Common Sense with Paul Jacob

On April 17, 1961, just after midnight, a force of CIA financed and trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro. The Cuban armed forces quickly defeated the invading combatants. Several hundred to several thousand people were estimated to have been killed, wounded or missing in the fighting, and more than 1,200 Cuban exiles were captured by Castro. In August, Che Guevara sent a note to President Kennedy, reading, “Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it’s stronger than ever.” Finally, days before Christmas 1962, Castro signed an agreement to exchange 1,113 prisoners with the U.S. for $53 million in food and medicine.

On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 returned safely back to Earth.

On April 17, 1975, Cambodian government forces surrender to the Khmer Rouge, who capture Phnom Penh, the capital. In the next five years, more than 1 in every 5 Cambodians died of starvation, was worked to death or was executed.

On April 17, 1986, the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ended. Peace at last!

On April 16, 73 A.D., Masada, a Jewish fortress, fell to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.

On April 16, 1520, the citizens of Castile, Spain, rebelled against the rule of Charles V in what became known as the Revolt of the Comuneros. At its height, rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas and Toledo.

On April 16, 1862, the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, became law.

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

On April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci, the polymath of the Italian Renaissance, was born in Vinci, Italy, near Florence.

On April 15, 1783, the Continental Congress officially ratified the preliminary peace treaty with Great Britain that was signed in November 1782. Five months later, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France, officially bringing an end to the Revolutionary War.

On April 15, 1945, the British 11th Armoured Division liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, discovering 53,000 prisoners inside, most half-starved and seriously ill, and another 13,000 corpses lying around the camp unburied.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. Eleven weeks later Larry Doby would break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians.

On April 15, 1998, Saloth Sar, known as Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, died. He led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death, and served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. During his time in power more than one of every five Cambodians died by execution, forced labor and starvation.