Today is Tuesday, April 19, the 110th day of 2016. There are 256 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 19, 1966, Bobbi Gibb, 23, became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon at a time when only men were allowed to participate. (Gibb jumped into the middle of the pack after the sound of the starting pistol and finished in 3:21:40.)
On this date:
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1865, a funeral was held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin was then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda.
In 1912, a special subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee opened hearings in New York into the Titanic disaster.
In 1935, the Universal Pictures horror film “Bride of Frankenstein,” starring Boris Karloff with Elsa Lanchester in the title role, had its world premiere in San Francisco.
In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but ultimately futile battle against Nazi forces.
In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bade farewell in an address to Congress in which he quoted a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
In 1960, South Korean students began an uprising that toppled the government of President Syngman Rhee a week later. The South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) was founded in Namibia.
In 1975, India launched its first satellite atop a Soviet rocket.
In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)
In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; dozens of people, including sect leader David Koresh, were killed.
In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope in the first conclave of the new millennium; he took the name Benedict XVI.
Ten years ago: White House political mastermind Karl Rove surrendered his role as chief policy coordinator and press secretary Scott McClellan resigned in an escalation of a Bush administration shake-up. The U.S. government released a previously secret list of the names and nationalities of 558 people held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Five years ago: Cuba’s Communist Party picked 79-year-old Raul Castro to replace his ailing brother Fidel as first secretary during a key Party Congress; the 84-year-old Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance, to thunderous applause from the delegates. Syria did away with 50 years of emergency rule, but emboldened and defiant crowds accused President Bashar Assad of simply trying to buy time while clinging to power. Norwegian runner Grete Waitz, 57, who’d won nine New York marathons and the silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, died in Oslo.
One year ago: Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died a week after suffering a spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while he was handcuffed and shackled; six officers have been charged in connection with Gray’s death. At the Academy of Country Music Awards, Miranda Lambert won four awards, including album and song of the year, but lost the night’s top prize, Entertainer of the Year, to Luke Bryan.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Hugh O’Brian is 91. Actress Elinor Donahue is 79. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 74. Actor Tim Curry is 70. Pop singer Mark “Flo” Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 69. Actor Tony Plana is 64. Former tennis player Sue Barker is 60. Motorsports Hall of Famer Al Unser Jr. is 54. Actor Tom Wood is 53. Recording executive Suge Knight is 51. Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is 49. Actress Ashley Judd is 48. Singer Bekka Bramlett is 48. Latin pop singer Luis Miguel is 46. Actress Jennifer Esposito is 44. Actress Jennifer Taylor is 44. Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux (PAY’-roo) is 42. Actor James Franco is 38. Actress Kate Hudson is 37. Actor Hayden Christensen is 35. Actress Catalina Sandino Moreno is 35. Actress Kelen Coleman is 32. Actor Zack Conroy (TV: “The Bold and the Beautiful”; “Guiding Light”) is 31. Roots rock musician Steve Johnson (Alabama Shakes) is 31. Actor Courtland Mead is 29. Tennis player Maria Sharapova is 29.
Thought for Today: “The crisis you have to worry about most is the one you don’t see coming.” — Mike Mansfield, American statesman (1903-2001).
