May 4
Quote: Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission.
~ Arnold Bennett
Read the Bible in a Year:
Day 124 - Acts 16:1-15; Judges 2-3; Job 34
Day 124 - Acts 16:1-15; Judges 2-3; Job 34
Today in History:
1471 - Battle of Tewkesburg, Gloucestershire: Final battle between the Houses of Lancaster and York sees Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster, killed and King Edward IV return to his throne, restoring political stability to England until his death in 1483
1493 - Spanish Pope Alexander VI decrees in the papal bull "Inter caetera" that all lands west of a line 100 leagues west of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands belong to Castile, ultimately dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal
1814 - King Ferdinand VIII of Spain signs the Decree of the 4th of May, returning Spain to absolutism
1904 - United States begins construction of the Panama Canal
1979 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Today in Sports:
1869 - Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official baseball game, defeating the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9
Film & TV:
Today in Music:
1959 - First Grammy Awards: Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald win major awards
Birthday:
Julia Tyler (born: Gardiner; May 4, 1820 – July 10, 1889) was the First Lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 1845, as the second wife of President John Tyler. A member of the influential Gardiner family, she had many notable figures as suitors. She met the recently widowed President Tyler in 1842, and she agreed to marry him after he comforted her in the aftermath of her father's death. They married in secret, and she became first lady immediately upon their marriage, serving in the role for the final eight months of his presidency. Tyler was delighted with her role as first lady, redecorating the White House and establishing her own "court" of ladies-in-waiting to mimic the practices of European monarchies she had visited years before. She also established the tradition of playing “Hail to the Chief” when the president arrived at an event, and she popularized the walt and polka dances in the United States. Tyler was a fierce advocate for her husband's political priorities, organizing social events to lobby Congressmen, particularly for he Texas annexation. She is credited with revitalizing the position of first lady, both socially and politically, after several inactive first ladies before her. After leaving the White House, Tyler moved to the Sherwood Forest Plantation in Virginia with her husband and had seven children. She became a prominent supporter of slavery in the United States, writing an influential pamphlet in 1853 that defended the practice. During the American Civil Wr, she she provided support to the Confederate States of America, creating a permanent rift with her family in New York. After the war, she was involved in a legal dispute regarding her mother's estate with her brother, who had been a loyal Unionist. Tyler returned to Washington in the 1870s as her reputation recovered, assisting first lady Julia Grant at the White House and convincing Congress to provide a pension for widowed first ladies. She spent her final years in Richard in Richand Virginia. where she lived in poor health. She died of a stroke on July 10, 1889, in the same hotel where her husband had died from the same illness 27 years before.
Death:
Wedding:
Did You Know?
1972 - "The Don't Make A Wave Committee," a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to the "Greenpeace Foundation"
Fun Facts About Today?
1893 - Cowboy Bill Pickett invents bulldogging, the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground
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A PIECE OF HISTORY
A PIECE OF HISTORY