Today in history
Today is Monday, April 23, the 113th day of 2018. There are 252 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On April 23, 1968, student protesters began occupying buildings on the campus of Columbia University in New York; police put down the protests a week later. The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church.
On this date:
In 1616 (Old Style calendar), English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare died in Stratfordupon-Avon on what has traditionally been regarded as the 52nd anniversary of his birth in 1564.
In 1789, President-elect George Washington and his wife, Martha, moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.
In 1791, the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania.
In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States, which responded in kind two days later.
In 1935, Poland adopted a constitution which gave new powers to the presidency.
In 1943, U.S. Navy Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy assumed command of PT-109, a motor torpedo boat, in the Solomon Islands during World War II. (On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, killing two crew members; Kennedy and 10 others survived.)
In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his 755 major-league home runs in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)
In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)
In 1971, hundreds of Vietnam War veterans opposed to the conflict protested by tossing their medals and ribbons over a wire fence in front of the U.S. Capitol.
In 1988, Greek cycling champion Kanellos Kanellopoulos pedaled the human-powered aircraft Daedalus over the Aegean Sea for nearly four hours.
In 1998, James Earl Ray, who confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and then insisted he’d been framed, died at a Nashville hospital at age 70.
In 2005, the recently created video-sharing website YouTube uploaded its first clip, “Me at the Zoo,” which showed YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, pushing for a Mideast peace agreement, met at the White House with Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that Army Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY’uhs) would be nominated to be the next commander of U.S. Central Command. The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that police had the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turned out to have violated state law. The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants in reaching that mark with a 7-6 victory in 10 innings at Colorado.