April 27
1956
World heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano retired from boxing at age 31, wanting to spend more time with his family. Marciano ended his career as the only heavyweight champion with a perfect record–49 wins in 49 professional bouts, with 43 knockouts. Nicknamed the “Brockton Blockbuster," Marciano reportedly began boxing as a way to get out of kitchen duty and other less-than-desirable jobs after being drafted into the US Army. He captured the heavyweight crown in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952, when he scored a knockout against defending champ Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round. He would defend his title six times before retiring. Marciano died in a small-plane crash in Iowa on August 31, 1969.
1987
The Justice and State departments jointly announced Austrian leader, and former secretary-general of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim would henceforth be barred from entering the United States, acting on evidence that he had participated in Nazi war crimes during World War II and had hidden his role in seeking high political office. It marked the first time that a head of state had been put on a U.S. immigration non-entry list. Waldheim called the allegations against him “pure lies and malicious acts,” although he admitted that he had known about German reprisals against Greek and Yugoslav partisans. “Yes, I knew,” he said. “I was horrified. But what could I do? I had either to continue to serve or be executed.”
2009
Struggling American auto giant General Motors (GM) announced plans to discontinue production of its more than 80-year-old Pontiac brand. Pontiac’s origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan. Pontiac was initially known for making sedans; however, by the 1960s it had gained acclaim for its fast, sporty “muscle cars,” including the GTO, the Firebird and the Trans Am. The GTO, which was developed by auto industry maverick John DeLorean, was named after a Ferarri coupe, the Gran Turismo Omologato. Famous Trans Ams include Burt Reynold's black Trans Am in “Smokey and the Bandit" and David Hasselhoff's Trans Am KITT, a talking car with artificial intelligence in "Knight Rider."
April 28
1941
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that under the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act, African Americans were entitled to equal passenger accommodations on the nation’s railroads. Rep. Arthur Mitchell of Illinois, the first black member of Congress to be elected as a Democrat, co-argued his own suit before the court. Mitchell brought forth his suit in response to being ordered by an Illinois Central conductor to vacate his first-class air-conditioned Pullman sleeper compartment while traveling from Chicago to Hot Springs, Ark., shortly after the train left Memphis, Tenn., and to move to a second-class segregated car for the remainder of his trip, which continued on the Rock Island line.
1967
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army and was immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his decision to forgo military service. He was convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and banned from boxing for three years. He stayed out of prison as his case was appealed and returned to the ring on October 26, 1970, knocking out Jerry Quarry. On March 8, 1971, Ali fought Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century” and lost after 15 rounds, the first loss of his professional boxing career. On June 28 of that same year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction for evading the draft.
1970
President Richard Nixon gave his formal authorization to commit U.S. combat troops, in cooperation with South Vietnamese units, against communist troop sanctuaries in Cambodia. Secretary of State William Rogers and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird had continually argued for a downsizing of the U.S. effort in Vietnam, but Nixon left them and other advisors out of the decision, which essentially amounted to an invasion of Cambodia. The incursion angered many in Congress, who felt that Nixon was illegally widening the war; this resulted in a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives that would severely limit the executive power of the president.
April 29
1789
The House Committee on Elections, a panel created only 16 days earlier, reported its first contested election case, thereby establishing a precedent for procedures that have largely remained in place through the present day. First, the committee would gather evidence and render a judgment. Then the House would decide whether more evidence was needed and, if not, vote on the committee’s report. South Carolina’s David Ramsay disputed William Loughton Smith’s eligibility to represent Charleston in the House under the Constitution’s seven-year citizenship requirement. In the November election, Smith had soundly won the election, but Ramsey claimed Smith's not living in the country during it's founding rendered him a non-citizen. The committee upheld the Smith's win.
1945
The U.S. Seventh Army’s 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau, the first concentration camp established by Germany’s Nazi regime. A major Dachau sub-camp was liberated the same day by the 42nd Rainbow Division. As the Americans entered Dachau, they encountered unimaginable evil and horrible conditions. Established five weeks after Adolf Hitler took power as German chancellor in 1933, Dachau was located about 10 miles northwest of Munich and functioned predominantly as a forced labor camp. In the course of Dachau’s history, at least 160,000 prisoners passed through the main camp, and 90,000 through the sub-camps. Incomplete records indicate that at least 32,000 of the inmates perished at Dachau, but countless more were shipped to camps elsewhere.
2004
The World War II Memorial opened in Washington, D.C. to thousands of visitors, providing overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and women who served in the war. The memorial is located on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol dome is seen to the east, and Arlington Cemetery is just across the Potomac River to the west. Only a fraction of the 16 million Americans who served in the war would ever see it. Four million World War II veterans were living at the time, with more than 1,100 passing every day, according to government records.
April 30
1789
George Washington was sworn in as the first American president and delivers the first inaugural speech at Federal Hall in New York City. Elements of the ceremony set tradition; presidential inaugurations have deviated little in the two centuries since Washington’s inauguration. Observers noted that Washington appeared as if he would have preferred facing cannon and musket fire to taking the political helm of the country. After delivering his address, Washington walked up Broadway with a group of legislators and local political leaders to pray at St. Paul’s Chapel. Later, he made the humble and astute observation that his presidency, and the nation itself, was an experiment.
1939
The New York World’s Fair opened in New York City. The opening ceremony, which featured speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and New York Governor Herbert Lehman, ushered in the first day of television broadcasting in New York. Spanning 1,200 acres at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, the fairground was marked by two imposing structures—the “Perisphere” and the “Trylon”—and exhibited such new technology as FM radio, robotics, fluorescent lighting and a crude fax machine. Sixty-three nations participated in the fair, which enjoyed large crowds before the outbreak of World War II interrupted many of its scheduled events.
1993
Top women’s tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed by Gunter Parche, a deranged fan of German tennis star Steffi Graf, during a match in Hamburg. The assailant apparently hoped that by injuring Seles his idol Graf would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking. Seles, who became a US citizen and continued to play for the US in 1994, had won 8 Grand Slams at the time of the attack, but was left with emotional scars that kept her from playing for two more years. She would go onto win the Australian Open in 1996, her final Grand Slam, while her attacker received a suspended sentence and would not be seriously punished for the stabbing. The attack led to greater distance between fans and players along with increased security during tennis events.
May 1
1926
Ford Motor Company became one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour workweek for workers in its automotive factories. Ford believed that overworking employees was bad for their productivity, and giving them more down time without compromising their financial well-being would help increase worker loyalty and commitment to Ford Motor Company. Ford’s groundwork, along with a great deal of effort from the new labor unions, encouraged manufacturers all over the country and world to adopt the Monday-to-Friday standard workweek.
1931
President Herbert Hoover officially dedicated New York City’s Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turns on the building’s lights. Hoover’s gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York. The idea for the Empire State Building is said to have been born of a competition between Walter Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jakob Raskob of General Motors. Chrysler had already begun work on the famous Chrysler Building, the gleaming 1,046-foot skyscraper in midtown Manhattan. At the time of its completion, the Empire State Building, at 102 stories and 1,250 feet high (1,454 feet to the top of the lightning rod), was the world’s tallest skyscraper.
1941
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane made its debut at RKO Palace Theater. The landmark film began generating such controversy that Radio City Music Hall eventually refused to show it. The 24-year-old Welles had already made a name for himself as Hollywood’s "enfant terrible" and based his new film on on the life of publishing baron William Randolph Hearst, who presided over the country’s leading newspaper empire. Hearst himself was incensed and tried to suppress the film. Although reviews were favorable, and it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, it was a box office failure. However, years after its initial release, it consistently ranks at the top of film critics’ lists, most notably grabbing the No. 1 spot on the American Film Institute’s poll of America’s 100 Greatest Films.
May 2
1949
Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman. Debuting on Broadway the same year, it is a two-act tragedy set in 1940s New York told through a montage of memories, dreams, and arguments of the protagonist Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who is disappointed with his life, and appears to be slipping into senility. The play contains a variety of themes, such as the American Dream, the anatomy of truth, and infidelity. It explores the psychological chaos of the protagonist, and the capitalist society's impact on his life. It is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.
1972
After nearly five decades as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover died, leaving the powerful government agency without the administrator who had been largely responsible for its existence and shape. Hoover joined the Department of Justice in 1917 and was appointed acting director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924. During the 1920s, with Congress’ approval, Director Hoover drastically restructured and expanded the Bureau of Investigation. He built the corruption-ridden agency into an efficient crime-fighting machine, establishing a centralized fingerprint file, a crime laboratory, and a training school for agents.
2011
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, was killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan. The notorious, 54-year-old leader of Al Qaeda, the terrorist network of Islamic extremists, had been the target of a nearly decade-long international manhunt. The raid began when 23 U.S. Navy SEALs in two Black Hawk helicopters descended on the compound. Just after 11:30 p.m. EST, President Barack Obama, who monitored the raid in real time via footage shot by a drone flying high above Abbottabad, made a televised address from the White House, announcing bin Laden’s death. “Justice has been done,” the president said.