TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

April 8, 1974 Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1820 The Venus de Milo statue was discovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos.

1864 The United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery.

1913 The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for popular election of U.S. senators, was ratified.

1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which provided money for programs such as the Works Progress Administration.

1946 The League of Nations assembled in Geneva for its final session.

1952 President Harry S. Truman seized the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike.

2003 Kidnapper-rapist John Jamelske, who had imprisoned five women and girls, one after another, as sex slaves inside a makeshift dungeon in his DeWitt, N.Y., home, was arrested.

2013 President Barack Obama warned Congress not to use delaying tactics against tighter gun regulations and told families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims during a visit to Hartford, Conn., that he was “determined as ever” to honor their children with tougher laws.