TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1946

28 former Japanese officials went on trial in Tokyo as war criminals; seven ended up being sentenced to death.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1429

Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a French victory over the English.

1916

The Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.

1945

During World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun inside his “Fuhrerbunker” and designated Adm. Karl Doenitz president.

1957

The SM-1, the first military nuclear power plant, was dedicated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

1967

Aretha Franklin’s cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” was released as a single by Atlantic Records.

1991

A cyclone began striking the South Asian country of Bangladesh; it ended up killing more than 138,000 people, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

1992

A jury in Simi Valley, California, acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney King; the verdicts were followed by rioting in Los Angeles resulting in 55 deaths.

1997

A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons went into effect.

2008

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for what he termed “divisive and destructive” remarks on race.