On April 8, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized almost $5 million to implement work-relief programs, hoping to lift the nation out of the Great Depression, after Congress allowed the president to use the funds at his discretion. FDR created the Works Progress Administration from the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, one of several New Deal programs he hoped would relieve massive unemployment. (Like recent efforts, it didn’t work.) After 1935, FDR lobbied Congress annually to continue funding the ERA Act. In total, the act allocated approximately $880 million in federal funds.
On April 8, 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt froze wages and prices, prohibited workers from changing jobs unless required by the war effort, and barred rate increases by common carriers and public utilities to check inflation.
On April 8, 1952, President Harry Truman called for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
On April 8, 1953, Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta was convicted by Kenya’s British rulers and sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labor and indefinite restriction thereafter.