Today in history
Today is Saturday, April 23, the 114th day of 2016. There are 252 days left in the year.
On this date in the SCV: In 1943, a ten percent increase in pay, retroactive to February 1, and representing a lump sum of about $40,000, became available to the production workers at the Bermite Powder Company. The increase, announced the previous month by Pres. Patrick Lizza, was formally approved by a letter from the National War Labor Relations Board, and went into effect immediately. Besides their pay checks, employees were to receive additional checks for sums ranging from $40 to $ 550. When the letter from the NWLB was received by the company it was immediately announced to the assembled day and swing shifts by Pres. Lizza, who stood on the steps of the cafeteria and made a short talk. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 23, 1616 (Old Style calendar), English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on what has traditionally been regarded as the 52nd anniversary of his birth in 1564.
Ten years ago: Osama bin Laden issued new threats in an audiotape broadcast on Arab television and accused the United States and Europe of supporting a “Zionist” war on Islam by cutting off funds to the Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Five years ago: Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. (Saleh ended up leaving office in Feb. 2012.) Former Sony Corp. president and chairman Norio Ohga, credited with developing the compact disc, died in Tokyo at age 81.
One year ago: Blaming the “fog of war,” President Barack Obama revealed that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan had inadvertently killed an American and an Italian, two hostages held by al-Qaida, as well as two other Americans who had leadership roles with the terror network. Former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was destroyed by an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, was sentenced in Charlotte, North Carolina, to two years’ probation and fined $100,000 for giving her classified material while she was working on the book. The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. attorney general. Richard Corliss, 71, Time magazine’s longtime film critic, died in New York.
On this date: In 1016, Aethelred II “The Unready,” King of the English, died in London after 38 years on the throne. In 1789, President-elect George Washington and his wife, Martha, moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York. In 1791, the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. In 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his “Man in the Arena” speech at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1935, Poland adopted a constitution which gave new powers to the presidency.