[goofywife]

1945: United Nations is organized
Delegates from nations that had joined forces against the Axis powers met in San Francisco today to "make the post-war world safe for peace-loving peoples."

"They call this the United Nations Conference on International Organization. The first session will be brief," reported The Charleroi Mail on April 25, 1945. "The goal of conference is to prepare 'a charter for a general international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security.'"

NOTE: While representatives came to the conference for collective action to safeguard peace, President Truman reminded the delegates that obtaining world collaboration would not be easy. In a broadcast from Washington at the opening of the conference, Truman said, "We who have lived through the torture and the tragedy of two world conflicts must realize the magnitude of the problem before us. We do not need farsighted vision to understand the trend of recent history. Its significance is all too clear."


1995: Ginger Rogers dies at 83
Oscar award winning actress and dancer Ginger Rogers died today at the age of 83. The Chronicle Telegram noted on April 26, 1995, "She matched Fred Astaire step for step, dancing backwards and in high heels through glamorous musicals that provided an escape for Americans mired in the Depression."

1983: 10-year-old receives letter from Soviet leader
Samantha Smith, a 10-year-old girl from Maine, received a letter from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov today after she sent him a hand-written message asking to end the arms race. "In the one-page letter, Andropov assured Samantha the Soviet Union was doing everything possible to avoid a nuclear war and invited her to visit the Soviet Union this summer," informed Daily Herald on April 26, 1983. NOTE: Samantha and her parents did go to the Soviet Union for two weeks as guests of Andropov. She was then invited to Japan as “America’s Youngest Ambassador.” Smith died in 1985 when her airplane crashed attempting to land at the Lewiston-Auburn Regional Airport.

1967: Johnson attends Konrad Adenauer's funeral
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, French President Charles de Gaulle and other Western leaders today attended the funeral mass for West Germany's former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer at the Gothic cathedral of Cologne. "Adenauer, a veteran figure in German politics who had served as mayor of Cologne long before World War II, came out of self-imposed retirement after the war to serve as West Germany's first chancellor when the occupation government yielded to the Federal Republic in 1949. He served until 1963," reported the Syracuse Herald-Journal on April 25, 1967.

1959: St. Lawrence Seaway opens
The St. Lawrence Seaway opened today to ocean vessels seeking passage from Montreal to the Great Lakes ports. "The 475-million-dollar project had been debated by the U.S. and Canadian governments for 50 years, then was completed by 15,000 workers in five years," explained The Odessa American on April 26, 1959.


1935: Fire destroys Oregon's capitol
An immense fire ruined Oregon's state capitol in Salem today. "Theoretically the state carries its own insurance in a 'restoration fund,' but it contained only $140,000. The 60-year-old capitol which contained the main departmental offices, the executive offices and the senate and house chambers, cost $700,000," reported The Fresno Bee Republican. "The value of the equipment, records and historical relics was expected to bring the actual investment loss around at least $1,500,000." It was believed that the fire began in the basement and spread through the elevator shaft. One fireman was killed when a crumbling chimney crushed him.