“In a democracy, the public has a right to know not only what the government decides, but why and by what process.” — President Gerald Ford

On May 8, 1961, President John F. Kennedy presented the NASA Distinguished Service Medal to astronaut Alan Shepard, just three days after he became the first American to travel to space.

Speaking at Vanderbilt University in May 1963, President John F. Kennedy said, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” —— Subscribe for more daily history: everythingbriefing.substack.com

On May 6, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program that would employ millions as the country sought to emerge from the Great Depression.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel to space. President John F. Kennedy, along with his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, and others watched television coverage of the historic NASA flight that day from the White House.

On May 4, 2011, President Barack Obama met with Prince Charles in the Oval Office, where they reaffirmed the “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom.

On May 3, 2024, President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn.

“We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” — President Dwight Eisenhower

On May 1, 2014, President Barack Obama hosted former President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office for private talks.

🗃️ On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama announced in a late-night televised address from the White House that he had ordered an “operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.”

On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States at Federal Hall in New York City. In his inaugural address that day, Washington said, “I am conscious that the task is above my talents,” a reflection of his modest nature.

On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Army liberated the Dachau concentration camp, where over 30,000 prisoners who were tortured by the Nazis were found. After their arrival, a survivor in the camp reportedly whispered to a U.S. soldier, “Tell the world… tell the world.”

“I still know that the fate of America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in principles and not on any single personality.” — President Franklin Roosevelt

“The profession of journalism ought to be about telling people what they need to know—not what they want to know.” — Walter Cronkite

On April 25, 1980, President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation from the Oval Office just one day after a failed mission to rescue the 52 American hostages being held in Iran, saying, “The responsibility is fully my own.”

On April 24, 2009, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden golfed on the White House putting green. First established by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954, the green has been used by presidents for casual recreation and informal play since then.

On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the establishment of the Library of Congress for “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.” Today, it stands as the world’s largest library by shelf space and the number of items, housing over 180 million items.

In April 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

On April 20, 1871, the U.S. Congress passed the Third Force Act, commonly known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, granting President Ulysses S. Grant the authority to declare martial law and use military force to crush the KKK. Grant signed the Act the following day.

On April 19, 1975, President Gerald Ford was accompanied by Senator Ted Kennedy and his niece Caroline in Lexington, Massachusetts, to commemorate the bicentennial of the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

On April 19, 1775, the American Revolution started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Known as the “shot heard ‘round the world,” the battle commenced the eight-year struggle for American independence from British rule.

On April 18, 1978, President Jimmy Carter was photographed reclined in the Oval Office after the Senate ratified the Panama Canal Treaties.

“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.” — Edward Murrow

On April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at the age of 84. Three years earlier, as he left the Constitutional Convention, he was asked whether the framers had designed a monarchy or a republic. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

On April 16, 1962, Walter Cronkite became anchor of the CBS Evening News. He would hold the title for nearly 20 years and would become known as “the most trusted man in America.”

On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died one day after being shot by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln’s death came just after the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox and before the newly-reelected president could carry out his vision for Reconstruction in the South.

On April 14, 2014, The New Yorker published its now-famous magazine cover featuring a satirical illustration of President Barack Obama as a doctor serving congressional Republicans. The publication came just after the first enrollment period ended for the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

In April 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower and Dr. Jonas Salk appeared in the White House Rose Garden to celebrate the success of a new polio vaccine.

Just five days after the Confederacy’s surrender at Appomattox, on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died the following morning.

On April 12, 2006, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed a bill into law establishing the country’s first state-level universal health insurance program.

On April 12, 1983, Harold Washington was elected mayor of Chicago, becoming the first African American to lead America’s third-largest city.

On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, for defying a court order against anti-segregation protests.

Just three hours after President Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry Truman took the oath of office at the White House, becoming the 33rd president of the United States. Speaking to reporters that day, Truman said, “if you ever pray, pray for me now.”

On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt died at his Warm Springs, Georgia, retreat at the age of 63.

On April 11, 1928, Ethel Skakel Kennedy was born in Chicago.

On April 11, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln delivered what would be his final speech from a White House window celebrating the recent end of the Civil War.

On April 11, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt was photographed for the final time in Warm Springs, Georgia. He died the following day after serving 12 years as president.

On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act into law, barring discrimination regarding race, religion, or national origin in the sale, rental, or financing of housing.

On April 10, 2014, President Barack Obama visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, where he viewed a replica of Johnson’s Oval Office.

On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” — John Adams

On April 8, 1961, President John F. Kennedy hosted author and activist Helen Keller in the Oval Office to discuss disability rights.

On April 7, 2012, Mike Wallace died at the age of 93. For decades, Wallace served as a leading correspondent for CBS’ 60 Minutes, pioneering an era of “television newsmagazines.”

On April 7, 2022, the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in a 53 to 47 vote, making her the first Black woman to serve on the high court.

On April 6, 2010, President Barack Obama was photographed reading a book just outside of the Oval Office.

On April 5, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, a cornerstone of the New Deal.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.“ — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

On April 3, 1968, the night before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what would be his last speech in Memphis, Tennessee. In his remarks, which were in support of striking sanitation workers, King declared, “I’ve been to the mountaintop.”

“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it's the other way around. Human rights invented America.” — President Jimmy Carter, Farewell Address, January 14, 1981