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1614: Pocahontas married John Rolfe. Pocahontas was a Native American woman and daughter of Powhattan, the chief of a confederation of tribes. She supposedly saved the life of John Smith, an English captive of her father’s, when she was a young girl. Smith had established a fort in the region controlled by Pohattan’s confederation. When Smith was captured by a group of confederation hunters, he was brought to Powhattan. He later recounted that Pocahontas prevented her father from executing him, although historians are varied as to the accuracy of the account. Pocahontas was captured by the English in 1613, and when she was given the chance to return to her tribe, she converted to Christianity and married Rolfe instead, taking the name Rebecca and giving birth to a son named Thomas. The family traveled to London, where she was prented as a “civilized savage” and enjoyed minor celebrity. They then returned to America, where she died in 1617.

1792: President George Washington issues the first veto. He issued the veto on a bill that allocated seats in the House of Representatives, believing that it gave Northern states disproportionate power in the Congress.

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1830: Joseph Smith founds the Church of Christ. It was the forerunner of the Church of Later Day Saints and the first to use the Book of Mormon as its holy scripture. About 30 members of Smith’s Church met in New York state and formally organized the Church. The Church would eventually grow to include more than 14 million members.

1896: The first modern Olympics opens. The French academic Pierre de Conbertin established the International Olympic Committee to organize the revival of the Olympics, which had not been held since antiquity. The 1896 Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, as the nation had been the site of the ancient Olympics. Fourteen nations participated in the 1896 games with cycling, fencing, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling among the ten events. The original medals in the first modern Olympics were silver for first place and copper for runners-up. Ten nations received medals, with the United States winning the most first-place medals and Greece winning the most overall. Over 200 nations would compete in later Olympic Games, which have expanded to include 35 sports and over 400 events. Beginning in 1964, a medal named for Pierre de Coubertin has been awarded to Olympians who personify the spirit of sportsmanship in Olympic events.

1973: The designated hitter debuts in the American League. The rule allows a player to take the place of the pitcher in the batting lineup. The National League does not have a designated hitter. APRIL 7 ^TH