On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's record.
On this date:
Buddhists celebrate the commemoration of the birth of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, thought to have lived in India from 563 B.C.E. to 483 B.C.E.
In 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition began exploring the Florida coastline.
In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for direct popular election of United States senators (as opposed to appointment by state legislatures), was ratified.
In 1917, Austria-Hungary, an ally of Germany, severed diplomatic relations with the United States.
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which provided money for programs such as the Works Progress Administration.
In 1946, the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for its final session.
In 1952, President Harry S. Truman seized the steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority.)
In 1970, the Senate rejected President Richard M. Nixon's nomination of G. Harold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1973, artist Pablo Picasso died at his home near Mougins, France, at age 91.
In 1981, Omar N. Bradley, a World War II general and the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died at age 88.
In 1987, Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigned after saying on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks may lack some of the "necessities" for becoming baseball managers.
In 1988, TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart resigned from the Assemblies of God after he was defrocked for rejecting an order from the church's national leaders to stop preaching for a year amid reports he'd consorted with a prostitute.
In 1990, Ryan White, the teenage AIDS patient whose battle for acceptance gained national attention, died in Indianapolis at age 18.
In 1992, tennis player Arthur Ashe announced that he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion, just as Ryan White had.
In 1995, in his book "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam," former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara wrote that he and other U.S. leaders had been "wrong, terribly wrong" about the war.
In 1999, at a White House news conference, President Bill Clinton said NATO could still win in Kosovo by air power alone, and he expressed hope for an early release of three American POWs; also at the session with reporters was visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who promised to cooperate in investigations of alleged nuclear-weapons spying and illegal campaign contributions by Beijing.
In 2000, the Central Intelligence Agency confirmed that personnel action had been taken following the mistaken bombing of the Chinese embassy during the NATO war against Yugoslavia; one employee was reportedly fired.
In 2004, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the Sept. 11 commission "there was no silver bullet" that could have prevented the attacks. Iraqi insurgents released a videotape of three Japanese captives, threatening to burn them alive if Japan did not withdraw its troops from Iraq. (The hostages were later released unharmed.) Fred Olivi, who copiloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, died in Lemont, Ill., at age 82.
In 2005, world leaders joined pilgrims and prelates in St. Peter's Square for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
In 2007, officials said three explosions in Iraq killed at least 29 people and wounded 52 others.
In 2008, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, told Congress that hard-won gains in the war zone were too fragile to promise any troop pullouts beyond the summer as he held his ground against impatient Democrats and refused to commit to more withdrawals before President George W. Bush left office in January 2009. American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners amid safety concerns about wiring bundles; the carrier ended up canceling more than 3,000 flights over the next four days. Tennessee captured its eighth women's NCAA championship with a 64-48 victory over Stanford.
In 2009, Somali pirates hijacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The crew was able to retake the cargo ship, but the captain was taken captive by the raiders and held aboard a lifeboat. (Richard Phillips was rescued four days later by Navy SEAL snipers who shot three of the pirates dead.) A Russian spacecraft carrying a crew of three, including U.S. billionaire space tourist Charles Simonyi, landed safely in Kazakhstan. U.S. President Barack Obama concluded an eight-day trip abroad, meeting with world leaders from London to Baghdad, taking part in sessions involving the Group of 20, NATO, the European Union and others, going face-to-face with heads of Russia and China and seeking to build alliances on Afghanistan and other issues.
Today's Birthdays: Former first lady Betty Ford is 92. Comedian Shecky Greene is 84. Actor-turned-diplomat John Gavin is 79. Author and investigative reporter Seymour Hersh is 73. Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is 72. Basketball Hall-of-Famer John Havlicek is 70. "Mouseketeer" Darlene Gillespie is 69. Singer J.J. Jackson is 69. Singer Peggy Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 69. Songwriter-producer Leon Huff is 68. Actor Hywel Bennett is 66. Actor Stuart Pankin is 64. Rock musician Steve Howe (Yes) is 63. Former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay is 63. Movie director John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love") is 61. Rock musician Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad) is 59. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Gary Carter is 56. Actor John Schneider is 50. Rock musician Izzy Stradlin is 48. Singer Julian Lennon is 47. Rock singer-musician Donita Sparks is 47. Rapper Biz Markie is 46. Actress Robin Wright Penn is 44. Actress Patricia Arquette is 42. Rock singer Craig Honeycutt (Everything) is 40. Rock musician Darren Jessee is 39. Actress Emma Caulfield is 37. Actress Katee Sackhoff is 30. Actor Taylor Kitsch is 29. Rock singer-musician Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) is 26. Actor Taran Noah Smith is 26. Actress Kirsten Storms is 26.
More Birthdays: Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence (1726); pioneer neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing (1869); actress Mary Pickford (1892); Olympic figure skater/actress Sonja Henie (1912); composer Jacques Brel (1929); choreographer Michael Bennett of "A Chorus Line" fame (1943); & baseball Hall of Fame member Jim "Catfish" Hunter (1946).
8 April In Entertainment
In 1963, "Lawrence of Arabia" won the Oscars for best picture and best director.
In 1973, Neil Young's autobiographical film "Journey Through The Past" premiered at the US Film Festival in Dallas.
In 1975, "The Godfather Part Two" won the best picture Oscar.
In 1983, Danny Rapp, lead singer of Danny and the Juniors, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 41.
In 1986, actor Clint Eastwood won his bid to become mayor of Carmel, California.
In 1991, a lawsuit was filed against Virgin Records, claiming that Paula Abdul did not do all of the singing on her hit album "Forever Your Girl." The record company eventually won.
In 1993, singer Marian Anderson died at age 96 in Portland, Oregon.
In 1994, singer Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was found dead in his Seattle home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 27. Original AP story.
In 1996, actor Ben Johnson, who won an Oscar for "The Last Picture Show," died at age 77 in Mesa, Arizona.
In 1997, singer-songwriter Laura Nyro died of ovarian cancer at her home in Danbury, Connecticut. She was 49. The songs Nyro wrote include "Wedding Bell Blues," "Eli's Coming," and "Stoney End."
In 2000, Oscar-winning actress Claire Trevor died in Newport Beach, Calif. at age 90.
In 2009, David "Pop" Winans Sr., patriarch of the award-winning Winans gospel music family, died in Nashville, Tenn. at age 74.
Thought for Today: "A highbrow is a person educated beyond his intelligence." — James Brander Matthews, American author and educator (1852-1929).
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