TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Friday, April 6, the 96th day of 2018. There are 269 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 6, 1968, 41 people were killed by two consecutive natural gas explosions at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.

On this date:

■ In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, N.Y.

■ In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day.

■ In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.

■ In 1909, American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole.

■ In 1917, the United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

■ In 1943, “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery was first published by Reynal & Hitchcock of New York.

■ In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”

■ In 1965, the United States launched Intelsat I, also known as the “Early Bird” communications satellite, into geosynchronous orbit.

Thought for Today :“If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing .” —Anatole France, French author and critic(1844-1924).