Moments in Time – March 21, 2018

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• On April 8, 563 B.C., Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is thought to have been born in what is now Nepal. Buddhist tradition had placed his birth in the 11th century B.C., until modern scholars determined he was likely born in the 6th century.
• On April 3, 1776, lacking sufficient funds to build a strong navy, the Continental Congress gives privateers permission to attack all British ships. Any goods captured by the privateer were divided between the ship’s owner and the government.
• On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion, organizes the Church of Christ. Smith claimed in 1823 that he had been visited by an angel named Moroni who spoke to him of an ancient Hebrew text. Smith translated this text, and in 1830 The Book of Mormon was published.
• On April 7, 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamato, purportedly the greatest battleship in the world, is sunk in Japan’s first major counteroffensive in the struggle for Okinawa. It sank after being struck by 19 American aerial torpedoes, drowning 2,498 of its crew.
• On April 5, 1969, some 100,000 antiwar demonstrators march in New York City to demand that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. The weekend of protests ended with demonstrations and parades in other cities.
• On April 2, 1979, the world’s first anthrax epidemic begins in Ekaterinburg, Russia (now Sverdlosk), killing 62 people. The Soviet government blamed tainted meat, but in 1992 the real cause was found: Workers at the weapons plant had failed to replace a crucial filter.
• On April 4, 1982, hockey sensation Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers finishes the NHL season with 212 points, the only player in NHL history to break the 200-point barrier. He went on to repeat the feat three more times.

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