On April 20, 2008, 26-year-old Danica Patrick wins the Indy
Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan, making
her the first female winner in IndyCar racing history.

Danica Patrick was born on March 25, 1982, in Beloit,
Wisconsin. She became involved in racing as a young
girl and as a teenager moved to England in pursuit of
better training opportunities.

In 2005, Patrick started competing in IndyCar events, which
include the famed Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in Indiana.

On April 18, 1942, 16 American B-25 bombers, launched from
the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan and
commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle,
attacked the Japanese mainland.

The now-famous Tokyo Raid did little real damage to Japan
(wartime Premier Hideki Tojo was inspecting military bases
during the raid; one B-25 came so close, Tojo could see the
pilot, though the American bomber never fired a shot)—but
it did hurt the Japanese government’s prestige.

LT. COL. JIMMY DOOLITTLE (left) WITH TOKYO RAIDERS.

March 27, 1912: In Washington, D.C., Helen Taft, wife of
President William Taft, and the Viscountess Chinda, wife
of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry
trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River, near
the Jefferson Memorial.

The event commemorated a gift, by the Japanese of some
3,020 cherry trees to the U.S. government.

The planting of Japanese cherry trees along the Potomac
was first proposed by socialite Eliza Scidmore, who raised
money for the endeavor.

After learning of the first lady’s interest, the Japanese
consul in New York suggested making a gift of the trees
to the U.S. government from the city of Tokyo.

Helen and William Taft

The Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki gave the US capital 3,000
cherry blossom trees as a gift to celebrate the friendship between the US and Japan. The cherry blossom is the
national flower of Japan.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, initiating a controversial World War II
policy with lasting consequences for Japanese Americans.

The document ordered the forced removal of resident "enemy
aliens" from parts of the West vaguely identified as military
areas.

 
MIKE GRACIA

Douglas Wilder, the first African American to be elected governor
of an American state, took office as Governor of Virginia on this
day in 1990. Wilder broke a number of color barriers in Virginia
politics and remains an enduring and controversial figure in the
state’s political scene.

Born in 1931 in Church Hill, a poor and segregated neighborhood
of Richmond, Wilder is the grandson of slaves and is named for Frederick Douglass. He grew up in the Jim Crow era, graduating
from Richmond’s Virginia Union University in 1951. Wilder fought
in the Korean War, earning the Bronze Star, before studying law
at Howard University and returning to Richmond to practice.