Day: April 7, 2012

Updated April 6, 2012, 2:28 pm

On April 7, 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

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On April 7, 1915, Billie Holiday, who is considered to have been one of the great American jazz singers, was born. Following her death on July 17, 1959, her obituary appeared in The Times.

Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »

 

On This Date

By The Associated Press

1862	Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.
1927	the image and voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington to New York in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.
1939	Italy invaded Albania.
1947	Auto pioneer Henry Ford died at age 83.
1949	The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” opened on Broadway.
1953	The U.N. General Assembly elected Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden to be secretary-general.
1969	The Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.
1976	China’s leadership deposed Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping.
1990	Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter was convicted of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. (A federal appeals court later reversed the convictions.)
1990	A display of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs opened at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center; the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges.
2001	NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft took off on a six-month, 286-million-mile journey to the red planet.
2001	An unarmed black man wanted on 14 misdemeanor warrants was fatally shot by a white police officer in Cincinnati, sparking three days of riots.
2003	U.S. troops in more than 100 U.S. armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Baghdad and seized one of Saddam Hussein’s opulent palaces.
2009	Vermont became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actor Russell Crowe turns 48 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

Actor Jackie Chan turn years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

1920	Ravi Shankar, Musician, turns 92
1928	James Garner, Actor, turns 84
1933	Wayne Rogers, Actor (“M*A*S*H”), turns 79
1938	Jerry Brown, Governor of California, turns 74
1939	Francis Ford Coppola, Director, turns 73
1939	David Frost, TV journalist, turns 73
1949	Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, turns 63
1949	John Oates, Rock singer (Hall and Oates), turns 63
1951	Janis Ian, Singer, turns 61
1954	Tony Dorsett, Football Hall of Famer, turns 58
1965	Bill Bellamy, Actor, turns 47
1975	Ronde Barber, Football player, turns 37
1975	Tiki Barber, Football player, sportscaster, turns 37

 

Historic Birthdays

Billie Holiday 4/7/1915 – 7/17/1959 American jazz singer from the 1930’s to the 1950’s.Go to obituary »

46	St. Francis Xavier 4/7/1506 – 12/3/1552 Spanish Roman Catholic missionary
80	William Wordsworth 4/7/1770 – 4/23/1850 English Romantic poet; poet laureate of England (1843-50)
38	Jens Peter Jacobsen 4/7/1847 – 4/30/1885 Danish novelist
82	Randall Davidson 4/7/1848 – 5/25/1930 English religious leader
91	W. K. Kellogg 4/7/1860 – 10/6/1951 American industrialist and founder of the W.K. Kellogg Company
61	John McGraw 4/7/1873 – 2/25/1934 American baseball player and manager of the New York Giants (1902-1932)
72	Sir David Low 4/7/1891 – 9/19/1963 New Zealand-born English journalist, political cartoonist and caricaturist
76	Allen Dulles 4/7/1893 – 1/29/1969 American diplomat and director of the C.I.A. (1953-61)
51	Benny Leonard 4/7/1896 – 4/18/1947 American lightweight boxing champion (1917-1925)
75	Walter Winchell 4/7/1897 – 2/20/1972 American journalist and broadcaster