Moments in Time: Richard Nixon cigarette ads
The History Channel
On March 30, 1858, Philadelphia inventor Hymen Lipman received a patent for the first pencil with an attached eraser. Years later, however, the U.S. Supreme Court erased the patent, ruling that his combination of two existing devices made Lipman's invention unworthy of a patent.
On March 31, 1995, pop star Selena Quintanilla Perez was shot to death in a Corpus Christi, Texas, motel by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who then engaged the police in a nine-hour standoff in the motel's parking lot until her arrest. She was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
On April 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon, who was known to enjoy the occasional cigar himself, signed legislation officially banning cigarette ads on television and radio. The last such TV ad aired during "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" on Jan. 1, 1971.
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I. In his address to Congress that day, he called it "a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war." Four days later, Congress obliged.
On April 3, 1876, following a public fistfight the previous day between policeman Wyatt Earp (who won) and William Smith, a candidate for Wichita, Kansas, county sheriff, Earp was fined $30 and fired from his position.
On April 4, 2007, syndicated talk radio host Don Imus incited a nationwide storm of criticism after making racially disparaging remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, insulting their appearance, tattoos and, most infamously, dubbing them "nappy-headed hos." He apologized on his show two days later but lost his job and a number of sponsors, though he was ultimately able to save his career.
On April 5, 1945, U.S. Pvt. 1st Class Sadao S. Munemori destroyed two German machine gun nests and fell on a live hand grenade to save his comrades. He became the first Japanese American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, posthumously.
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