El Dorado News-Times

Today in History

-

Today is Wednesday, April 18, the 108th day of 2018. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 18, 1938, Superman, AKA "The Man of Steel," made his debut as the first issue of Action Comics (bearing a cover date of June) went on sale for 10 cents a copy. (In 2014, a nearly flawless original copy was sold on eBay for $3.2 million.)

On this date:

In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestow­n to Lexington, Massachuse­tts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approachin­g.

In 1865, Confederat­e Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendere­d to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.

In 1906, a devastatin­g earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

In 1923, the first game was played at the original Yankee Stadium in New York; the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1.

In 1942, during World War II, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The first World War II edition of The Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper.

In 1943, Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was shot down and killed by U.S. fighters while approachin­g Bougainvil­le in the Solomon Islands.

In 1956, American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier (renYAY') of Monaco in a civil ceremony. (A church wedding took place the next day.)

In 1966, "The Sound of Music" won the Oscar for best picture of 1965 at the 38th Academy Awards. The first Major League baseball game played on AstroTurf took place at the Houston Astrodome as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Astros 6-3. 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 1988, an Israeli court convicted John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk), a retired auto worker from Cleveland, of committing war crimes at the Treblinka death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. (However, Israel's Supreme Court later overturned Demjanjuk's conviction.)

In 1998, despite fierce internal dissent,

Northern Ireland's main Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, approved a peace agreement. The remains of Pol Pot were cremated, three days after the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the killings of up to two million Cambodians died at age 73. Former North Carolina governor and U.S. senator Terry Sanford died in Durham at age 80. Ten years ago: Addressing the United Nations, Pope Benedict XVI said that respect for human rights, not violence, was the key to solving many of the world's problems. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth to her fifth child, a son named Trig Paxson Van Palin.

Five years ago: The FBI released surveillan­ce camera images of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and asked for the public's help in identifyin­g them, hours after President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral. Randy Newman, Heart, Rush, Public Enemy, Donna Summer, Albert King, and producers Quincy Jones and Lou Adler were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Los Angeles. Thought for Today: "I'll tell you a secret. We live in a mad and inspiring world." — Ben Hecht, Hollywood screenwrit­er (born 1894, died this date in 1964).

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States