On This Day April 8

1994
Smoking: Smoking is banned in U.S. military workplaces, including the Pentagon.

1991
Willie Shoemaker, horse racing's all-time victory leader, loses control of his vehicle while driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.13 percent. The wreck left him a quadriplegic, for which he successfully sued Ford Motor Co. (1993) for $1,000,000.

1989
One-handed pitcher: Jim Abbott makes his Major League debut, for the California Angels. In 1993, he would pitch a no-hitter for the New York Yankees against Cleveland (4-0).

1988
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart is defrocked by the Assemblies of God church after refusing to accept their punishment for the unnamed sins he had admitted to.

1981
A Japanese freighter sinks after colliding with an American submarine in the East China Sea.

1971
First legal off-track betting system in the U.S. opens in New York City.

1950
First NBA championship: The first game between the Minneapolis Lakers and the Syracuse Nationals takes place. The Lakers went on to win four games to two.

1879
Milk Bottles: First milk sold in glass bottles in the U.S. (Echo Farms Dairy Co. of New York).

1937
Seymour Hersh, American Pulitzer-winning reporter who broke the My Lai Massacre story while working for the New York Times.

1912 d. 1969
Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater, actress. A 10-time world champion (1927-36), she won the Norwegian championship at age 11, the world title at age 13, and Olympic gold medals in 1928, 1932, and 1936.

1904 d. 1989
Sir John Richard Hicks, British Nobel-winning economist. He won the 1972 Nobel Prize for demonstrating that economic equilibrium is achieved by the interaction of forces that cancel each other out.

1893 d. 1979
Mary Pickford (Gladys Smith), American Oscar-winning silent film actress, "America's Sweetheart." She was a co-founder of United Artists (1919).

1875 d. 1934
Albert I, King of Belgium (1909-34). He was killed while mountain climbing.

1818 d. 1892
August von Hofmann, German chemist. His work established the synthetic dye industry.

1996 b. 1906
Benjamin Eisenstadt, American inventor. He originated the idea of individual-sized sugar packets for use in restaurants and he and his son Marvin invented "Sweet'N Low" artificial sweetener (1957). The the musical-scale logo for Sweet'N Low received Federal Trademark Registration No. 1,000,000.

1993 b. 1902
Marian Anderson, American opera singer, first black artist to entertain at the White House (1939) and the first black to perform at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1954).

1990 b. 1971
Ryan White, American AIDS victim. He became a national symbol when he was barred from the Indiana public school system (1985).

1981 b. 1893
Omar Nelson Bradley, American World War II hero, the last U.S. five-star general. He commanded the 12th Army - the largest U.S. force ever commanded by a single person - and served 69 years on active duty, the longest ever served by a U.S. soldier.

1973 b. 1881
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish artist, considered the greatest artist of the 20th century. His last words were "Drink to me," which Paul McCartney used in a song about his death.

1919 b. 1852
Frank W. Woolworth, American businessman, founder of Woolworths (1879). His first store failed within three months, but he tried again and the rest is history.

1861 b. 1811
Elisha Graves Otis, American inventor of the modern safety elevator (1852), with a device to protect passengers in case the cable broke. He also patented a steam driven elevator (1860).

April 8

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