TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, April 19, the 109th day of 2019. There are 256 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh, who prosecutors said had planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege of two years earlier, was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001.) On this date:
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bade farewell in an address to Congress in which he quoted a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”
In 1966, Bobbi Gibb, 23, became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon at a time when only men were allowed to participate. (Gibb jumped into the pack after the sound of the starting pistol and finished in 3:21:40.)
In 1977, the Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; about 80 people, including two dozen children and sect leader David Koresh, were killed.
In 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings, was taken into custody after a manhunt that had left the city virtually paralyzed; his older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan, was killed earlier in a furious attempt to escape police.
Today’s Birthdays: Motorsports Hall of Famer Al Unser Jr. is 57. Actress Ashley Judd is 51. Actress Kate Hudson is 40.
Thought for Today: “Never one thing and seldom one person can make for a success. It takes a number of them merging into one perfect whole.” — Marie Dressler, Canadian actress (1869-1934).