TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, April 3, the 93rd day of 2017. There are 272 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 3, 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces began their final assault on Bataan against American and Filipino troops who surrendered six days later; the capitulation was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March.
On this date:
In 1776, George Washington received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard College.
In 1860, the legendary Pony Express began carrying mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. (The delivery system lasted only 18 months before giving way to the transcontinental telegraph.)
In 1882, outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Missouri, by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang.
In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, New Jersey, for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist communism.
In 1968, the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers.
In 1996, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his remote Montana cabin. An Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and American business executives crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.
Ten years ago: An ex-con shot and killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta before being wounded by a security guard. (Arthur Mann was later convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without parole.)
Five years ago: Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican presidential nomination, sweeping primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
One year ago: A southbound Amtrak train struck a piece of heavy equipment just south of Philadelphia and derailed; two Amtrak workers were killed.
Today’s Birthdays: Actresssinger Doris Day is 95. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is 87. Conservationist Dame Jane Goodall is 83. Actor William Gaunt is 80. Songwriter Jeff Barry is 79. Actor Eric Braeden is 76. Actress Marsha Mason is
75. Singer Wayne Newton is 75. Singer Tony Orlando is 73. Comedy writer Pat Proft is 70. Folk-rock singer Richard Thompson is 68. Country musician Curtis Stone (Highway 101) is 67. Blues singer-guitarist John Mooney is 62. Rock musician Mick Mars (Motley Crue) is 61. Actor Alec Baldwin is 59. Actor David Hyde Pierce is
58. Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 56. Rock musician James MacDonough is 47. Olympic gold medal ski racer Picabo Street is
46. Actress Jennie Garth is 45. Actor Jamie Bamber is 44. Actor Adam Scott is 44. Christian rock musician Drew Shirley (Switchfoot) is 43. Actor Matthew Goode is 39. Actress Amanda Bynes is 31. Actress-comedian Rachel Bloom is 30.
Thought for Today: “Nothing spoils a good party like a genius.”—Elsa Maxwell, American socialite (1883-1963).