TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Saturday, April 18.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On April 18, 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.

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

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 1934, the first laundromat (called a “washateria”) opened in Fort Worth, Texas. In 1938, Superman, AKA “The Man of Steel,” made his debut as the first issue of Action Comics (bearing a cover date of June) went on sale for 10 cents a copy. (In 2014, a nearly flawless original copy was sold on eBay for $3.2 million.)

In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle,

44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.

In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power as he became prime minister of Egypt. In 1956, American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony. (A church wedding took place the next day.)

In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in

Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.

In 1988, an Israeli court convicted John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker from Cleveland, of committing war crimes at the Treblinka death camp in Nazioccupied Poland. (However, Israel’s Supreme Court later overturned Demjanjuk’s conviction.)

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

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President

Lech Kaczynski at a state funeral in Krakow. Brian

Davis called a two-stroke penalty on himself on the first playoff hole to give Jim Furyk a victory at the Verizon Heritage.

Five years ago: A ship believed to be carrying more than 800 migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya; only about 30 people were rescued.

One year ago: 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.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.”— Russian proverb.

— ASSOCIATED PRESS