🌟 Editor's Note
Good morning — it’s Friday, April 3. We're checking out some cool moments in history today, like the start of the Pony Express, the story behind Jesse James' death, the Marshall Plan, the first mobile phone call, the Unabomber getting caught, the Panama Papers, and much more – all quick and to the point!
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🚀 Time Machine
-1367
Battle of Navarrete: King Peter of Castile, Edward the Black Prince, and John of Gaunt defeat Count Henry of Castile near Nájera, La Rioja.
-1860
The Pony Express begins, delivering mail by horse and rider relay between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.
-1882
Jesse James, one of America's most famous criminals, was shot and killed by gang member Robert Ford for reward money.
-1922
Joseph Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by ailing Vladimir Lenin.
-1948
US President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which granted $5 billion in aid to 16 European countries to help rebuild after World War II.
-1953
"TV Guide" publishes its first issue, featuring Lucille Ball's newborn baby boy. (Desi Arnaz Jr.)
-1973
The first mobile phone call was made by Motorola's Martin Cooper in downtown Manhattan to Bell Labs in New Jersey.
-1975
The world chess title is stripped from Bobby Fischer for refusing to defend it, and it goes to Russian Anatoly Karpov.
-1996
FBI arrests Theodore John Kaczynski at his Montana cabin, accused of being the Unabomber responsible for 16 mail bombs that killed three and injured 23 over 18 years.
-2016
Panama Papers reveal 11.5 million confidential documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposing extensive illegal activity like fraud, tax evasion, and sanctions violations by the world's elite in the biggest data leak ever.
📸 Snapshot
Items found in President Johnson's pockets after he died of a heart attack, 1973
🗨️ Last Words
“They sweat in extremes, for fear of the unwarlike; I am dying undisturbed.”