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“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.”
~ Black Elk
“Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured…but not everyone must prove they are a citizen.” ~ Ben Stein
Wikiquote (Black Elk (December 1863 – August 19, 1950) a famous Wičháša Wakȟáŋ (Medicine Man and Holy Man) of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse.)
April 4th, 1147
First historical record of Moscow.
Wikipedia Photo: Moscow: Capital city and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Europe. (Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe.)
April 4th, 1287
King Wareru founds Kingdom of Ramannadesa, and proclaims independence from Pagan Kingdom.
Wikipedia Photo: Burma: ● Topographic map and location of Burma ● Temples at Mrauk U ● Pagodas and temples in present-day Pagan (Bagan), the capital of the Pagan Kingdom ● Stilt houses at Lake Inle, Burma ● Mae La camp or Burmese refugees, Tak, Thailand
April 4th, 1581
Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
Wikipedia Image: The Golden Hinde: Drake started his famous circumnavigation of the world from Plymouth, England, November 15, 1577, passed through the Straight of Magellan (southern tip of South America) into the Pacific, coasted up the western shores of the Americas, crossed to Asia and the Philippines, and finally returned to Britain on September 26, 1580.
April 4th, 1660
English Civil War:
1660 - Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England. (Proclamation of a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War)
Wikipedia Painting: English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers);
John Milton publishes Areopagitica;
Battle of Naseby, victory of the Parliamentarian New Model Army;
Battle of Marston Moor, 1644;
"Cromwell at Dunbar", by Andrew Carrick Gow; Oliver Cromwell; King Charles I, painted by Van Dyck;
"And when did you last see your father?" by William Frederick Yeames.
April 4th, 1721
Robert Walpole takes office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.
Wikipedia Painting: Robert Walpole (1676 -1745), Private Collection, England ● King George I, 1714. Studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller.
April 4th, 1812
War of 1812:
1812 - United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
Wikipedia Painting: Damage to the US Capitol after the Burning of Washington; HMS Shannon leading the captured American frigate USS Chesapeake into Halifax, Nova Scotia (1813); USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere; the death of Tecumseh at Moraviantown; Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie began with what would become one of the most famous sentences in American military history: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; "Andrew Jackson leads the defence of New Orleans; The mortally wounded Isaac Brock spurs troops on at the Queenston Heights.
Battle of Lake Borgne, by Thomas Lyle Hornbrook.
April 4th, 1814
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay).
April 4th, 1818
The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).
Wikipedia Painting: Legend has it that Betsy Ross’s famous flag was first flown in battle during the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge in 1777.
Betsy Ross presenting the first American flag to George Washington, by Edward Percy Moran.
● Grand Union - Stars and Stripes Flag
● The national flag of the United States of America, often simply referred to as the American flag, consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the 'union') bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars
April 4th, 1841
William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and the one with the shortest term served.
Wikipedia Painting: William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the ninth President of the United States.
April 4th, 1850
Los Angeles, is incorporated as a city.
Wikipedia Photo: Greater Los Angeles Skyline
April 4th, 1859
Pre American Civil War:
1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
American Civil War:
1865 - A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
Wikipedia Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.
April 4th, 1873
The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
Wikipedia Competitors in the ring during the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images ● Malachy, a Pekingese, wins best in show at the 136th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held at Madison Square Garden on February 14, 2012 in New York City. UPI, Monika Graff ● Bear, a 7 year old Puli from Kalamazoo, Mich. waits backstage after competing in the 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mary Altaffer, AP ● Jack, a bulldog, has dog makeup applied by Cheryl Schaefer, while waiting for judging during the 136th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. ● Cats get dressed up for U.S. breeders show
April 4th, 1905
Earthquake:
1905 - Kangra earthquake; In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra valley, killing 20,000.
Wikipedia Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.
April 4th, 1939
World War II:
1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
1944 - First bombardment of Bucharest by Anglo-American forces; kills 3000 civilians.
1945 - Battle of Kassel; American troops capture Kassel.
Post World War II:
1949 - Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Wikipedia Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.
Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.
April 4th, 1945
World War II: Holocaust;
1945 - American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp Japanese forces begin an assault on the American and Filipino troops.
Wikipedia Photo: World War II, The Holocaust. Sources: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum USHMM, History 1900s, Internet Masters of Education Technology IMET, Techno Friends, Veterans Today, Concern.
April 4th, 1964
British Invasion:
1964 - The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
Wikipedia Photo: The Ed Sullivan Show ● The Beatles 1st Ed Sullivan Performance (REMASTERED), Youtube 
April 4th, 1967
1967 - Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.
1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Wikipedia Photo: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Francis Miller LIFE / Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speech (I Have Been To The Mountaintop)
April 4th, 1968
Apollo Program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
Wikipedia Photo: Apollo Program: Apollo 11 first manned Moon landing and the first walk on the surface on the moon. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.
The Blue Marble is a famous photograph of the Earth, taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, at a distance of about 45,000 kilometres (28,000 mi).
April 4th, 1969
Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
Wikipedia Photo: Artificial heart recipient Barney Clark smiles at his surgeon, Dr. William DeVries, in Salt Lake City on the day after the historic implantation. Associated Press; An artificial heart displayed at the London Science Museum.
April 4th, 1973
World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
Wikipedia Photo: The World Trade Center is a site for various buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States (The original World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings - it featured landmark twin towers, which opened on April 4, 1973 and were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001).
April 4th, 1975
Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Wikipedia Image: Microsoft; (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington that develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services related to computing.
April 4th, 1975
Vietnam War:
1975 - Operation Baby Lift; A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans – 172 die.
1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
Wikipedia Photo: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe;
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, credit Free Republic;
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.
April 4th, 1983
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Space Shuttle program:
1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-6 makes its maiden voyage into space.
Wikipedia Photo: Space Shuttle Challenger, 04-04-1983. (Space Transportation System Number 6, Orbiter Challenger, lifts off from Pad 39A carrying astronauts Paul J. Weitz, Koral J. Bobko, Donald H. Peterson and Dr. Story Musgrave.) NASA. Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is an astronaut propulsion unit which was used by NASA on three space shuttle missions in 1984.
April 4th, 1984
United States President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
Wikipedia Photo: Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.
April 4th, 1991
Aviation accidents and incidents:
1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
Wikipedia Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP
April 4th, 1994
Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation".
Wikipedia Image: Netscape Communications (Netscape) is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser.
April 4th, 1996
Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
Wikipedia Image: Comet Hyakutake captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on 4 April 1996, with an infrared filter ● The region around the nucleus of Comet Hyakutake, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Some fragments can be seen breaking off. ● Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker)
April 4th, 2007
Modern conflicts in the Middle East:
2007 - Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel; 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released by the Iranian President.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)
April 4th, 2009
France returns to being a member of NATO.
Wikipedia Image: France returns to being a member of NATO.
April 4th, 2013
2013 - Thane building collapse: More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
Wikipedia Photo: The building was under construction and did not have an occupancy certificate for its 100 to 150 low - to middle - income residents