TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, APRIL 24,
the 114th day of 2017. There are 251 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into the Earth after his parachutes failed to deploy properly during re-entry; he was the first human spaceflight fatality.
In 1792,
Capt. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle began composing “War Song for the Rhine Army,” later known as “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem of France.
In 1800,
Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.
In 1898,
Spain declared war on the United States. The United States responded in kind the next day.
In 1915,
in what’s considered the start of the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople.
In 1916,
some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin. The rising was put down by British forces five days later.
In 1932,
in the Free State of Prussia, the Nazi Party gained a plurality of seats in parliamentary elections.
In 1947,
novelist Willa Cather, author of “My Antonia,” died in New York at age 73.
In 1953,
British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1962,
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, using NASA’s Echo 1 balloon satellite to bounce a video image from Camp Parks, Calif., to Westford, Mass.
In 1970,
the People’s Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting the song “The East Is Red.”
In 1980,
the United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.
In 1997,
comedian Pat Paulsen died in Tijuana, Mexico, at age 69.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Movie directorproducer Richard Donner is 87. Actress Shirley MacLaine is 83. Author Sue Grafton and actor-singer Michael Parks are 77. Actress-singer-director Barbra Streisand and former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley are 75. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 74. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 72. Rock singer-musician Rob Hyman is 67. The prime minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny, is 66. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 64. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is 63. Actor Michael O’Keefe is 62. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 60. Actor Glenn Morshower is 58. Rock musician Billy Gould is 54. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer and actor Djimon Hounsou are 53. Rock musician Patty Schemel is 50. Actress Stacy Haiduk (TV: “The Young and the Restless”), rock musician Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) and actor Aidan Gillen are 49. Actress Melinda Clarke and actor Rory McCann are 48. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez and country-rock musician Brad Morgan (Drive-By Truckers) are 46. Rock musician Brian Marshall (Creed; Alter Bridge) is 44. Actor Derek Luke is 43. Actor Eric Balfour and actress Rebecca Mader are 40. Country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard is 38. Country singer Danny Gokey, actress Reagan Gomez and actor Austin Nichols are 37. Actress Sasha Barrese and contemporary Christian musician Jasen Rauch (Red) are 36. Singer Kelly Clarkson is 35. Rock singer-musician Tyson Ritter (The All-American Rejects) is 33. Actors Joe Keery, Jack Quaid and Doc Shaw are 25. Golfer Lydia Ko is 20.