Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On April 21, 1976, clinical trials of the swine flu vaccine began in Washington, D.C.
On this date:
1509: England’s King Henry VII died; he was succeeded by his 17-year-old son,
Henry VIII.
1789: John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States.
1816: Charlotte
Bronte, author of “Jane Eyre,” was born in Thornton, England.
1836: An army of Texans led by Sam Houston defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, assuring Texas independence.
1910: Author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Connecticut, at age 74.
1918: Manfred von Richthofen, 25, the German ace known as the “Red Baron” who was believed to have downed 80 enemy aircraft during World War I, was himself shot down and killed while in action over France.
1926: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was born in Mayfair, London; she was the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and the Queen
Mother.
1930: Fire broke out inside the overcrowded Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, killing 332 inmates.
1975: With Communist forces closing in, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned after nearly 10 years in office and fled the country.
1989: The baseball fantasy “Field of Dreams,” starring
Kevin Costner, was released by Universal Pictures.
2009: The sole survivor of a pirate attack on an American cargo ship off the Somali coast, on which Captain Richard
Phillips was held for ransom, was charged as an adult with piracy in federal court in New York. A prosecutor said
Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse had given wildly varying ages for himself before finally admitting he was 18. Muse later pleaded guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking and was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison.
2016: Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times, was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis; he was 57.
Ten years ago: Pope Benedict XVI promised “church action” to confront the clerical abuse scandal.
Five years ago: An Egyptian criminal court sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012. The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart, announced her retirement in the wake of allegations that DEA agents had attended sex parties with prostitutes. Pope
Francis accepted the resignation of U.S. Bishop Robert Finn, who’d pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected child abuser.
One year ago: Suicide bombings at three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday killed more than 250 people; the attackers were homegrown militants who had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group.