TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, April 14, the 104th day of 2021. There are 261 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On April 14, 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m. ship’s time and began sinking. (The ship went under two hours and 40 minutes later with the loss of 1,514 lives.)
1828 — The first edition of Noah Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language” was published.
1910 — President William Howard Taft became the first US chief executive to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.
1935 — The “Black Sunday” dust storm descended upon the central Plains, turning a sunny afternoon into total darkness.
1965 — The state of Kansas hanged Richard Hickock and Perry Smith for the 1959 “In Cold Blood” murders of Herbert Clutter, his wife, Bonnie, and two of their children, Nancy and Kenyon.
1970 — President Richard Nixon nominated Harry Blackmun to the US Supreme Court. (The choice of Blackmun, who was unanimously confirmed by the Senate a month later, followed the failed nominations of Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell.)
1981 — The first test flight of America’s first operational space shuttle, the Columbia, ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base.
1994 — Two US Air Force F-15 warplanes mistakenly shot down two US Army Black Hawk helicopters over northern Iraq, killing 26 people, including 15 Americans.
2004 — In a historic policy shift, President George W. Bush endorsed Israel’s plan to hold on to part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians; he also ruled out Palestinian refugees returning to Israel, bringing strong criticism from the Palestinians.
Ten years ago — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi rolled defiantly through the streets of Tripoli the same day NATO air strikes shook the city.
Five years ago — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders aggressively challenged each other’s judgment during a Democratic debate in Brooklyn, New
York, sparring over Wall Street banks, how high to raise the minimum wage and gun control.
One year ago — President Donald Trump announced that he was cutting off US payments to the UN health agency, the World Health Organization; Trump said it had not done enough to stop the Coronavirus from spreading. Louisiana again delayed its presidential primary, rescheduling it for July 11.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Country singer Loretta Lynn is 89. Retired MLB All-Star Pete Rose is 80. Rock musician Ritchie Blackmore is 76. Actor John Shea is 73. Actor-turned-race car driver Brian Forster is 61. Actor Brad Garrett is 61. Actor Robert Carlyle is 60. Rock singer-musician John Bell (Widespread Panic) is 59. Actor Catherine Dent is 56. Baseball Hall of Famer Greg Maddux is 55. Rock musician Barrett Martin is 54. Actor Adrien Brody is 48. Rapper Da Brat is 47. Actor Antwon Tanner is 46. Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar is 44. Roots singer JD McPherson is 44. Rock singer Win Butler (Arcade Fire) is 41. Actor Christian Alexander is 31. Actor Nick Krause is 29. Actor Vivien Cardone is 28. Actor Graham Phillips is 28. Actor Skyler Samuels is 27. Actor Abigail Breslin is 25.