TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, April 29, the 119th day of 2017. There are 246 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 29, 1992, a jury in Simi Valley, California, acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King; the verdicts were followed by several days of rioting in Los Angeles resulting in 55 deaths. On this date:
In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a French victory over the English.
In 1817, representatives of the United States and Britain concluded the Rush-Bagot Agreement, which limited the number of naval vessels allowed in the Great Lakes.
In 1861, the Maryland House of Delegates voted 53-13 against seceding from the Union. In Montgomery, Alabama, President Jefferson Davis asked the Confederate Congress for the authority to wage war.
In 1916, the Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.
In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun inside his “Fuhrerbunker” and designated Adm. Karl Doenitz president.
In 1967, Aretha Franklin’s cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” was released as a single by Atlantic Records.
In 1987, Ronnie DeSillers, a 7-year-old liver recipient whose story had prompted thousands of Americans, including President Ronald Reagan, to lend support, died at a Pittsburgh hospital while awaiting a fourth transplant.
In 1997, Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, a drill instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted of raping six female trainees (he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and dishonorably discharged). A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons went into effect.
Five years ago: Despite past differences, President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton began a summer fundraising blitz with an event in McLean, Virginia. An out-of-control SUV plunged more than 50 feet off the side of a New York City highway overpass and landed on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, killing all seven people aboard, including three children.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Keith Baxter is 84. Bluesman Otis Rush is 82. Conductor Zubin Mehta is 81. Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff is 79. Pop singer Bob Miranda (The Happenings) is 75. Country singer Duane Allen (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 74. Singer Tommy James is 70. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is 67. Movie director Phillip Noyce is 67. Country musician Wayne Secrest (Confederate Railroad) is 67. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is 63. Actor Leslie Jordan is 62. Actress Kate Mulgrew is 62. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is 60. Actress Michelle Pfeiffer is 59. Actress Eve Plumb is 59. Rock musician Phil King is 57. Singer Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips) is 49. Actor Paul Adelstein is 48. Actress Uma Thurman is 47. International Tennis Hall of Famer Andre Agassi is 47. Rapper Master P is 47.
Thought for Today: “Show me somebody who is always smiling, always cheerful, always optimistic, and I will show you somebody who hasn’t the faintest idea what the heck is really going on.”— Mike Royko (1932-1997).