Today in history
On April 29, 1992, rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, Calif., acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King; the violence resulted in 55 deaths and more than $ 1 billion in damage.
In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a French victory over the English.
In 1798, Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” was rehearsed in Vienna, Austria, before an invited audience.
In 1861, the Maryland House of Delegates voted 53- 13 against seceding from the Union. In Montgomery, Ala., President Jefferson Davis asked the Confederate Congress for the authority to wage war.
In 1916, the Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.
In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp. Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and designated Adm. Karl Doenitz president.
In 1946, 28 former Japanese officials went on trial in Tokyo as war criminals; seven ended up being sentenced to death.
In 1961, “ABC’S Wide World of Sports” premiered, with Jim Mckay as host.
In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
In 1983, Harold Washington was sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.
In 1987, Ronnie Desillers, a seven- year- old liver transplant recipient whose story had prompted thousands of Americans, including President Ronald Reagan, to lend support, died at a Pittsburgh hospital while awaiting a fourth transplant.
In 1991, a cyclone struck the South Asian country of Bangladesh, claiming an estimated 138,000 lives.
In 1992, Exxon executive Sidney Reso was kidnapped outside his Morris Township, N. J., home by Arthur Seale, a former Exxon security official, and Seale’s wife, Irene, and held for ransom; Reso died in captivity. ( Arthur Seale is serving a 95- year prison term, while his wife was given a 20- year sentence; Irene Seale was released in November 2009.)
It is easier to believe than to doubt. – Gene Fowler, American journalist ( 1890- 1960).