This Day in History
08 Apr 1093
The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by bishop Walkelin
08 Apr 1149
Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum
08 Apr 1195
Alexius III Angelus drives out brother Isaak II as Byzantine emperor
08 Apr 1341
Petrarch crowned a poet on the Capitoline Hill in Rome
More History
Works Progress Administration established by Congress as part of FDR’s New Deal
On April 8 1935 Congress votes to approve the Works Progress Administration (WPA) a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal....
Jomo Kenyatta jailed for Mau Mau uprising in Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta leader of the Kenyan independence movement is convicted by Kenyas British rulers of leading the extremist Mau Mau in their violence agai...
Buddhists celebrate birth of Gautama Buddha
On this day Buddhists celebrate the commemoration of the birth of Gautama Buddha the founder of Buddhism thought to have lived in India from 563 B.C. to 483 ...
Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record
On this day in 1974 Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run breaking Babe Ruths legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53...
Russians attack Germans in drive to expel them from Crimea
On this day in 1944 Russian forces led by Marshal Fedor Tolbukhin attack the German army in an attempt to win back Crimea in the southern Ukraine occupied by...
U.S. Army Chief of Staff reports that South Vietnamese forces are on verge of collapse
After a weeklong mission to South Vietnam Gen. Frederick Weyand U.S. Army Chief of Staff and former Vietnam commander reports to Congress that South Vietnam ...
North Vietnamese forces open a third front
North Vietnamese 2nd Division troops drive out of Laos and Cambodia to open a third front of their offensive in the Central Highlands attacking at Kontum and P...
FDR signs Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes almost 5 million to implement work-relief programs on this day in 1935. Hoping to lift the country out of the crippl...
Elizabeth Bacon Custer is born in Michigan
Elizabeth Bacon Custer a significant chronicler of the West and the wife of George Custer is born in Monroe Michigan.Elizabeth Custer is best known today for...
Grunge icon Kurt Cobain is found dead three days after his suicide
On April 8 1994 rock star Kurt Cobain was found dead in his home in Seattle Washington with fresh injection marks in both arms and a fatal wound to the head...
American writer Barbara Kingsolver is born
American writer Barbara Kingsolver was born on this day near Annapolis Maryland.Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky. After high school she left Kentucky to a...
Twin Peaks premieres on ABC
Who killed Laura Palmer was the question on everyones mind on the night of April 8 1990 when David Lynchs surreal television dr...
Wreck in California road race leads to fatalities
On this day in 1916 at the Boulevard Race in Corona California an early racing car careens into a crowd of spectators killing the driver and two others. At...
Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty
Eric Rudolph agrees to plead guilty to a series of bombings including the fatal bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta in order to avoid the death penalty. H...
McCarthy publicly attacks Owen Lattimore
Senator Joseph McCarthy labels Professor Owen Lattimore extremely dangerous so far as the American people are concerned in a carefully worded publ...
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