TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, APRIL 30, the 120th day of 2017. There are 245 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a resolution officially confirming the name of Hoover Dam, which had also come to be known as “Boulder Dam.”
In 1517, Londoners began attacking foreign residents in rioting that carried over into the next day; no deaths were reported from what came to be known as “Evil May Day,” but about a dozen rioters, maybe more, ended up being executed.
In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York as the first president of the United States.
In 1900, engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.
In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.
In 1968, New York City police forcibly removed student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.
In 1975, the Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, fell to Communist forces.
In 1988, Gen. Manuel Noriega, waving a machete, vowed at a rally to keep fighting U.S. efforts to oust him as Panama’s military ruler.
In 1997, ABC-TV aired the “coming-out” episode of the situation comedy “Ellen,” in which the title character played by Ellen DeGeneres acknowledged her homosexuality, weeks after DeGeneres revealed in Time magazine that she, too, was a lesbian.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Cloris Leachman is 91. Singer Willie Nelson is
84. Actor Burt Young is 77. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is 71. Movie director Allan Arkush and actor Perry King are
69. Movie director Jane Campion is
63. Movie director Lars von Trier is 61. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Isiah Thomas is 56. Country musician Robert Reynolds is 55. Actor Adrian Pasdar is 52. Rock musician Clark Vogeler is 48. Actress Lisa Dean Ryan is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singers Akon and Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) are 44. Actor Johnny Galecki is 42. Actor Sam Heughan is 37. Actress Kirsten Dunst is 35. Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 33. Actress Dianna Agron is 31.