0527 – Justinianus became the emperor of Byzantium.

1572 – The Sea Beggars under Guillaume de la Marck landed in Holland and captured the small town of Briel.

1578 – William Harvey of England discovered blood circulation.

1621 – The Plymouth, MA, colonists created the first treaty with Native Americans.

1724 – Jonathan Swift published Drapier’s letters.

1748 – The ruins of Pompeii were found.

1778 – Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the “$” symbol.

1789 – The U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House Speaker.

1793 – In Japan, the volcano Unsen erupted killing about 53,000.

1826 – Samuel Mory patented the internal combustion engine.

1853 – Cincinnati became the first U.S. city to pay fire fighters a regular salary.

1863 – The first wartime conscription law went into effect in the U.S.

1864 – The first travel accident policy was issued to James Batterson by the Travelers Insurance Company.

1865 – At the Battle of Five Forks in Petersburg, VA, Gen. Robert E. Lee began his final offensive.

1867 – Blacks voted in the municipal election in Tuscumbia, AL.

1867 – The International Exhibition opened in Paris.

1867 – Singapore, Penang & Malakka became British crown colonies.

1868 – In Virginia, The Hampton Institute was established.

1872 – The first edition of “The Standard” was published.

1873 – The British White Star steamship Atlantic sank off Nova Scotia killing 547.

1873 – Mehmed Kemals play “Vatan” premiered in Constantinople.

1881 – Anti-Jewish riots took place in Jerusalem.

1881 – Kingdom post office in Netherlands opened.

1889 – The first dishwashing machine was marketed (in Chicago).

1891 – The London-Paris telephone connection opened.

1891 – The William Wrigley Jr. Company was founded in Chicago, IL. The company is most known for its Juicy Fruit gum.

1905 – The British East African Protectorate became the colony of Kenya.

1905 – Paris and Berlin were linked by telephone.

1916 – The first U.S. national women’s swimming championships were held.

1918 – England’s Royal Flying Corps was replaced by the Royal Air Force.

1924 – Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for high treason in relation to the “Beer Hall Putsch.”

1924 – Imperial Airways was formed in Britain.

1927 – The first automatic record changer was introduced by His Master’s Voice.

1928 – China’s Chiang Kai-shek began attacking communists.

1929 – Louie Marx introduced the Yo-Yo.

1930 – Leo Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs broke the altitude record for a catch by catching a baseball dropped from the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, CA.

1931 – An Earthquake devastated Managua Nicaragua killing 2,000.

1931 – Jackie Mitchell became the first female in professional baseball when she signed with the Chattanooga Baseball Club.

1933 – Nazi Germany began the persecution of Jews by boycotting Jewish businesses.

1935 – The first radio tube to be made of metal was announced.

1937 – Aden became a British colony.

1938 – The first commercially successful fluorescent lamps were introduced.

1938 – The Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, NY.

1939 – The U.S. recognized the Franco government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war.

1941 – The first contract for advertising on a commercial FM radio station began on W71NY in New York City.

1945 – U.S. forces invaded Okinawa during World War II. It was the last campaign of World War II.

1946 – Weight Watchers was formed.

1946 – A tidal wave (tsunami) struck the Hawaiian Islands killing more than 170 people.

1948 – The Berlin Airlift began.

1949 – “Happy Pappy” premiered. It was the first all-black-cast variety show.

1950 – Italian Somalia became a United Nations trust territory under Italian administration.

1952 – The Big Bang theory was proposed in “Physical Review” by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow.

1953 – The U.S. Congress created the Department of Health Education and Welfare.

1954 – The U.S. Air Force Academy was formed in Colorado.

1955 – “One Man’s Family” was seen on TV for the final time after a six-year run on NBC-TV.

1960 – France exploded 2 atom bombs in the Sahara Desert.

1960 – The U.S. launched TIROS-1. It was the first weather satellite.

1963 – Workers of the International Typographical Union ended their strike that had closed nine New York City newspapers. The strike ended 114 days after it began on December 8, 1962.

1963 – The Soap operas “General Hospital” and “Doctors” premiered on television.

1970 – The U.S. Army charged Captain Ernest Medina in the My Lai massacre.

1970 – U.S. President Nixon signed the bill, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, that banned cigarette advertisements to be effective on January 1, 1971.

1971 – The United Kingdom lifted all restrictions on gold ownership.

1972 – North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops renewed their offensive in South Vietnam.

1973 – Japan allowed its citizens to own gold.

1976 – Apple Computer began operations.

1979 – Iran was proclaimed to be an Islamic Republic by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini after the fall of the Shah.

1980 – A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi vice-premier Tariq Aziz occurred.

1982 – The U.S. transferred the Canal Zone to Panama.

1983 – New York Islander Mike Bossy became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to score 60 goals in 3 consecutive seasons.

1985 – World oil prices dropped below $10 a barrel.

1986 – The U.S. submarine Nathaniel Green ran aground in the Irish Sea.

1987 – Steve Newman became the first man to walk around the world. The walk was 22,000 miles and took 4 years.

1987 – U.S. President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, “We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy No. 1.”

1991 – Iran released British hostage Roger Cooper after 5 years.

1991 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jurors could not be barred from serving due to their race.

1991 – The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved.

1992 – Players began the first strike in the 75-year history of the National Hockey League (NHL).

1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton threw out the first ball preceding a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Baltimore Orioles.

1997 – David Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 – A federal judge dismissed the Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against U.S. President Clinton saying that the claims fell “far short” of being worthy of a trial.

1999 – In Zhytomyr, Ukraine, Anatoliy Onoprienko was sentenced to death for the deaths of 52 men, women and children. 43 of the killings occurred in a 6-month period.

1999 – The Canadian territory of Nunavut was created. It was carved from the eastern part of the Northwest Territories and covered about 772,000 square miles.

2001 – China began holding 24 crewmembers of a U.S. surveillance plane. The EP-3E U.S. Navy crew had made an emergency landing after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was missing and presumed dead. The U.S. crew was released on April 11, 2001.

2001 – Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a 26-hour standoff with the police at his Belgrade villa.

2003 – North Korea test-fired an anti-ship missile off its west coast.

2003 – Jason Mewes was ordered to complete drug rehabilitation or face five years in jail stemming from a drug conviction in 1999.

2004 – U.S. President George W. Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The bill made it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.

2004 – Gateway Inc. announced that it would be closing all of its 188 stores on April 9.

2009 – Albania and Croatia joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

2010 – The U.S. Congress cut Medicare reimbursements to physicians by 21%.

1741 – Frederick II of Prussia defeated Maria Theresa’s forces at Mollwitz and conquered Silesia.

1790 – The U.S. patent system was established when U.S. President George Washington signed the Patent Act of 1790 into law.

1809 – Austria declared war on France and its forces entered Bavaria.

1814 – Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Toulouse by the British and the Spanish. The defeat led to his abdication and exile to Elba.

1825 – The first hotel opened in Hawaii.

1849 – Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. He sold the rights for $100.

1854 – The constitution of the Orange Free State in south Africa was proclaimed.

1862 – Union forces began the bombardment of Fort Pulaski in Georgia along the Tybee River.

1865 – During the American Civil War, at Appomattox, General Robert E. Lee issued his last order.

1866 – The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was incorporated.

1902 – South African Boers accepted British terms of surrender.

1912 – The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England.

1916 – The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) held its first championship tournament.

1919 – In Mexico, revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata was killed by government troops.

1922 – The Genoa Conference opened. The meeting was used to discuss the reconstruction of Europe after World War I.

1925 – F. Scott Fitzgerald published “The Great Gatsby” for the first time.

1930 – The first synthetic rubber was produced.

1932 – Paul von Hindenburg was elected president of Germany with 19 million votes. Adolf Hitler came in second with 13 million votes.

1938 – Germany annexed Austria after Austrians had voted in a referundum to merge with Germany.

1941 – In World War II, U.S. troops occupied Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.

1941 – Ford Motor Co. became the last major automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers as the representative for its workers.

1944 – Russian troops recaptured Odessa from the Germans.

1945 – German Me 262 jet fighters shot down ten U.S. bombers near Berlin.

1953 – Warner Bros. released “House of Wax.” It was the first 3-D movie to be released by a major Hollywood studio.

1953 – Actress Hedy Lamarr became a U.S. citizen.

1959 – Japan’s Crown Prince Akihito married commoner Michiko Shoda.

1960 – The U.S. Senate passed the Civil Rights Bill.

1961 – Gary Player of South Africa became the first foreign golfer to win the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

1963 – 129 people died when the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface off Cape Cod, MA.

1967 – The 13-day strike by the American Federation of Radio-TV Artists (AFTRA) came to an end less than two hours before the 39th Academy Awards presentation went on the air.

1968 – U.S. President Johnson replaced General Westmoreland with General Creighton Abrams in Vietnam.

1971 – The American table tennis team arrived in China. They were the first group of Americans officially allowed into China since the founding of the People Republic in 1949. The team had recieved the surprise invitation while in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship.

1972 – An earthquake in southern Iran killed more than 5,000 people.

1972 – The U.S. and the Soviet Union joined with 70 other nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.

1973 – In Switzerland, 108 people died when a plane crashed while attempting to land at Basel.

1974 – Yitzhak Rabin replaced resigning Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir. Meir resigned over differences within her Labor Party.

1980 – Spain and Britain agreed to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain. It had been closed since 1969.

1981 – Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to the British Parliament.

1981 – The maiden launch of the space shuttle Columbia was cancelled because of a computer malfunction.

1984 – The U.S. Senate condemned the CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors.

1988 – On Wall Street, 48 million shares of Navistar International stock changed hands in a single-block trade. It was the largest transaction ever executed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1990 – Three European hostages kidnapped at sea in 1987 by Palestinian extremists were released in Beirut.

1992 – A bomb exploded in London’s financial district. The bomb, set off by the Irish Republican Army, killed three people and injured 91.

1992 – Outside Needles, CA, comedian Sam Kinison was killed when a pickup truck slammed into his car on a desert road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

1992 – In Los Angeles, financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. The convictions were later overturned.

1993 – South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani was assassinated.

1994 – NATO warplanes launched air strikes for the first time on Serb forces that were advancing on the Bosnian Muslim town of Gordazde. The area had been declared a U.N. safe area.

1996 – U.S. President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have outlawed a technique used to end pregnancies in their late stages.

1997 – Rod Steiger received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 – Negotiators reached a peace accord on governing British ruled Northern Ireland. Britain’s direct rule was ended.

1999 – The http://www.June4.org web site was launched by Chinese dissidents and human rights activists to promote their campaign for democracy in China.

2000 – Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported irregularities in the voting in Georgia’s presidential election on April 9. President Eduard Shevardnadze was reelected to a new five-year term.

2000 – Ken Griffey Jr. became the youngest player in baseball history to reach 400 home runs. He was 30 years, 141 days old.

2001 – Jane Swift took office as the first female governor of Massachusetts. She succeeded Paul Cellucci, who had resigned to become the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

2001 – The Netherlands legalized mercy killings and assisted suicide for patients with unbearable, terminal illness.

2002 – Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Senate as a representative of the Israeli government. He warned that suicide bombers would spread to the U.S. if Israel was not allowed to finish its military offensive in the West Bank. Netanyahu also cited the goals of dismantling the terror regime and expelling Arafat from the region, ridding the Palestinian territories of terrorist weapons and establishing “physical barriers” to protect Israelis from future Palestinian attacks.

2009 – In Fiji, President Josefa Iloilo suspended the nation’s Constitution, dismissed all judges and constitutional appointees and assumed all governance in the country.

on-this-day.com

** Tops Issues Recall of Christopher Ranch Peeled Garlic & Garland Fresh Peeled Garlic Because of Possible Health Risk

Tops Friendly Markets of Williamsville, NY is recalling all codes of Christopher Ranch Peeled Garlic and Garland Peeled Garlic because it has the potential to be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum due to the product being kept at insufficient temperatures. Clostridium botulinum is a bacterium Product was distributed through Tops Markets in New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The recalled products are identified as follows:

Garland Fresh Peeled Garlic, 6 oz., packed in plastic bags with a UPCs of 71894-00000 and 68826-75340, all product code dates.

Christopher Ranch Peeled Garlic, 6 oz., packed in plastic bags with UPC 74574-10852 ,all product code dates

** The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for a ground beef product that may be contaminated with foreign material, specifically metal. A recall was not requested because the product is…

Impacted Products

16oz (1 lb.) PLASTIC, VACUUM-PACKED, packages containing “WHITE OAK PASTURES, RADICALLY TRADITIONAL FARMING, GRASSFED GROUND BEEF”.

** The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is retracting the public health alert issued on April 1, 2026, for Walmart Great Value Fully Cooked Dino Shaped Chicken Breast Nuggets with “Best If Used By” date “Feb…

Impacted Products

29-oz. plastic bags containing approx. 36 “GREAT VALUE FULLY COOKED DINO SHAPED CHICKEN BREAST NUGGETS” with “BEST IF USED BY” date “FEB 10 2027,” lot code” 0416DPO1215,” and establishment number “P44164” printed on the back of the bag.

The FDA has issued an Advisory without batch numbers or expiration dates. At the request of the FDA, RAW FARM is issuing a Voluntary Recall of the batches of cheese below and any batches produced prior to these dates.

Item	Item Description	Batch	Expiration	Barcode
1050	8 oz Lightly Salted Cheddar Block	20251027-2	8/23/2026	835204001177
1060	80 oz Lightly Salted Cheddar Block	20251015-4	8/11/2026	835204001160
1075	16 oz Lightly Salted Cheddar Block	20251027-4	8/23/2026	835204000156
1076	80 oz Bag of Original Cheddar Shred	20260205	5/6/2026	835204000194
1078	16 oz Jalapeno Cheddar Block	20251128-1J	9/24/2026	835204000354
1080	8 oz Lightly Salted Cheddar Shred	20260212	5/13/2026	835204001184
1090	8 oz Jalapeno Cheddar Block	20251128-2J	9/24/2026	835204000330

** FSIS Issues Public Health Alert For Frozen, Dinosaur-Shaped, Ready-To-Eat Chicken Nuggets Due To Traces Of Lead

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for frozen, dinosaur-shaped, ready-to-eat chicken nuggets that may be contaminated with unsafe levels of lead. A recall was not requested because the products are no longer available for purchase. However, FSIS is concerned that some products may still be in consumers’ freezers.

** Microbial contamination tops reasons for recalls in Finland

Microbial contamination was the leading cause of Finnish recalls in 2025. There were 299 recalls in Finland this past year, down slightly from 305 in 2024.

** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 19, 2026– West Sacramento, CA, Gear Isle is voluntarily recalling the following products to the consumer level. The products have been found to contain undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients, sildenafil and tadalafil.

Gold Lion Aphrodisiac Chocolate Sachet, UPC 795847916279, LOT# no lot number, Expires: 06/2027 ilum Sex Chocolate, UPC 1002448578911, LOT# no lot number, Expires: 12/25/2027.

** The E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to raw cheddar cheese from Raw Farm LLC continues to grow. Out of nine cases so far, more than half are in children younger than 5 years old. Although the FDA has reported that raw milk cheese from Raw Farm dairy is the most likely source of the bacteria, the company has refused to recall its product.

** Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has closed the “GRAS loophole” during a podcast, according to the New York Times. GRAS stands for “generally recognized as safe.” The process allows food companies to self-affirm the safety of additives and other substances without a review by the FDA. A 2013 Pew Charitable Trusts study estimated that 3,000 GRAS substances have evaded FDA review.

** Costco recalls meatloaf meals because of Salmonella

** Organic black beans recalled because of pesticide residue

Falcon Trading Company Inc. is recalling organic black bean products because they contain pesticide residue. The Royal Oaks, CA, company is recalling the three items listed below. Because these items

** Cheese recalled in Canada because of Listeria contamination

Auricchio brand Gorgonzola D.O.P dolce is being recalled in Canada because of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency test results.

** Recalls Organic black beans recalled because of pesticide residue

Falcon Trading Company Inc. is recalling organic black bean products because they contain pesticide residue. The Royal Oaks, CA, company is recalling the three items listed below.  Falcon Trading Company, Inc. of Royal Oaks CA is recalling the three items listed below. Because these items are sold in bulk, the lot numbers can be mixed in the sales bin. Therefore, we are recalling all lot numbers of the following items:

FTC item # 003040 Black Organic, UPC 086700930403, 25 Pound sack
SRF item # 003056 Chili Bean Blend Organic, UPC 086700030561, 15 Pound Box
SRF item # 013000 soup Mix Organic, UPC 086700130001, 25 Pound Box

There have been no illnesses reported to date.

**

Historical Highlights
The Civil Rights Bill of 1866
April 09, 1866

Image courtesy of Library of Congress
A New York state politician for more than a decade, Representative Henry Raymond served only one term in the House of Representatives

April 09, 1866

On this date, the House overrode President Andrew Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 with near unanimous Republican support, 122 to 41, marking the first time Congress legislated upon civil rights.

First introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairman Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, the bill mandated that “all persons born in the United States,” with the exception of American Indians, were “hereby declared to be citizens of the United States.” The legislation granted all citizens the “full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property.” To Radical Republicans, who believed the federal government had a role in shaping a multiracial society in the postwar South, the measure seemed the next logical step after the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 18, 1865 (which abolished slavery).

Representative Henry Raymond of New York noted that the legislation was “one of the most important bills ever presented to this House for its action.” President Johnson disagreed with the level of federal intervention implied by the legislation, calling it “another step, or rather a stride, toward centralization and the concentration of all legislative power in the national Government” in his veto message.

The Civil Rights Bill of 1866 proved to be the opening salvo of the showdown between the 39th Congress (1865–1867) and the President over the future of the former Confederacy and African-American civil rights.

history.house.gov

At the height of the civil rights movement in 1963, these famous words were spoken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” But Martin Luther King Jr., was not the first to raise his voice from those steps with a message of hope for America’s future. That distinction belongs to the world-famous contralto Marian Anderson, whose performance at the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939, made a compelling case for the transformative power of music, and in a place typically associated with the power of words.

Source: history.com