Chuck Connors and Johnny Crawford in “The Rifleman” on
ABC TV from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963. 

John Ernest Crawford (March 26, 1946 – April 29, 2021)

Johnny Crawford was an actor, singer, and musician. He first
performed before a national audience as a Mouseketeer. At age
12, Crawford rose to prominence playing Mark McCain in the
ABC Western series The Rifleman, which he was nominated for
an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor at age 13 for his
work om the show.

Crawford had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019.

On April 28, 1967, boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army and was immediately stripped of his heavyweight title. Ali, a Muslim, cited religious reasons for his
decision to forgo military service.

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., in Louisville, Kentucky, on
January 14, 1942, the future three-time world champ changed
his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after converting to Islam.

One of the final 2010 Pontiac G6 sedans moves down the
line at General Motors Orion assembly plant in Michigan.

On April 27, 2009, the struggling American auto giant General
Motors (GM) says it plans to discontinue production of its more
than 80-year-old Pontiac brand.

Pontiac’s origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which
was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward Murphy,
a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer.

Guitarist Duane Eddy had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically “twangy”
sound, including “Rebel-‘Rouser“, “Peter Gunn“, and “Because
They’re Young“.^[ He had sold 12 million records by 1963.

Duane Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1994, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

On April 26, 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8
million children, began at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School
in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and
Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the
now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient
nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo.

One year later, on April 12, 1955, researchers announced the vaccine
was safe and effective and it quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America.