TODAY HISTORY IN

Today is Saturday, April 18, the 109th day of 2020. There are 257 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: 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 (ee-EH’ shee-MAH’), 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 (ren-YAY’) 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.

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