TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, APRIL 19, the 109th day of 2018. There are 256 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date 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; about 80 people were killed, including two dozen children and sect leader David Koresh.
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1893, the Oscar Wilde play “A Woman of No Importance” opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London.
In 1897, the first Boston Marathon was won by John J. McDermott in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds.
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 1945, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” opened on Broadway.
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 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 start and finished in 3:21:40.)
In 1977, the Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean.
In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Elinor Donahue is 81. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 76. Actor Tim Curry is 72. Pop singer Mark “Flo” Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 71. Motorsports Hall of Famer Al Unser Jr. is 56. Recording executive Suge Knight is 53. Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is 51. Actresses Kim Hawthorne (TV: “Greenleaf”) and Ashley Judd, and singer Bekka Bramlett are 50. Latin pop singer Luis Miguel is 48. Jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux is 44. Actor James Franco is 40. Actress Kate Hudson is 39. Tennis player Maria Sharapova is 31.