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 1869, Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, premiered in Copenhagen.
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 1946, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander held responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed by firing squad outside Manila.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist communism.
In 1965, the United States launched the SNAP-10A nuclear power system into Earth orbit; it was the first nuclear reactor sent into space.
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 1979, Democrat Jane M. Byrne was elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Wallace D. Johnson. In 1982, Maryland college student Stephanie Roper, whose car became disabled, was kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed by two men. (The case inspired creation of the Stephanie Roper Committee and Foundation to lobby for victims’ rights.) In 1996, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski (kah-ZIHN’-skee) 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. Former Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes, the first black elected mayor of a major U.S. city, died at age 68. Ten years ago: President George W. Bush denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money for the Iraq war with no strings; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting Syria. 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.) A high-speed French train broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, surpassing 357.2 mph. After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee’s Lady Vols captured a seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59- 46. Five years ago: Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican presidential nomination, sweeping primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. In a speech to the annual meeting of The Associated Press, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders of becoming so radical and rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan could not win a GOP primary if he were running today.