April 28

April 28 is the 119th day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1788 to 1991 — a span of 203 years. The entry that anchors it: Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election, 1952.

In the years around independence, the date turns political. In 1788, Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.

In the postwar nineteenth century the date tracks a nation rebuilding. In 1869, Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the first transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.

The postwar entries show a nation both expanding and contesting itself. In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in order to campaign in the 1952 United States presidential election. Eight years on, in 1960, the Sibley Commission issued their final report, urging the government of the U.S. state of Georgia to abandon its strategy of massive resistance and legalize some instances of school integration. Five years on, in 1965, United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate US Army troops. Two years on, in 1967, Vietnam War — Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license. Three years on, in 1970, Vietnam War — US President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.

Closer to the present, the date is still accumulating. In 1991, Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-39, the first unclassified shuttle mission for the United States Department of Defense.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on April 28: James Monroe (1758), American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States; Ezra Abbot (1819), American scholar and academic; Charles W. Woodworth (1865), American entomologist and academic; Sidney Toler (1874), American actor and director; and Lionel Barrymore (1878), American actor and director.

April 28 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Cornelius Harnett (1781), American merchant, farmer, and politician; Josiah Willard Gibbs (1903), American scientist; Fitzhugh Lee (1905), American general and politician, 40th Governor of Virginia; and Anne Walter Fearn (1939), American physician.

The date carries formal observance as well — Workers' Memorial Day and World Day for Safety and Health at Work (international) — National Day of Mourning (Canada). 8 entries, 203 years, one square on the calendar. April 28 is a reminder that history is experienced as an ordinary day before it is remembered as a date.