American Chronicles

225 YEARS AGO, APRIL 19,1775, the "shot heard 'round the world" began the American Revolution, in Lexington and Concord, Mass. Late on April 18, Paul Revere rode west out from Boston to warn Massachusetts towns that the British were coming-to seize their guns. British losses on April 19: 73 killed, 200 wounded, vs. 49 American dead, 46 wounded. Paul Revere also lost his horse, commandeered by the British, and had to walk home.

200 YEARS AGO, APRIL 1800, the Library of Congress was authorized by Congress, following release of the first national census, showing that the country had 50 lending libraries containing more than 80,000 volumes.

To initiate the Library of Congress's collection in 1801, newly elected President Thomas Jefferson donated much of his own private library.

80 YEARS AGO, IN 1920, a "tech stock bubble" burst on Wall Street. The high-tech stocks of the day were automobiles.

In the first quarter of 1920, Stutz Bearcat stock quadrupled, from $100 a share in January, to $391 on April 1, 1920. General Motors (GM) stock split 10-forone-and still quadrupled, to $42 a share. But Stutz stopped making cars in 1920, and its stock disappeared from the Big Board on April 24, 1920. Stutz stock brought bids of only $20 a share on the

Curb exchange by July 1920. By November of 1920, GM stock was down to $14, one-third its April peak, and the overall market was down by one-third in what became known as the Panic (and "flash Depression") of 1920.

25 YEARS AGO, APRIL 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese took over the south, entering Saigon the last day of April and renaming it Ho Chi Minh City. TV cameras captured the desperate attempt by the last 1,000 Americans to leave the city by overloaded helicopters and airplanes.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Apr 7, 2000
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