You Are My Friend

The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History March 31 - April 6.

Mar 31, 2025

Maundy Monday Newsletter turns four this week! The weekly history roundup began about a month after I launched Okay History in February 2021.

Why is it named Maundy Monday Newsletter? A reader suggested it. I immediately rejected it, and then two days later, reflecting on it, I couldn’t come up with a better name. So here we are.

This is how we make decisions here at OKH.

Additionally, Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum and celebrates Jesus washing His disciples' feet. It’s my favorite Mass of the year. Even if you're not into the Gospel, it's worth checking out. Jesus tells the group He’s going to wash everyone’s feet. Peter complains, telling the Lamb of God that there’s no way He's going to wash his feet.

Jesus then tells Peter to shut it; He's going to wash some feet. After the Lord of Hosts cleans the disgusting feet of at least twelve guys (that we know of), Jesus sits back in his chair, presumably lights a smoke, and tells them they are all his friends now.

Now, I’m not Jesus, and I’m not into feet, but we are all friends.

In celebration of the MMN birthday, we will highlight friends' accomplishments during this week in history.

Let’s begin with Jefferson Davis and his friends. They fled the Confederate capital city of Richmond, Va, on April 2, 1865.

In March, Davis dispatched his wife and children from Richmond. Then the Confederate President asked his General in Chief, Robert E. Lee, if they too should flee the capital city, due to the advancement of the Union forces from Petersburg, some thirty miles to the south.

Lee told Davis to sit tight, he got this. Then, on April 1, Union cavalry started to pick Lee’s right flank apart, and so Uncle Robert fired off a note suggesting everyone get out of Richmond, stat.

Davis received the suggestion while attending Sunday services. I have this picture in my head that he bolted out of there while the rest of the congregation sat in silence.

The people of Richmond had no idea what was going on, but they started to pick up on things when government buildings were surrounded with fire and smoke as rebels burned official government documents. Around 4:00 p.m., an official announcement was made that everyone should leave.

A week later, Lee surrendered to United States General Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War was over, and we all became friends again.

Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. As a reminder, these events celebrate their anniversary, ending in 5 or 0. Here's what I got:

1. The first edition of WrestleMania was held in New York on March 31, 1985. The World Wrestling Federation (Now Entertainment) produced the first-ever pay-per-view wrestling event in Madison Square Garden. It featured Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, while the main event was Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd. It’s embarrassing but true. I watched the 40^th edition of this event last year with friends while in Cleveland. Even more embarrassing is the fact that the woman who is married to the founder of the WWE is now the Secretary of Education.

2. Friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft on April 4, 1975. The childhood buddies formed a company that produced software for the early models of computers that were just beginning to be produced. The name is a mashup of "microchips" and "software." It originally had a hyphen to demonstrate it is Micro-Soft, but like friends, they decided it didn’t need to be separate.

3. Joseph Smith and five friends organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830. New York state law required six people to form a religious organization, so Joseph got two of his brothers, another set of two brothers, and a random guy. They signed documents in front of 60 people. These documents were a core set of beliefs, ordination of Joseph, and a voting procedure. Officially, the state of New York does not have any of these documents on file.

Remember the television show Friends, where six grossly underemployed single white people living quite well in New York City? This week marks an important milestone. Season 1, Episode 20, which aired on April 6, 1995, featured the iconic “Rachel” haircut. This was also the episode where all the friends were convinced people were spying on them.1

I had a good trip back to Ohio last week for my Aunt’s funeral. My friend Anonymous and I took some time to hang out with the Cherry Blossoms on Saturday. Then we watched the Florida Gators make it to the Final Four.

It will be a busy week, but I hope it’s a good one for you. Happy April! Thanks for supporting Okay History! I will be back on Friday with the Scandal Ranking that I meant to deliver last week.

Okay,

Chris

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