TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1970

Apollo 13astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft while en route to the moon.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1492

A contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.

1895

The Treaty of Shimonoseki ended the first Sino-Japanese War.

1905

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Lochner v. New York, struck down, 5-4, a New York State law limiting the number of hours that bakers could be made to work. (This ruling was effectively overturned in 1937by the high court’s West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish decision.)

1961

Some 1,500CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro, whose forces crushed the incursion by the third day.

1969

A jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

1972

The Boston Marathon allowed women to compete for the first time; Nina Kuscsik was the first officially recognized women’s champion, with a time of 3:10:26.

1973

Federal Express (later FedEx) began operations as 14 planes carrying 186packages took off from Memphis International Airport, bound for 25 U.S. cities.

1991

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 3,000 for the first time, ending the day at 3,004.46, up 17.58.