On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
On April 5, 1856, Booker T. Washington, the educator and reformer who became an important spokesperson for black Americans at the turn of the 20th century, was born. Following his death on Nov. 14, 1915, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
| 1614 | Pocahontas, daughter of the leader of the Powhatan tribe, married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia. |
|---|---|
| 1792 | George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states. |
| 1856 | Black educator Booker T. Washington was born in Franklin County, Va. |
| 1895 | Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused the writer of homosexual practices. |
| 1908 | Actress Bette Davis was born in Lowell, Mass. |
| 1951 | Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. |
| 1976 | Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died at age 72. |
| 1984 | Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the highest-scoring player in NBA history with 31,421 career points. (He still holds the career record with with 38,387 points.) |
| 1987 | Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut. |
| 2008 | Actor Charlton Heston died at age 84. |
| 2010 | An explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Charleston, W.Va., killed 29 workers. |
| 2010 | In a televised rescue, 115 Chinese coal miners were freed after spending eight days trapped in a flooded mine, surviving an accident that had killed 38. |
Historic Birthdays
| 91 |
Thomas Hobbes 4/5/1588 - 12/4/1679 English philosopher and political theorist |
|---|---|
| 72 |
Elihu Yale 4/5/1649 - 7/8/1721 American-born English merchant and benefactor of Yale University |
| 74 |
Jean-Honore Fragonard 4/5/1732 - 8/22/1806 French rococo painter |
| 51 |
Vincenzo Gioberti 4/5/1801 - 11/26/1852 Italian philosopher, politician and cleric |
| 85 |
Baron Joseph Lister 4/5/1827 - 2/10/1912 English surgeon and scientist |
| 72 |
Algernon Chas. Swinburne 4/5/1837 - 4/10/1909 English poet and critic |
| 92 |
Lincoln Filene 4/5/1865 - 8/27/1957 American business executive and philanthropist; chairman of Federated Department Stores (1929-57) |
| 85 |
Chester Bowles 4/5/1901 - 5/25/1986 American politician and advertising entrepreneur |
| 81 |
Bette Davis 4/5/1908 - 10/6/1989 American motion-picture dramatic actress |
| 78 |
Jagjivan Ram 4/5/1908 - 7/6/1986 Indian politician and spokesman for the untouchables |
| 81 |
Herbert von Karajan 4/5/1908 - 7/16/1989 Austrian-born conductor |
| 72 |
Chaim Grade 4/5/1910 - 6/26/1982 Russian-born Yiddish poet, short-story writer and novelist |