Benajamin F Morris (born 1844)

In 1844, in the year that Benajamin F Morris was born, on July 3rd, the last known pair of great auk were killed in Iceland. A flightless bird, the average auk was about 33 inches tall and weighed about 11 pounds with a black back and white belly. They were most often found along the coast of Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Canada Great Britain, Ireland - and sometimes as far south as Spain.

In 1868, on July 9th, The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed African Americans full citizenship and equal protection under the law. It also gave all persons in the United States due process of law. The former Confederate states hotly contested the amendment but were forced to go along so that they could regain representation in Congress

In 1902, the world famous Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso, made the first gramophone recording by a popular singer. Accompanied by only a piano, his voice recordings became a big seller and did much to popularize the new-fangled gramophone. He had to sing into a metal "horn" that relayed his voice to a metal disc. And the songs had to be under 4 and a half minutes!

In 1961, on April 17th, about 1,000 CIA trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba with the intention of igniting a rebellion and overthrowing Castro. They were defeated within three days. Although the operation began under Eisenhower, Kennedy approved it and the operation, named the Bay of Pigs for the beach where they landed, was a humiliation for the United States.

In 1980, on April 24th, a rescue attempt was begun in the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The attempt failed and 8 US servicemen were killed. Eight helicopters had been sent for the mission, but only 5 arrived in operating condition., Since the military had advised that the mission be aborted if there were fewer than 6 helicopters, President Carter stopped it. Upon leaving, a helicopter collided with a transport plane and the men were killed.