cranford murder by Sam Hose, was found this morning swinging to the limb of a persimmon tree…. Before death was allowed to end the sufferings of the Negro, his ears were cut off and the small finger of his left hand was severed at the second joint. One of these trophies was in Palmetto to-day. On the chest of the Negro was a scrap of blood-stained paper, attached with an ordinary pin. On one side this paper contained the following: “We must protect our Ladies.”

The same day, the crowd also sought out and lynched an Albert Sewell, a Black man, who had reportedly voiced a negative view of the Hose and Strickland lynchings. [Times-Herald article] (next BH and Lynching, see Apr 27 or see Lynchings for expanded chronology)

George Stinney, Jr

April 24, 1944: Stinney was tried for the murder of Betty June Binnicker. An all-white male jury was selected and the trial concluded that same day during a special term of court with Judge P.H. Stoll presiding. Appearing on behalf of the State was Solicitor Frank McLeod, who presented evidence from law enforcement that Stinney confessed to the crime. While law enforcement testified that a confession occurred, no written confession exists in the record today. Nothing remains from documentary evidence indicating whether a murder weapon, bloody clothes or other demonstrative evidence were admitted at trial.

Few or no witnesses were called by the Defense and little to no cross examination conducted. After ten minutes of deliberation by the jury of twelve, Stinney was found guilty of the murder of Betty June Binnicker and was that same day sentenced to death by electrocution. No appeals were filed and no stays of execution. (BH & DP,  see July 16; see George Stinney for expanded story)

Biloxi Beach Wade-In

April 24, 1960: a mob attacked protesters with iron pipes and chains, including Dr. Gilbert Mason, after they walk onto “whites-only” Biloxi Beach. Police attacked and arrested protesters. By the time dawn broke, more than 20 African Americans had been injured. Before the violence ended that week, two young African-American men had been killed. (2010 Smithsonian dot com article) (see May 4)

George Whitmore, Jr

April 24, 1964: cruising Brownsville, NYPD Patrolman Frank Isola and Detective Richard Aidala spotted Whitmore and, despite the discrepancy between his appearance and that of the assailant Isola had seen, took Whitmore to the 73d Precinct station for questioning. After Detective Aidala called Elba Borrero and told her a suspect was in custody, she viewed Whitmore through a peephole in a door and said Whitmore was the man who tried to rape her. (This was the first mention of attempted rape.) Whitmore had in his possession a photograph of a young white woman whom Detective Edward Bulger identified as Janice Wylie. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

James Byrd

April 24, 2019: the State of Texas executed John William King, 44 with a dose of pentobarbital. King had been convicted two decades ago for killing James Byrd Jr. in an act of unfathomable racist brutality in the small town of Jasper.

The execution, carried out at the state’s death chamber in Huntsville, came after the United States Supreme Court turned down King’s last petition for a stay. He was pronounced dead at 7:08 p.m., said Jeremy Desel, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. [NYT article]

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Ireland

April 24, 1916: Ireland independent from the United Kingdom. (see December 6, 1917)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

April 24, 1945:  President Harry Truman learned the full details of the Manhattan Project, in which scientists were attempting to create the first atomic bomb. (see July 16)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Bay of Pigs

Cuban Missile Crisis

April 24, 1961: President Kennedy accepted “sole responsibility” following Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. (see  Crisis for expanded story)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

see  April 24 Music et al for more

Doug Clifford

April 24, 1945: Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival born.

Bob Dylan

April 24, 1961: Harry Belafonte recorded “Midnight Special”. Bob Dylan played harmonica on the recording. It was Dylan’s first official recording and he received a $50 session fee. (see May 6)

Runaway

April 24 – May 21, 1961: “Runaway” by Del Shannon #1 Billboard Hot 100.

Game of Love

April 24 – 30, 1965: “Game of Love” by Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Paul and John, the last time

April 24, 1976: Paul and Linda McCartney spent the evening with John Lennon at his New York Dakota apartment and watched Saturday Night Live. Producer of the show Lorne Michaels made an offer on air asking The Beatles to turn up and play three songs live. Lennon and McCartney thought about taking a cab to the studio, but decided they were too tired. This was the last time Lennon and McCartney were together. (see July 27)

William “Billy” Zantzinger

April 24, 1991: William “Billy” Zantzinger–made infamous by Bob Dylan’s song, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,”  became front page news again. The Maryland Independent ran a story by reporter Kristi Hempel revealing that Zantzinger had been collecting rent for five years from several poor black families even though he no longer owned the houses where they lived. The county had foreclosed on the properties in 1986 because Zantzinger had failed to pay taxes on them. The houses, located in a place called Patuxent Woods, were battered wooden shacks, with no running water or toilets or even outhouses. The tenants had to dump their wastes in the woods, which polluted the water in their shallow hand-pumped wells. Not only had Zantzinger collected rent after losing the properties, he’d actually raised the rent, and he’d even taken some tenants to court for nonpayment. And won. (see June 5)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Echo 1 balloon

April 24, 1962: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, using NASA’s Echo 1 balloon satellite to bounce a video image of the letters “M.I.T.” transmitted from Camp Parks, Calif., to Westford, Mass. (2010 Space dot com article) (see July 10)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

President Ngo Dinh Diemwas

April 24, 1963: the CIA reported to President Kennedy that South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diemwas was about to ask that the number of American advisers be greatly reduced. Kennedy told a friend that evening, “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. These people hate us. They are going to throw our asses out of there at almost any point. But I can’t give up a piece of territory like that to the communists and then get the people to re-elect me.” (see May 6)

General Westmoreland

April 24, 1967: General Westmoreland condemned anti-war demonstrators saying they give the North Vietnamese soldier “hope that he can win politically that which he cannot accomplish militarily.” Privately, he had already warned President Johnson “the war could go on indefinitely.” American attacks on North Vietnam’s airfields began The attacks inflicted heavy damage on runways and installations. By the end of the year, all but one of the North’s Mig bases has been hit. (see April 28)

My Lai Massacre

April 24, 1968: a second investigation regarding the My Lai Massacre concurs with that of Colonel Henderson. (see My Lai for expanded story; Vietnam see Apr 27)

B-52 attacks

April 24, 1969: U.S. B-52s launch biggest attack on North Vietnam. Protests in 40 cities. (see May 1)

Qui Nho

April 24, 1971: North Vietnamese troops hit Allied installations throughout South Vietnam. In the most devastating attack, they blew up the ammunition depot at Qui Nho. 

Vietnam Veterans Against the War

April 24, 1971: seven hundred Vietnam Veterans Aganist the War gathered at the US Capital. The Nixon administration had erected a wire and wood fence at the bottom of its steps.One by one, the veterans stepped up to a microphone to identify themselves and speak out against the war if they liked, then hurl their medals onto the Capital steps—Silver Stars, Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, Distinguished Flying Crosses. (VVAW site) (see Apr 26)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

April 24, 1974: in a sixth audio tape, Patty offered evidence of her full participation in the bank robbery — at no time did her comrades have a gun pointed at her. She refers to her family as the “pig Hearsts” and to Steven Weed, her fiancé, as “an ageist, sexist pig.” (see Hearst for expanded story)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran hostage crisis

April 24, 1980: an American military aborted rescue mission in Iran after mechanical problems ground the helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation. (see July 27)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

April 24, 1996: between 1985 and 1995 death penalty proponents had made successful efforts at both the state and federal level to streamline the capital appeals process and expedite executions. The most significant of these efforts was the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). Capital punishment proponents argued that death row inmates abused the writ of habeas corpus by filing multiple, repetitive petitions. Congress passed AEDPA to restrict the availability of federal habeas relief in several significant manners.” The bill passed 293-133-7 in the House of Representatives and 91-8-1 in the Senate. It was signed into law on Apr. 24, 1996. (related article) (see February 3, 1997)

Arkansas

April 24, 2017: Arkansas executed two convicted murderers, the first time in almost 17 years that any state has executed two inmates on the same day, as the state carried out a series of capital punishments before one of its lethal injection drugs expired. Jack H. Jones Jr. died at 7:20 p.m. local time, and Marcel Williams at 10:33 p.m., both from the injection of a three-drug combination, after a flurry of failed, last-ditch appeals.(see Apr 27)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

April 24, 2000: CNN learned that in the previous week Independent Counsel Robert Ray has subpoenaed records from the National Archives in an attempt to determine whether the White House deliberately withheld electronic mail messages in an attempt to stymie investigations pertaining to the Monica Lewinsky affair and other Clinton Administration controversies. (see Clinton for expanded story)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Terri Schiavo

April 24, 2001, after three years of legal proceedings by Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, the Court permits the removal of her feeding tube. It was reinserted several days later. (see February 25, 2005)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

April 24, 2010: BP reports a leak 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gallons) a day (see Apr 27)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

April 24, 2018: Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said that the Trump administration’s decision to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program was based on the “virtually unexplained” grounds that the program was “unlawful.”

The judge stayed his decision for 90 days and gave the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the program, the opportunity to better explain its reasoning for canceling it. If the department failed to do so, it “must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications,” Judge Bates said in the decision. (next IH & DACA, see May 1; Bates, see Aug 3)

April 24 Peace Love Art Activism

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Sam Hose lynched

April 23, 1899: Sam Hose had been employed by a wealthy white man named Alfred Cranford in Newnan, Georgia. Cranford owed Hose money but refused to pay him, and as arguments escalated between the two men, Cranford bought a gun and threatened Hose. When Cranford was killed soon after, Hose was accused of killing the white man and assaulting his wife. Soon an angry mob formed and set off to catch and lynch Hose.

A $500 reward was posted for Hose’s capture, and hundreds of white residents launched what was described as the “largest manhunt in the state’s history.” Local newspapers published sensationalized accounts of the allegations against Mr. Hose, dehumanizing him and reinforcing dangerous racial stereotypes of Black men as predators.

He was captured and because Governor Candler ordered ordered out troops as protection, but a mob decided that the execution needed to take place immediately and within minutes Sam Hose was hanging from a tree. Hose’s execution was extremely brutal. He initially refused to confess, but after his ears were cut from his head, he claimed responsibility for the crimes. The Atlanta Constitution reported that 2000 witnesses watched as he was burned alive and his body cut and mutilated. Peculiarly, the man responsible for dousing Hose’s body and clothes in kerosene was a stranger from the North, who was reported as saying that, though he did not know how people from his part of the country would respond to this, he felt the need to avenge the terrible crimes that had been committed. Even Hose’s bones were taken from the scene as souvenirs.  [Historyengine article] (next BH and Lynching, see Apr 27 or see Lynching for expanded chronology)

School Desegregation

April 23, 1951: students attending Moton High School, Prince Edward County, Virginia led a walk out to protest separate and unequal school facilities. NAACP attorneys represented the students as they spearheaded the challenge to the system of segregated schools in Virginia. This case, along with others, helped to propel the passing of the 1954 landmark desegregation law in the United States. (BH, see Apr 28; SS, see May 17, 1954)

William Lewis Moore

April 23, 1963: William Lewis Moore, a postman from Baltimore, was shot and killed in Attalla, Ala., during a one-man march against segregation. Moore had planned to deliver a letter to the governor of Mississippi urging an end to intolerance.

The gun belonged to a Floyd Simpson, whom Moore had argued with earlier that day, but no charges were ever filed against him.

Moore is among 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala. (Southern Poverty Law Center article) (see Apr 29)

George Whitmore, Jr./1964

April 23, 1964: Elba Borrero, a 21-year-old Puerto Rican practical nurse, was assaulted at 1:15 a.m. in what she described as an attempted purse-snatching in Brownsville. NYPD Patrolman Frank Isola heard  Borrero scream and ran to the scene. He fired four warning shots at the fleeing assailant. Police Sergeant Thomas J. Collier interviewed Borrero and wrote a report describing the assailant as “an unnamed Negro” and the crime as an attempted purse-snatching. Borrero gave a button that she had ripped off the assailant’s coat to the police after the assault, Patrolman Frank Isola encountered George Whitmore Jr. on the street, but concluded that Whitmore was shorter and thinner than the man he saw running from the scene. 

George Whitmore, Jr./1965

April 23, 1965: Whitmore  testified that Detective Aidala and Patrolman Frank Isola beat him. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

April 23, 1971: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song released. Melvin Van Peebles wrote, produced, scored, directed and starred in his movie. After beating a couple of white cops he witnessed brutalizing a local black revolutionary, sex show performer Sweetback (Van Peebles) has to go on the run. As he flees through decrepit South Central Los Angeles, Sweetback demonstrates his formidable potency through sex as well as violence, evading the police manhunt by any means necessary. As Sweetback runs off into the sunset, however, Van Peebles warns that the story, like the 1960s racial strife, isn’t over. The movie’s huge financial success prompted imitation by Hollywood studios that produced black-oriented films such as Shaft and Super Fly. (see Aug 21)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Mary Ware Dennett

April 23, 1929: feminist and women’s health and sex education activist Mary Ware Dennett was convicted of obscenity for sending her sex education pamphlet, The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People, through the mails. Dennett had written the pamphlet for her two adolescent sons fifteen years earlier. As more people found out about it, she was flooded with requests for copies, and she finally published it for general circulation. Her prosecution became a national cause célèbre, and a national defense committee composed of several prominent Americans was organized. (Embryo Project article) (Dennett, see March 3, 1930)

Women’s Health

During the 1930s (the Great Depression) companies were eager to sell women contraceptives, but not permitted to by law, used the term “feminine hygiene” to market a wide array of over-the-counter products that are believed to have a contraceptive effect. One of the most popular products is the simple and cheap “Lysol douche,” and scores of women rely solely on this ineffective and dangerous method to prevent pregnancy.

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

The Red Scare

Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov

April 23, 1945: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov arrived at the White House for a meeting with the new president, Harry Truman, who immediately lashed out at Molotov, “in words of one syllable,” as the president later recalled. As Molotov listened incredulously, Truman charged that the Soviets were breaking their agreements and that Stalin needed to keep his word. At the end of Truman’s tirade, Molotov indignantly declared that he had never been talked to in such a manner. Truman, not to be outdone, replied that if Molotov had kept his promises, he would not need to be talked to like that. Molotov stormed out of the meeting. Truman was delighted with his own performance, telling one friend that he gave the Soviet official “the straight one-two to the jaw.” The president was convinced that a tough stance was the only way to deal with the communists, a policy that came to dominate America’s early Cold War policies toward the Soviets. (2012 Politico article) (see July 24)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

April 23 Music et al

see The Nerk Twins for expanded story

April 23 & 24, 1960: the first of only 2 performances ever by The Nerk Twins at the Fox and Hounds pub in Caversham, Berkshire, UK. The Nerk Twins were actually Paul McCartney and John Lennon. From Paul in Anthology: “That spring of 1960, John and I went down to a pub in Reading, The Fox And Hound, run by my cousin Betty Robbins and her husband. We worked behind the bar. It was a lovely experience that came from John and I just hitching off down there. At the end of the week we played in the pub as The Nerk Twins. We even made our own posters.” (next Beatles, see May 5)

Free Speech

April 23, 1961: an off-off-Broadway musical with Park Commissioner New-bold Morris as the villain was staged between police barriers on a street near Washington Square Park. (see Ban for expanded story)

Judy Garland

April 23, 1961: Judy Garland recorded Live at Carnegie Hall. (see Sept 18)

Merry Pranksters

April 23, 1965:  police raided the Prankster camp. Ken Kesey charged  with marijuana possession. (see May 8 – 10)

Joe Cocker

April 23, 1969: Joe Cocker (age 24) released first album, With a Little Help from My Friends. (see May 29)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Space Race

Vladimir Komarov

April 23, 1967: Vladimir Komarov commanded Soyuz 1. On its descent, the parachute became entangled and Soyuz 1 slams into the ground at high speed, killing Komarov. It is the first death to occur during a space flight. (NPR story) (see Oct 10)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Columbia University

April 23, 1968: 300 Columbia students barricaded the office of the college dean, charging the university with supporting the Vietnam War and violating Harlem residents’ civil rights. (2008 Mother Jones article) (see Apr 24)

My Lai Massacre

April 23, 1969: the Office of the Inspector General began a full inquiry into the My Lai incident (see My Lai for expanded story; Vietnam see Apr 24)

Operation Dewey Canyon III

April 23, 1971: in the final event of “Operation Dewey Canyon III,” (see Apr 18)  nearly 1,000 Vietnam veterans throw their combat ribbons, helmets and uniforms on the Capitol steps to protest the war. (see Apr 24)

Gerald Ford

April 23, 1975:  at a speech at Tulane University, President Gerald Ford said the Vietnam War was finished as far as America was concerned. “Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war.” This was devastating news to the South Vietnamese, who were desperately pleading for U.S. support as the North Vietnamese surrounded Saigon for the final assault on the capital city. (2015 Newsweek article) (see Apr 28)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Consumer Protection

Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act

April 23, 1970: President Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act which banned the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio. (Robert C Byrd Center article) (see January 2, 1971)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

AIDS

Dr. Robert Gallo

April 23, 1984: Margaret Heckler, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced that Dr. Robert Gallo and his colleagues at the National Cancer Institute had found the cause of AIDS, the retrovirus HTLV-III. (see July 13)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Martinez Manufacturing Complex

April 23, 1988: a spill of approximately 9,400 bbl of San Joaquin Valley (CA) crude oil occurred from the Shell Oil Company Martinez Manufacturing Complex. Part of the high viscosity oil eventually reached Carquinez Strait and Suisun Bay. Areas initially affected by the spill included a 103-acre freshwater marsh, the shorelines of Carquinez Strait and Suisun Bay, saltwater marshes associated with both the strait and the bay, three marinas, two local parks, and waterfront properties in Benicia. (see February 14, 1989)

Fracking earthquakes

April 23, 2015: for the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey unveiled a map of earthquakes thought to be triggered by human activity in the eastern and central United States. Oklahoma was by far the worst-hit state recently, according to the USGS study (see Apr 21 above). The state last year had more earthquakes magnitude 3 or higher than California, part of a huge increase recorded in recent years.

Seismic activity in Texas near the Dallas-Fort Worth area had also increased substantially. Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Ohio had all experienced more frequent quakes in the last year. All of the areas highlighted on the map “are located near deep fluid injection wells or other industrial activities capable of inducing earthquakes,” the study said. Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS’ National Seismic Hazard Project, said the pattern of increased quakes was troubling. (see Apr 26)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Take Our Daughters to Work Day

April 23, 1992: The first Take Our Daughters to Work Day takes place. The event was founded by the Ms. Foundation for Women to create an opportunity for girls to share and communicate their expectations for the future. It is held on the fourth Thursday of every April. The program eventually expands to Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day in 2003. (see  June 29)

Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley guilty

April 23, 2022,: Col. Christina M. Jimenez, the senior military judge at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio found Air Force Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley guilty of forcibly kissing a woman in 2018, in the first court-martial trial and conviction of a general officer in the 75-year history of the military branch.

Cooley was accused of abusive sexual conduct with three “specifications” and was convicted of the first one, for “kissing her on the lips and tongue, with an intent to gratify his sexual desire,” the Air Force said on Saturday.

Judge Jimenez found General Cooley not guilty of the other two specifications, including for forcing the woman, who is his sister-in-law, to touch him over his clothing and touching her breasts and genitals through her clothes, the authorities said.  [NYT article] (next Feminism, see )

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

César E. Chávez

Death

April 23, 1993: Chávez died peacefully in his sleep in San Luis, AZ.  (2017 LA Times remembrance) (see May 1993)

Stamp issued

April 23, 2003: the US Postal Service issued the Cesar E Chavez postage stamp. (see April 27, 2012)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Sexual Abuse of Children

Emergency meeting called

April 23, 2002:  Pope John Paul II called emergency meeting with US cardinals in Rome. (see May 2)

Boy Scouts accused

April 23, 2019: Jeff Anderson, a victims’ rights attorney, claimed that the Boy Scouts had files on child abusers within their ranks dating back to the 1940s and demanded the full release of thousands of names of alleged offenders in the files.

Nearly 200 of them were from New York and New Jersey.

“For many, many years there’s been an excavation of what are called the ‘perversion files’ — those are files held and hoarded at the Boy Scouts of America headquarters,” Anderson said, and that “those ‘perversion files’ that they’ve had reflect that they have removed thousands of offenders of childhood sexual abuse over the years and they’ve kept that in files secretly.” [NBC News article] (next SA, see Apr 26; next BSA, see February 18, 2020)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

April 23, 2005: co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube.com. (see March 21, 2006) 

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

April 23, 2006:  a former top CIA official, Tyler Drumheller, revealed evidence that Bush was told before the war by a high-level Iraqi informant that Iraq did not possess WMD. (see May 18)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

April 23, 2019: the New IRA admitted responsibility for the death of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry.

McKee (29) died as a result of injuries sustained when she was shot on the Creggan estate on April 18th.

The PSNI said it arrested a 57-year-old woman over the killing. Three people were also arrested in connection withMcKee’s death. Two individuals who had been detained were released without charge.

In a statement given to The Irish News using a recognised code word, the group offered “full and sincere apologies” to her family and friends.

The New IRA is an amalgam of armed groups opposed to the peace process and it recently claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow in March. (next IT, see May 13, 2020 or see IT for a much expanded chronology)

April 23 Peace Love Art Activism

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

In God We Trust

April 22, 1864: Congress authorized the use of the phrase “In God We Trust” on U.S. coins.

Matilda Josyln Gage

In 1990, Gage left NWSA after its merger with the American Woman Suffrage Association and established the Woman’s National Liberal Union, dedicated to maintaining the separation of church and state. (Separation, see May 5, 1925 Feminism; see May 1890; see Gage for her story)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Native Americans

April 22, 1889: the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. The land run started at high noon with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres  (OK History site article) (see December 15, 1890)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Alien radicals

April 22, 1935: in a telegram to ACLU Director Roger Baldwin, Rep. Hamilton Fish, (R–New York), one of the most vocal anti-communist and anti-radical members of Congress, said he did not believe alien radicals were entitled to freedom of speech. He added that radical aliens who promote “strikes, riots,” and other forms of “unrest” should be deported and their jobs given to “loyal American citizens.” (see Nov 26)

New York Worlds Fair

April 22, 1964: New York Worlds Fair opened. President Johnson and fair organizers were met with picketers and sit-ins, mostly civil rights organizers.  They managed to heckle Johnson through his entire speech at the Federal Pavilion and sit in at several fair venues.  In particular, protesters camped out in shrubbery outside the pavilion and had to be forcibly removed.  “It was dreadful, dreadful,” said one state official.

By the end of the day, over 300 people had been arrested by police.  The video below doesn’t paint the same picture. (see June 22)

Anti-picketing law

April 22, 1968: in 1965 the Supreme Court had remanded the case after a federal district court refused to grant an injunction against the law, which made it unlawful for individuals engaged in picketing “to obstruct or interfere with free ingress or egress to and from any public premises” (see Apr 26) 

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

LSD

Ernst Rothlin

April 22, 1943: after receiving Albert Hofmann’s report regarding the effects of LSD-25, professor Ernst Rothlin was the second person to try the drug.  Rothlin was Sandoz’s chief pharmacologist at the time. Albert Hofmann gave Rothlin a small (60 microgram) dose of LSD about 1/4 of the dose Hofmann had tried.

In a Michael Horowitz interview with Albert Hofmann in 1976, Hoffmann stated: “Professor Ernst Rothlin, head of the Sandoz pharmacological department at the time. Rothlin was dubious about LSD ; he claimed he had a strong will and could suppress the effects of drugs. But after he took 60 micrograms, one quarter of the dose I had taken earlier, he was convinced. I had to laugh as he described his fantastic visions.”  (see June 12, 1943)

First International Conference on LSD

April 22 – 24, 1959: the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation held the First International Conference on LSD Therapy 9 in Princeton, NJ. 

Timothy Leary

In 1960, Harvard University’s Timothy Leary established the Psychedelic Research Project. (2014 NPR report on LSD research)(see July 10, 1960)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Sit-in

April 22, 1944: a sit-in on this day, challenging racial discrimination at Thompson’s Restaurant in Washington, D.C., was one of several sit-ins during the mid-1940s and the late 1950s, which have been overshadowed by the famous sit-ins that began February 1, 1960. The sit-in was led by African-American students at Howard University, who had staged an earlier one the year before, on April 17, 1943.

 The sit-ins were eventually quashed by Southerners in Congress who had power of the budget for Washington, D.C. and Howard University.  (theclio.com article) (see June 16)

George Whitmore, Jr.

April 22, 1985: Stanley J. Reiben, chief defense attorney in the George Whitmore murder case, died at his home in Manhattan after a long illness. He was 70 years old. (see Whitmore for expanded story)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Yucca Flat

April 22, 1952: for the first time viewers witnessed live the detonation of an atomic bomb at the U.S. testing site in Yucca Flat, Nevada on television, The atomic bomb tested was larger than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. (Las Vagus Sun article) (see “in June”)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

McCarthyism

Investigating Military

April 22, 1954: Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the Army, which he charged with being “soft” on communism. The televised hearings gave the American public their first view of McCarthy in action, and his recklessness, indignant bluster, and bullying tactics quickly resulted in his fall from prominence. (see June 2)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

April 22 Music et al

Tommy

April 22, 1969: the  first complete performance of The Who’s rock opera Tommy during a performance in Dolton, England.

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Clark Clifford

April 22, 1968: in a news conference, Defense Secretary Clark Clifford declared that the South Vietnamese have “acquired the capacity to begin to insure their own security [and] they are going to take over more and more of the fighting.” (see Apr 23)

John Kerry

April 22, 1971: John Kerry, member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, spoke to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and reiterated many of the statements (few were actually witnessed) that the Winter Soldier Investigation had revealed January 31 – February 2.  Among the things he said, he included that “We [veterans] wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service as easily as this administration has wiped their memories of us.” (see Apr 24)

Antiwar demonstrations

April 22, 1972:  antiwar demonstrations prompted by the accelerated U.S. bombing in Southeast Asia draw somewhere between 30,000 to 60,000 marchers in New York; 30,000 to 40,000 in San Francisco; 10,000 to 12,000 in Los Angeles; and smaller gatherings in Chicago and other cities throughout the country. The new bombing campaign was in response to the North Vietnam’s massive invasion of South Vietnam in March. As the demonstrations were happening, bitter fighting continued all over South Vietnam. In the Mekong Delta, for example, the fighting was the heaviest it had been in 18 months. (see Apr 25)

Richard M. Nixon

April 22, 1994, Richard M. Nixon (81), died at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, four days after suffering a stroke.

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Earth Day

April 22, 1970: an estimated 20 million people worldwide observed the first Earth Day.  Senator Gaylord Nelson promoted Earth Day, calling upon students to fight for environmental causes and oppose environmental degradation with the same energy that they displayed in opposing the Vietnam War.  (see Sept 15)

Pegasus Pipeline oil spill

April 22, 2013: the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S,. Department of Justice announced that Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. and Mobil Pipe Line Co. agreed to pay a $5.07 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and Arkansas state environmental laws in connection with the 2013 crude oil spill from the Pegasus Pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas. (see Apr 23)

Biden Re-commits

April 22, 2021:  President Biden committed the United States to halving its greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade, a target that could be met only with a steep and rapid decline in oil, gas and coal use by virtually every sector of the economy.

Biden made as he welcomed 40 world leaders to a virtual two-day summit on climate change, using Earth Day to proclaim America’s return to a position of global leadership on the issue and to urge other countries to make equally steep cuts.

The new target aimed to see U.S. emissions drop 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.  [NYT article] (next EI, see May 3)

Wynn Bruce

April 22, 2022:  Wynn Bruce, 50, of Boulder, Colo set himself on fire in front of the Supreme Court in an apparent Earth Day protest against climate change On April 23, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., said that Bruce had died on Saturday from his injuries after being airlifted to a hospital following the incident.

Kritee Kanko, a climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and a Zen Buddhist priest in Boulder, said that she is a friend of Mr. Bruce and that the self-immolation was a planned act of protest.

“This act is not suicide,” Dr. Kritee wrote on Twitter early Sunday morning. “This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.” [NYT article] (next EI, see Apr 26; immolation protest, see February 25, 2024)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Barbara Walters

April 22, 1976: Barbara Walters accepted a five-year contract as anchorwoman for the evening news with the ABC network. She is the first woman newscaster on U.S. network television.  (see June 28)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

April 22, 1986: US arrested 10 officials involved in Iran arms sales. (see Oct 5)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

TERRORISM

David Ritcheson

April 22, 2006: two white teenagers, David Tuck and Keith Turner, attacked David Ritcheson, a 16-year-old Latino boy at a house party in Spring, Texas. Ritcheson allegedly tried to kiss a white girl at the party. Tuck and Turner knocked Ritcheson unconscious, dragged him outside, and beat him for approximately fifteen minutes while calling him a “beaner” and shouting “white power” and “Aryan nation.” The white teens then stripped Ritcheson naked, and Tuck cut Ritcheson’s chest with a knife and burned his stomach and chest 17 times with a cigarette. Next, Turner placed a pole in Ritcheson’s rectum and held it in place while Tuck kicked the end of the pole into Ritcheson’s rectum. The two teens then poured bleach over Ritcheson’s body.

At least two other white teenagers witnessed the beating but did nothing to help and later went to sleep in the house. The mother of one of the witnesses was home, but claimed she slept through the incident. Medical help was not summoned until hours after the attack, when a witness awoke and found Ritcheson still laying in the backyard.

After three months in the hospital and more than thirty surgeries, Ritcheson was able to return to school confined to a wheelchair and wearing a colostomy bag.

Tuck and Keith Turner, 18, eventually were convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Tuck was given a life sentence, Turner 90 years.

Ritcheson jumped to his death from a cruise ship on July 1, 2007. (Terrorism, see May 4; Richeson, see April 7, 2007)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

Trayvon Martin Shooting

April 22, 2012: George Zimmerman released on $150,000 bail. (see June 1)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

Crime and Punishment

April 22, 2016: Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia used his executive power to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons, circumventing the Republican-run legislature. The action overturned a Civil War-era provision in the state’s Constitution aimed, he said, at disenfranchising African-Americans.

The sweeping order would enable all felons who have served their prison time and finished parole or probation to register to vote. Most are African-Americans. (VR, see Apr 25;  C&P, see Aug 3)

Youth/Die in Prison

April 22, 2021:  the Supreme Court ruled that judges need not determine that juvenile offenders were beyond hope of rehabilitation before sentencing them to die in prison. The decision, concerning a teenager who killed his grandfather, appeared to signal the end of a trend that had limited the availability of severe punishments for youths who commit crimes before they turn 18.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, writing for the majority in the 6-to-3 ruling, said it was enough that the sentencing judge exercised discretion rather than automatically imposing a sentence of life without parole.

“In a case involving an individual who was under 18 when he or she committed a homicide,” he wrote, “a state’s discretionary sentencing system is both constitutionally necessary and constitutionally sufficient.”

No specific finding concerning the defendant’s maturity or capacity for change was required, he wrote. [NYT article] (next C & P, see May 14)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Fourth Amendment

April 22, 2019: the city of Saginaw, Michigan, like many other cities around the country, used chalk to mark the tires of cars to enforce time limits on parking.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that such chalking was a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Judge Bernice Donald ruled that chalking tires is a kind of trespass  and as such it required a warrant. She said that the Fourth Amendment protects people from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

To determine whether a violation has occurred, the court first asks whether the government’s conduct counts as a search; if so, it asks whether the search was reasonable.

The case was brought by Alison Taylor, a Michigan woman whom the court describes as a “frequent recipient of parking tickets.” [NPR story] (see May 14)

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism

Fair Housing

April 21, 2022:  the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) released new guidance to reinforce requirements that HUD-subsidized multifamily housing’s marketing and application processes be designed to be inclusive of persons of all races and national origins.

The two new guidance pieces, titled “Guidance on Compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in Marketing and Application Processing at Subsidized Multifamily Properties” and “Implementation Sheet for HUD’s Title VI Guidance” clarify how certain marketing, rental application processing, and waitlist management practices can perpetuate segregation or otherwise discriminate in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The guidance is designed to assist property owners in understanding and implementing more inclusive practices less likely to produce discriminatory results. [HUD announcement] (next FH, see )

April 22 Peace Love Art Activism