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April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). There are 267 days remaining.
Events
up to 19th century
20th century
1900s-1940s
- 1904 - France and the United Kingdom sign the Entente cordiale.
- 1904 - Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
- 1910 - The Los Angeles Motordome opened near Playa del Rey, California.
- 1913 - The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct election of Senators.
- 1916 - In Corona, California, auto racer Bob Burman crashed through a crowd barrier at the last Boulevard Race, killing himself, his mechanic and a track policeman, and badly injuring five spectators.
- 1918 - World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York, New York's financial district.
- 1929 - Indian Independence Movement At Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw handouts, and bombs in a corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest.
- 1935 - The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
- 1942 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
- 1945 - At the POW camp at Flossenbürg, pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged.
1950s-1980s
- 1952 - In a radio address to the nation from the White House, President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all steel mills in the United States in order to prevent a nationwide strike.
- 1953 - Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
- 1967 - In Vienna, Austria, Sandy Shaw wins the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Puppet on a String".
- 1974 - At the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
- 1975 - Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians manages his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
- 1975 - Vietnam War: After spending a week in South Vietnam, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand gives a report to the U.S. Congress that South Vietnam will fall without additional military aid.
- 1985 - Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
- 1986 - Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).
- 1987 - Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid great controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
- 1989 - South Africa In Johannesburg, the Progressive Federal Party, Independent party, National Democratic Movement and the force of Ontevrede Afrikaners or dissatisfied Afrikaners merged to form the Democratic Party.
1990s
21st century
Births
up to 19th century
20th century
- 1905 - Helen Joseph, SA anti-apartheid activist (d. 1992)
- 1911 - Emil Cioran, philosopher and essayist (d. 1995)
- 1912 - Sonja Henie, Olympic and World Champion figure skater (d. 1969)
- 1918 - Betty Ford, former First Lady of the United States
- 1919 - Ian Smith, former Prime Minister of Rhodesia
- 1921 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- 1926 - Jürgen Moltmann, theologian
- 1928 - John Gavin, actor
- 1929 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d. 2000)
- 1929 - Jacques Brel, French singer and composer (d. 1978)
- 1933 - Fred Ebb, composer
- 1938 - Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General
- 1940 - John Havlicek, basketball star
- 1943 - Miller Farr, American football player
- 1944 - Barbara Kingsolver, novelist
- 1946 - Catfish Hunter, baseball pitcher
- 1949 - John Madden, director
- 1954 - Gary Carter, baseball catcher
- 1960 - John Schneider, actor
- 1963 - Julian Lennon, musician and singer
- 1966 - Robin Wright Penn, actress
- 1968 - Patricia Arquette, actress
- 1977 - Mark Spencer, computer programmer
- 1980 - Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
- 1982 - Judy Star, pornographic film actress
- 1984 - Taran Noah Smith, actor
Deaths
- 217 - Caracalla, Roman Emperor (b. 186)
- 956 - Gilbert of Chalon, Duke of Burgundy
- 1143 - John II Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1087)
- 1492 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic (b. 1449)
- 1848 - Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
- 1936 - Robert Bárány, Nobel Prize winner in medicine (b. 1876)
- 1938 - Joe "King" Oliver, jazz musician (b. 1885)
- 1950 - Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer (b. 1890)
- 1973 - Pablo Picasso, artist (b. 1881)
- 1983 - Omar Bradley, general (b. 1893)
- 1990 - Ryan White, AIDS activist (b. 1971)
- 1993 - Marian Anderson, singer (b. 1897)
- 1996 - Ben Johnson, actor (b. 1918)
- 1997 - Laura Nyro, singer, composer (b. 1947)
- 2000 - Claire Trevor, actress (b. 1910)
- 2002 - Maria Felix, Mexican actress
- 2003 - Anita Borg, computer scientist
Holidays and observances
- Worldwide Roma Nation Day
April 7 - April 9 - March 8 - May 8 -- listing of all days
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