MIKE GRACIA

President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Spring, GA. on this
day in 1945. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Harry
S. Truman (below) became president.

Truman (left) being sworn as the 33rd president of the United
States.

Fort Sumter was shelled by Confederacy, starting America’s Civil
War on this day in 1861.

Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became first man to orbit the Earth
on this day in 1961.

On this day in 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from
Cape Canaveral, FL, on its first test flight. It orbits Earth 37 times
before landing.

Commander John W. Young, left, and Pilot Robert L. Crippen.

David Letterman retired as host of “The Late Show” on May 20,
2015.

David Michael Letterman is 71 years old today.

David Letterman became a late night TV host during the 1982 debut of
NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman, and later hosted The Late Show 
with David Letterman. In 2014, he announced that he would retire from
The Late Show in 2015. He once worked as a weatherman for AM radio
station WNTS and anchored on Indianapolis television station WLWI.

SANDY KOZEL

A major accident occurred at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island
nuclear power plant on this day in 1979. A nuclear power reactor overheated and suffered a partial meltdown.

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969)

The Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to Francisco Franco
(left) on this day in 1939.

Maria Augusta von Trapp (January 26, 1905 – March 28, 1987) 

Baroness von Trapp, as she was also know as, was the stepmother 
and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers and wrote the story about
the singers in 1949. It later inspired the Broadway musical The Sound
of Music (1959) and the 1965 film of the same name.

The Trapp Family Singers, pictured in 1948, rehearse. From
left they are Baroness Maria von Trapp and her daughters,
Johanna, Eleanore, Agathe, Hedwig, Rosmary, Martina, and
Maria.

Reba Nell McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma. She
is 63 years young today.

Multi-platinum singer, musician, and actress Reba McEntire
released more than three dozen #1 singles and more than a
dozen #1 albums since the 1990s, including Whoever’s in
New England. She was in the family singing group "the
Singing McEntires" as a child. Red Steagall discovered her
during her performance of the National Anthem at a Rodeo
in Oklahoma City when she was a sophomore in college.

Reba McCentire (above) as KFC’S first female Colonel Sanders.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1997, Dr. Martin Luther King JR’s son Dexter (left) 
met with James Earl Ray, the accused assassin of his father.

April 1968

It was on this day in 2002.

On this day in 1998, the FDA approved the prescription drug Viagra,
the first pill for male impotence.

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Film director, producer, and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino first received
acclaim for his 1990s crime films Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie
Brown.  He dropped out of High School his freshman year to go to acting
school.

James Edmund Caan was born in The Bronx, New York.

James Caan is best known for his role as Sonny Corleone in The
Godfather (1972). Other notable film credits include Misery (1972)
and Alien Nation (1988).

MIKE GRACIA

Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, AL. on this day in 1965.

King delivering a speech on the steps of the State Capitol.

In New York City on this day in 1911, 146 women were killed in fire
at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City. The owners
of the company were indicted on manslaughter charges because
some of the employees had been behind locked doors in the
factory. The owners were later acquitted and in 1914 they were
ordered to pay damages to each of the twenty-three families that
had sued.

On this day in 1997, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush’s 85th
birthday was celebrated by a skydiving adventure at 9500 feet over 
Yuma, Arizona.

Aretha Franklin,1960

Aretha Franklin in April 2016.

Singer Aretha Louise Franklin is 76 years young today.

In 2017, Franklin canceled a series of concerts due to health reasons. During
an outdoors Detroit show, Franklin told the audience to "keep me in your
prayers". In July 2017, Franklin reemerged, appearing to lose more weight
before a performance at the Wolf Trap in Virginia.

Sir Elton Hercules John (Reginald Kenneth Dwight) is 71 today.

Rock and roll legend Elton John has sold over 250 million albums in a
career that’s spanned over 50 years. He is best known for such hit songs
as "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer," "Bennie and the Jets" and "Candle in
the Wind." He began playing the piano at age three and won a junior
scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.