For as long as humans have existed on this place we call Earth, history has been created each and every waking moment. Ranging from the beginning and ending of wars, to even as simple as the groundbreaking feats made for a country itself. Even though it would be nearly impossible to cover all the historic events that have ever happened, mentioning a couple of major events that happened this month is equally important. With this in mind, here are several historical events that happened in the month of April.
Event #1: George Washington became the first US president
Several years after the end of the American Revolution on September 3, 1783, George Washington returned to a role of leadership. This time instead of him taking the lead in a war, it was to lead the people of a newly freed country. When he would become president on April 30, 1789, after he was administered the oath of office. Washington administered the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.
Event #2: The Chernobyl disaster
The devastating nuclear power plant explosion in Ukraine happened in this month in history. Specifically, this occurred on April 26, 1986, and led to several massive aftereffects. These aftereffects being the spread of a radioactive cloud that would cover most of Europe, and thousands of cases of cancer from radiation exposure alongside thirty-one reported deaths. To prevent any further radiation from being released, the plant was encased into a solid concrete tomb, but the effects the incident has had on all nuclear things since then have not gone unnoticed.
Event #3: Modern era Olympic games arrive
It could be understandable to think that the Olympics as we know it never truly had a “resurgence” as it were with how impactful it is on the world of sports. Well, it turns out that the Olympics we know of would come back after a 1500-year break. This break eventually ended on April 6, 1896, when it was held in Athens, Greece. Of course, over the years many athletic feats have been made and moments cemented in history, but it’s surprising to think that all of this was possible from an athletic event that took quite a long break before returning.
Event #4: A chain reaction resulting from a failed overthrow of Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba
It is known at this point that Fidel Castro was a man who had so many attempts on his life or to simply overthrow him, yet not even one ever succeeded for one reason or another. Where this would be disastrous was when the US tried to back an attempt to overthrow Castro on April 17, 1961. During what would become known as the Bay of Pigs fiasco, it all went wrong due to a series of mishaps and this eventually led to the invasion failing. Its failure caused a chain reaction response where Soviet Russia, Cuba’s political ally, installed nuclear missiles in Cuba resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The failed invasion also heightened Cold War tensions.
Event #5: An overruling of a presidential veto
With America’s government, there is one key thing to know when it comes to passing bills. That being, although a bill can pass through Congress and the House, it can still be stopped by the US president via a veto. Surprisingly enough, not many vetoes have been overridden by Congress in the past with only 106 of the 1,484 ever having this happen, according to the National Archives pdf on the matter. One instance out of the 106 was the April 9, 1866, veto override of the Civil Rights Bill of 1866. Due to the override of the president at the time, Andrew Johnson, the bill granted African Americans the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship.
It is honestly surprising what couple of moments in history happened in this month alone. There are plenty more that occurred that were not covered. If the want or curiosity were to occur, doing some research on the side could prove some fun. You never know what you can learn about a particular month in history.