(Poor Abe the Bae <[no disrespect meant]. From what I've read he was an interesting and intelligent self-made man.
I'm sure emancipation from slavery would have happened eventually, it is just a shame so many of our own had to die, and so much destruction wrought in the process. Seems that is always the cost of freedom... . . .)
(Another cost of a war that we are still paying for. I guess that is why today is the deadline <[interesting word in itself] to file [unless you apply for an extension, of course]?)
Also on April 15th, 1952 Franklin National Bank issued the first bank credit card. (Demons to some, Angels to others....)
(I wonder what James Cameron would be doing now if it hadn't occurred?)
(Some events happening on April 15th were devastating. Others, not so much.)
(Initiated for the first time on April 15, 2004, MLB has adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", on which every player on every team wears #42.
What a coincidence that his middle name was Roosevelt...)
It wasn't the first test-
‘The site was established on 11 January 1951 for the testing of nuclear devices, covering approximately 1,360 square miles (3,500 km2) of desert and mountainous terrain. Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a 1-kiloton-of-TNT (4.2 TJ) bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat on 27 January 1951.
During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds from the 100 atmospheric tests could be seen for almost 100 mi (160 km). The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the distant mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown hotels, became tourist attractions. St. George, Utah, received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah. Marked increases in cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980. The vast majority of nuclear tests, 828 in all, were underground.
From 1986 through 1994, two years after the United States put a hold on full-scale nuclear weapons testing, 536 anti-nuclear protests were held at the Nevada Test Site involving 37,488 participants and 15,740 arrests, according to government records. Those arrested included the astronomer Carl Sagan and the actors Kris Kristofferson, Martin Sheen, and Robert Blake.’
(Wikipedia)
There were two consecutive explosions on the sidewalk near the finish line, killing three spectators and injuring 264 others.
It was the 117th edition of the event, with over 23,000 runners participating, and more than $800,000 in prize money being awarded.
(No amount of prize money could ever replace those that lost lives and limbs....)