Mar. 29. 1626: First American forestry legislation enacted, Plymouth Colony. 1886: Coca-Cola is created (with cocaine). World conquest follows. 1942: Policy of forced internment of all persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast of the United States (but not Alaska or Hawaii). 1971: Lt. William Calley is convicted of the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. He is the fall guy for the Army's preferred tale that the massacre was an aberration rather than a result of US policy and attitudes in Vietnam. Sentenced to three years confinement in his apartment.

Mar. 30. 1867: US purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. 1953: Einstein announces revised unified field theory. 1972: Great Britain imposes direct rule on Northern Ireland.

Mar. 31. 1492: Ferdinand and Isabella sign decree expelling Jews from Spain. 1959: The Dalai Lama flees Tibet to India.

Apr. 1. 1847: Michigan becomes first state to abolish the death penalty. 1973: North Vietnam releases last 591 acknowledged American POWs.

Apr. 2. 1250: The 7th Crusade surrenders to the Muslims. 1970: Massachusetts enacts a law which exempts its citizens from having to fight in an undeclared war, a la Vietnam.

Apr. 3. 1882: Jesse James shot by Robert Ford at St. Joseph, Missouri. 1996: Ted Kaczynski arrested in Lincoln, Mont. and charged with murder as the "Unabomber."

Apr. 4. 1967: Martin Luther King, Jr. urges a boycott of the Vietnam War through conscientious objection. 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated, Memphis, Tenn., at age 39, while visiting city in support of striking sanitation workers.

Apr. 5. 1514: Pocahontas forced to marry John Rolfe. 1958: Castro declares war on dictatorial and corrupt Batista regime. As the US turns against him he moves into the Communist fold and sets up his own dictatorship.

Apr. 6. 1832: Black Hawk War begins when Sauk/Fox return to plant traditional cornfields and are repulsed by whites who have expropriated their land. 1994: Plane crash killing presidents of Rwanda and Burundi initiates massacre of millions of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda.

Apr. 7. 1970: California Gov. Ronald Reagan, displaying the empathy and humanism that would later mark him as one of the great political leaders of the 20th century, announces his attitude toward student civil rights activists, dissenters, and Vietnam War protestors (quote): "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with."

Apr. 8. 563 BC: Birth of Gautama Siddhartha, Buddha; Kapalivastu, India. 1973: Spanish painter and communist Pablo Picasso dies, Mougins, Alpes-Maritimes, France. Never called an asshole.

Apr. 9. 1874: Muckleshoot Indian Reservation established. (The casino and amphitheatre came much later.) 1969: Harvard students take over the campus administration building, ousting the deans.

Apr. 10. 1848: Revolution in Paris. 2003: Baghdad falls to invading US/UK army. Widespread looting begins.

Apr. 11. 1898: Pres. William McKinley declares Cuba independent of Spain and asks Congress for a resolution authorizing him to use armed forces in compelling the Spanish to "liberate" the island. The resolution passes and US warships are dispatched to blockade all Cuban ports.