TODAY IN HISTORY

On April 10, 1849 Walter Hunt of New York City patented the safety pin. (Unable to see its potential, he sold all rights for a few hundred dollars.)

In 1866 the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.

In 1870 Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Russian Communist Party and the first leader of the Soviet Union, was born in Simbirsk, Russia.

In 1912 the British luxury liner Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, with 2,224 people on its illfated initial voyage to America.

In 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” was published.

In 1932 Paul von Hindenburg was re-elected president of Germany; Adolf Hitler came in second place.

Also in 1932 actor Omar Sharif was born in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the minor league contract of Jackie Robinson, who would become the first black player in the modern major leagues.

In 1953 the first featurelength 3-D movie in color, “House of Wax,” premiered in New York.

In 1963 the U.S. nuclear submarine Thresher failed to surface in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Cod, Mass., in a naval disaster that claimed all 129 crew members.

In 1972 the United States and the Soviet Union joined 70 other nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.

In 1974 Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel.