TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS TUESDAY, APRIL 6, the 96th day of 2021. There are 269 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1909, American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole. In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day. In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece. In 1917, the United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson. In 1945, during World War II, the Japanese warship Yamato and nine other vessels sailed on a suicide mission to attack the U.S. fleet off Okinawa; the fleet was intercepted the next day. In 1954, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.” In 1974, Swedish pop group ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Brighton, England, with a performance of the song “Waterloo.” In 2017, Don Rickles, the big-mouthed, bald-headed “Mr. Warmth” whose verbal assaults endeared him to audiences and peers, and made him the acknowledged grandmaster of insult comedy, died at his Beverly Hills home at age 90. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Nobel Prizewinning scientist James D. Watson is 93. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 84. Actor Roy Thinnes is 83. Movie director Barry Levinson is 79. Actor John Ratzenberger is 74. Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven is 70. Actor Marilu Henner is 69. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Janet Lynn is 68. Actor Michael Rooker is 66 Rock musician Warren Haynes is 61. Rock singer-musician Black Francis is 56. Actors Ari Meyers and Paul Rudd are 52. Actor-producer Jason Hervey is 49. Actors Zach Braff and Joel Garland are 46. Actor Candace Cameron Bure is 45. Actor Teddy Sears is 44. Jazz and R&B musician Robert Glasper is 43. Actor Eliza Coupe is 40.