Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 April 18

William O'Connell Bradley (1847–1914) was the 32nd Governor of Kentucky and a U.S. senator. The first Republican to serve as governor of the state, he became known as the father of the Republican Party in Kentucky. After a well-received speech seconding the presidential nomination of Ulysses S. Grant at the 1880 Republican National Convention, he was nominated for governor in 1887. He lost the general election that year, but won in 1895, capitalizing on divisions in the Democratic Party over the issue of free silver. His term was marked by political struggles and violence. He advanced the status of black citizens, but was unable to enact much of his reform agenda over a hostile Democratic majority. He was elected by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1907, when voting was deadlocked and the Democratic candidate, outgoing Governor J. C. W. Beckham, refused to withdraw in favor of a compromise candidate. Bradley's opposition to Prohibition made him palatable to some Democratic legislators, and after two months of balloting, four of them crossed party lines to elect him. His career in the Senate was largely undistinguished. (Full article...)

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Margaret Sanger

• ... that Planned Parenthood was conceived 100 years ago in Brooklyn when Margaret Sanger (pictured), her sister Ethel Byrne, and Fania Mindell distributed birth control plus advice, and were soon arrested?
• ... that John Logie Baird's Telechrome was the first single-tube color television display, and could also display stereoscopic (3D) images?
• ... that historian Howard Henry Peckham discovered that American Revolutionary War deaths were much higher than previously assumed, totaling about 25,000?
• ... that during the Industrial Revolution, the Welsh coal industry was at the forefront of the development of new mining technologies?
• ... that Yi Qiu was the first recorded weiqi player?
• ... that more than 10 wrestlers have worn the Espanto mask, including Espanto I, Espanto II, Espanto III, Espanto IV and V, Los Hijos del Espanto, Espanto Jr., his son Espanto Jr., and Mini-Estrella Espantito?
• ... that the Malator is known locally as the "Teletubby house"?

Volodymyr Groysman

• A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Ecuador, killing at least 272 people and injuring more than 2,500 others.
• Two earthquakes kill at least 40 people and injure more than 3,000 others across Kyushu, Japan.
• Volodymyr Groysman (pictured) is appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine following the resignation of Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
• Argentina reaches an agreement to issue bonds and pay its creditors, ending a 15-year sovereign default.
• The Minjoo Party of Korea wins a plurality of seats in the South Korean National Assembly.

• Ongoing events
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  • Bill Gray
  • Malick Sidibé
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April 18: Patriots' Day in Maine and Massachusetts (2016); Tax Day in the United States (2016); Independence Day in Zimbabwe (1980)

Saint Peter's Basilica by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

• 1506 – Construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica (interior pictured) in Vatican City, to replace the old basilica built in the 4th century, began.
• 1689 – Provincial militia and citizens gathered in Boston, and arrested officials of the Dominion of New England.
• 1847 – Mexican–American War: Winfield Scott's United States troops out-flanked and drove Santa Anna's larger Mexican army from a strong defensive position in the Battle of Cerro Gordo.
• 1938 – Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.
• 1996 – Israeli forces shelled Qana, Lebanon, during Operation Grapes of Wrath, killing more than 100 civilians and injuring more than 110 others at a UN compound.

• More anniversaries:
  • April 17
  • April 18
  • April 19

NASA space-flown Gemini and Apollo medallions were mission-specific commemorative medallions—often astronaut-designed—which were approved by NASA and carried aboard the mission spacecraft into orbit. Beginning with the first manned Gemini mission in 1965, commemorative medallions were prepared for the astronauts at their request. These were produced by a company only known as Fliteline and were struck either in a pewter-colored base metal, sometimes painted a gold color, or sterling silver, and were flown on all 10 manned Gemini missions. The Robbins Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts, was contracted in 1968 to produce commemorative medallions beginning with Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo flight since the Apollo 1 disaster. These were purchased by astronauts and support crew personnel at NASA Astronaut Flight Office, and a total of over 3,000 sterling silver Robbins medallions were flown into space across the 12 manned flights of the Apollo program. Some of these were later sold in public auction for up to $60,000. (Full list...)

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