On this day, April 7

1825 Western Theological Seminary was founded in Allegheny City by the Presbyterian Church.

1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower held a news conference in which he spoke of the importance of containing the spread of communism in Indochina, saying, “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” (This became known as the “domino theory,” although Eisenhower did not use that term.)

1984 A federal judge prohibited U.S. Steel from forcing employees to sign away their rights to file age discrimination suits in return for big pensions.

1999 Construction began for the $228 million PNC Park, the new home of the Pirates, set to open in 2001. During a public “block party” to celebrate the groundbreaking, the Sixth Street Bridge was renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge. When this bridge opened in 1928, it was named “the most beautiful bridge erected in U.S. or Canada that year” by the American Institute of Steel Construction.

2015 Michael Thomas Slager, a white South Carolina police officer, was charged with murder in the shooting death of Black motorist Walter Lamer Scott after law enforcement officials saw a cellphone video taken by a bystander. (Slager pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison; prosecutors agreed to drop state murder charges that remained after a jury couldn’t agree whether he had committed a crime.)

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin

Today’s birthdays: Country singer Bobby Bare, 86. R&B singer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters), 84. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, 83. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola, 82. Actor Roberta Shore, 78. Singer Patricia Bennett (The Chiffons), 74. Singer John Oates, 73. Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, 72. Singer Janis Ian, 70. Actor Jackie Chan, 67. Aliquippa native, former University of Pittsburgh running back and College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett, 67. Actor Russell Crowe, 57. Actor Bill Bellamy, 56. Former football playerturned-analyst Tiki Barber, 46. Actor Heather Burns, 46. Actor Kevin Alejandro, 45. Retired baseball infielder Adrian Beltre, 42. Actor Sian Clifford, 39. Rock musician Ben McKee (Imagine Dragons), 36. Actor Ed Speleers, 33. Actor Conner Rayburn, 22.

Thought for today: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”