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🇺🇸This Week In History - Jack Nicklaus Wins The Masters

🇺🇸This Week In History - Jack Nicklaus Wins The Masters

The week of April. 6 - April. 12 throughout history.

April 08, 2025

Welcome back History Nerds,

Thanks for sticking around for another exciting week in history. This one is packed full of the good stuff, so make sure you read all the way to the end! If you enjoy it, you can even message back to this email, we try to respond to everyone. Pour yourself a nice big cup of coffee and enjoy this week’s edition of the LOL History Newsletter.

Did You Know? On April 14, 1935, the U.S. was hit by “Black Sunday”—the worst dust storm of the Dust Bowl. It turned day into night across the Plains. Entire towns vanished under dirt, and some folks thought it was literally the end of the world.

During Your History Lesson You’ll Learn About:

First Modern Olympic Games
Jack Nicklaus Wins His First Green Jacket
The Birth Of The Metric System
The United States Joins World War 1

The First Modern Olympic Games: Athens, 1896

On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, reviving a tradition dormant since Roman Emperor Theodosius I banned the ancient Greek competitions in AD 393. French educator Pierre de Coubertin, inspired by the idea of uniting nations through sport, spearheaded the effort after years of planning. Athens was selected to honor its historical ties to the original Games, and despite Greece’s financial struggles, Crown Prince Constantine and wealthy donor George Averoff funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium, where 241 male athletes from 14 nations gathered to compete—no women were allowed.

The Games featured nine sports, including athletics, cycling, swimming, and a new event: the marathon, inspired by Pheidippides’ legendary run in 490 BC. Spyridon Louis, a Greek shepherd, won the 40-kilometer race in 2 hours, 58 minutes, and 50 seconds, becoming a national hero as Greeks claimed the top three spots. Other highlights included American James Connolly winning the triple jump at 13.71 meters—earning the first modern Olympic title—and Hungary’s Alfréd Hajós taking the 100-meter and 1,200-meter freestyle swims in the chilly Bay of Zea, with times of 1 minute, 22 seconds and 18 minutes, 22 seconds, respectively.

Running until April 15, the Games awarded silver medals to winners and copper to second-place finishers, with Greece dominating the tally at 46 medals, followed by the United States with 20 and Germany with 13. Held in the marble Panathenaic Stadium before 80,000 spectators on opening day, the event concluded with King George I declaring it a success, cementing its place as the foundation of the modern Olympic movement.

Jack Nicklaus Wins His First Green Jacket

On April 7, 1963, a 23-year-old Jack Nicklaus rolled into Augusta and shocked the golf world by winning his first Masters Tournament. Fans called him “Fat Jack” back then—not exactly the warmest nickname—but the guy could flat-out play. He outdueled Arnold Palmer, the king of the course, and won by a single stroke. That made him the youngest Masters champ at the time. For a kid just getting started on tour, that was one heck of a way to introduce yourself.

If you’re someone who plays a few times a week, you know how hard it is to hold it together for 18 holes—let alone 72 at Augusta under pressure. But Jack made it look easy. That win showed he had nerves of steel and the kind of game that doesn’t come around often. Watching him step up and take down a legend like Palmer wasn’t just exciting—it felt like a shift in the whole sport.

That Sunday in ’63 was the beginning of something special. Jack didn’t just win tournaments—he dominated, redefined what greatness looked like, and raised the bar for every golfer who came after him. Every time I tee it up, I think about guys like him who made golf more than a game—it became a legacy. And for Jack Nicklaus, it all started with one green jacket and a whole lot of doubters left in the dust.

Trivia Time

In every issue of LOL History, we take a break from sharing historical events to bring you a quirky trivia section. Get ready to challenge your brain and impress your friends with some seriously weird knowledge

What did Ben Franklin once try to electrocute—on purpose?

France Adopts the Metric System

On April 7, 1795, France adopted the metric system during the French Revolution, replacing chaotic regional units like the pied du roi with a universal standard. Scientists Jean-Baptiste Delambre and Pierre Méchain defined the meter as 1/10,000,000th of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator through Paris, while the system introduced decimal units: the meter for length, the liter for volume, and the gram for mass, using prefixes like kilo- and centi-. It standardized measurements, fixing inconsistencies like the pound, which varied from 489.5 grams in Paris to 405 grams in Marseille.

The metric system spread globally after the Napoleonic Wars, and today it’s used everywhere except the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar. American schools have promised to adopt it since the 1970s, saying, “We’ll go metric next year!”—but 50 years later, they’re still using feet, proving the only thing they measure in meters is how far they are from keeping that promise..

The Day America Changed the Course of World War I

On April 6, 1917, the United States finally stopped sitting on the sidelines and declared war on Germany, officially entering World War I—a full three years after the war began. Up to that point, America had been playing it cool, trying to stay neutral while Europe tore itself apart. But after a string of German U-boat attacks on American ships and the now-infamous Zimmermann Telegram (Germany secretly asking Mexico to join the war against us—bold move), President Woodrow Wilson had enough. The message to Congress was simple: it’s time to suit up.

Once the declaration was signed, the U.S. military kicked into high gear. America wasn’t exactly ready for a global war—we had a relatively small army at the time—but that changed fast. Nearly 4 million Americans would serve, and the arrival of fresh U.S. troops gave the weary Allied forces a much-needed boost. Soldiers trained stateside, shipped out to Europe, and faced brutal trench warfare, gas attacks, and the muddy chaos of the Western Front. It was the first time many Americans had ever stepped onto a battlefield overseas—and it wouldn’t be the last.

For military history buffs, this moment is huge. America’s entry into the war tipped the balance and helped bring the long, bloody conflict to a close by November 1918. It also marked the start of a new chapter: the U.S. stepping into the role of a global military power. What began as a late entry became a turning point in modern warfare—and the beginning of America showing the world it was ready to lead.

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