Today in History
Today in History
Today is Sunday, April 18, the 108th day of 2021. There are 257 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.
On this date:
In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Le[ington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.
In 1831, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa was officially opened.
In 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.
In 1910, suffragists showed up at the U.S. Capitol with half a million signatures demanding that women be given the right to vote.
In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power as he became prime minister of Egypt.
In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.
In 1966, Bill Russell was named player-coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the NBA’s first black coach.
In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 1995, quarterback Joe Montana retired from professional football. The Houston Post closed after more than a century.
In 2015, a ship believed to be carrying more than 800 migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya; only about 30 people were rescued.
In 2019, the final report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was made public; it refuted claims that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.
Ten years ago: Standard Poor’s lowered its long-term outlook for the U.S. government’s fiscal health from “stable” to “negative,” and warned of serious consequences if lawmakers failed to reach a deal to control the massive federal deficit. Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai won the Boston Marathon in 2:03:02, the fastest anyone had ever run the 26.2 mile distance; fellow Kenyan Caroline Kilel won the women’s race in 2:22:36.
Five years ago: The U.S. agreed to deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and to send eight Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq, the first major increase in U.S. forces in nearly a year. “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop stage biography of America’s first treasury secretary, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
One year ago: In an effort to show that the country was on course to gradually reopening from coronavirus shutdowns, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduating class, telling cadets that they “inspire confidence that we will prevail against the invisible enemy in our time.” The daily toll of coronavirus deaths in New York state hit its lowest point in more than two weeks. Police in Hong Kong arrested at least 14 veteran pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and a media tycoon on charges of joining unlawful protests in 2019.