TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, April 18, the 108th day of 2021. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 18, 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

On this date:

In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.

In 1831, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa was officially opened.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.

In 1910, suffragists showed up at the U.S. Capitol with half a million signatures demanding that women be given the right to vote.

In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power as he became prime minister of Egypt.

In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.

In 1966, Bill Russell was named player-coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the NBA’s first Black coach.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.

In 1995, quarterback Joe Montana retired from professional football. The Houston Post closed after more than a century.

In 2015, a ship believed to be carrying more than 800 migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya; only about 30 people were rescued.

In 2019, the final report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was made public; it outlined Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election but did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government. (Mueller offered no conclusion on the question of whether the president obstructed justice.)

Ten years ago: Standard & Poor’s lowered its longterm outlook for the U.S. government’s fiscal health from “stable” to “negative,” and warned of serious consequences if lawmakers failed to reach a deal to control the massive federal deficit. Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai won the Boston Marathon in 2:03:02, the fastest anyone had ever run the 26.2 mile distance; fellow Kenyan Caroline Kilel won the women’s race in 2:22:36.