On this day, April 15
1865 President Abraham Lincoln died nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson became the nation’s 17th president.
1907 An ordinance giving the Pittsburgh Subway Co. the right to build a subway to the East End was introduced.
1912 The British luxury liner RMS Titanic foundered in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland more than 2½ hours after hitting an iceberg; 1,514 people died, while less than half as many survived.
1945 During World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.
1947 Jackie Robinson, baseball’s first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. (The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.) Fifty years later, his number was retired throughout Major League Baseball.
1980 Leaders of the United Steelworkers ratified a threeyear contract providing an estimated $2.85 hourly hike in wages and fringe benefits.
2008 Pope Benedict XVI stepped onto U.S. soil for the first time as pontiff as he was greeted at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington by President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush and their daughter Jenna.
2013 Two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260. Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police; his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology). — Compiled by Alyssa Brown
Today’s birthdays: Country singer Roy Clark, 85. Actor Michael Tucci, 72. Actress Amy Wright, 68. Columnist Heloise, 67. Actor Sam McMurray, 66. Actressscreenwriter Emma Thompson, 59. Rock musician Ed O’Brien (Radiohead), 50. Country singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton, 40. Rock musician Zach Carothers (Portugal. The Man), 37. Actor-writer Seth Rogen, 36. Americana singer-songwriter Margo Price, 35. Rock musician De’Mar Hamilton (Plain White T’s), 34. Actress Samira Wiley, 31. Actress Emma Watson, 28. Actress Maisie Williams, 21.
Thought for today: “Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”