TODAY IN HISTORY - APRIL 8TH

1832 – Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.

1892 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded United Artists (d. 1979) is born.

1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.

1906 – Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850) dies.

1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.

1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.

1916 – In Corona, California, race car driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three (including himself), and badly injuring five spectators.

1918 – Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald R. Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (d. 2011) is born.

1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.

1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.

1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.

1963 – Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter, actor, and photographer is born.

1974 – At Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth's 39-year-old record.

1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.

1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.

1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.

2005 – Over four million people attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

2013 – Margaret Thatcher, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925) dies.

2014 – The Ultimate Warrior, American wrestler (b. 1959) dies.