TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1970

Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1776

Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

1886

At Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour work day turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded.

1932

Mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. (Capone was later transferred to Alcatraz Island.)

1942

The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic one for the Allies.)

1961

The first group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

1998

Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.

2001

Bonny Lee Bakley, wife of actor Robert Blake, was shot to death as she sat in a car near a restaurant in Los Angeles. (Blake, accused of Bakley’s murder, was acquitted in a criminal trial but found liable by a civil jury and ordered to pay damages.)

2006

A federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9⁄11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, “You will die with a whimper.”

2011

President Barack Obama said he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who’d stormed bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon.

2020

New York state reported more than 1,700 previously undisclosed coronavirus deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities. Struggling fashion brand J.Crew became the first major retailer to file for bankruptcy protection since the start of the pandemic. Former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula died at 90; he’d won more games than any other NFL coach.

2012

The U.S. and China outlined a tentative deal to send Chen Guangcheng, a blind legal activist, to America for study and potentially bring a face-saving end to a delicate diplomatic crisis. (Chen left China on May 19, 2012.)