Today is Tuesday, April 5, the 96th day of 2016. There are 270 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On April 5, 1976, during an outdoor demonstration against court-ordered school busing in Boston, a white teenager swung a pole holding an American flag at a black attorney in a scene captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph now known as “The Soiling of Old Glory” that was taken by Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald American. Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 70.
On this date:
In 1614, Indian Chief Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas married Englishman John Rolfe in the Virginia Colony. England’s King James I convened the second Parliament of his rule; the “Addled Parliament,” as it came to be known for accomplishing nothing, lasted two months.
In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts on a monthlong return trip to England.
In 1764, Britain’s Parliament passed The American Revenue Act of 1764, also known as The Sugar Act.
In 1895, Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who’d accused the writer of homosexual practices.
In 1915, Jess Willard knocked out Jack Johnson in the 26th round of their fight in Havana, Cuba, to claim boxing’s world heavyweight title.
In 1916, Academy Award-winning actor Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California.
In 1925, a tornado estimated at F-3 intensity struck northern Miami-Dade County, Florida, killing five people.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Civilian Conservation Corps and an anti-hoarding order that effectively prohibited private ownership of gold.
In 1955, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigned his office for health reasons. Democrat Richard J. Daley was first elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Robert E. Merriam.
In 1964, Army General Douglas MacArthur died in Washington, D.C., at age 84.
In 1986, two American servicemen and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, an incident which prompted a U.S. air raid on Libya more than a week later.
In 1991, former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, his daughter Marian and 21 other people were killed in a commuter plane crash near Brunswick, Georgia.
Ten years ago: Duke University’s lacrosse coach resigned and the school canceled the rest of the season amid a burgeoning controversy involving allegations that three players on the highly ranked team had raped a stripper at an off-campus party. (The rape charges were later dropped, and the players exonerated.) Katie Couric announced she was leaving NBC’s “Today” show to become anchor of “The CBS Evening News.” Singer Gene Pitney was found dead in his hotel room in Cardiff, Wales; he was 66.
Five years ago: Ivory Coast’s strongman leader, Laurent Gbagbo (loh-RAHN’ BAHG’-boh), remained holed up in a bunker inside the presidential residence, defiantly maintaining he’d won an election four months earlier even as troops backing the internationally recognized winner encircled the home. (Gbagbo was arrested six days later.) Texas A&M won its first national women’s basketball championship with a 76-70 victory over Notre Dame.
One year ago: In an Easter Sunday peace wish, Pope Francis praised a framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Rolling Stone magazine apologized and officially retracted its discredited article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia. Actor Richard Dysart, 86, died in Santa Monica, California.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie producer Roger Corman is 90. Former U.S. Secretary of State and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell is 79. Country singer Tommy Cash is 76. Actor Michael Moriarty is 75. Pop singer Allan Clarke (The Hollies) is 74. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 74. Actor Max Gail is 73. Actress Jane Asher is 70. Singer Agnetha (ag-NEE’-tah) Faltskog (ABBA) is 66. Actor Mitch Pileggi is 64. Singer-songwriter Peter Case is 62. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 50. Country singer Troy Gentry is 49. Singer Paula Cole is 48. Actress Krista Allen is 45. Country singer Pat Green is 44. Rapper-producer Pharrell (fa-REHL’) Williams is 43. Rapper/producer Juicy J is 41. Actor Sterling K. Brown is 40. Country singer-musician Mike Eli (The Eli Young Band) is 35. Actress Hayley Atwell is 34. Actress Lily James is 27.
Thought for Today: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.” — Lord Acton, British historian (1834-1902), in a letter written on this date in 1887.
