Today in history

On April 18, 1942, during World War II, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The first World War II edition of The Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper.

In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.

In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.

In 1925, the first Woman’s World’s Fair, an eight-day event, opened in Chicago.

In 1934, the first laundromat was opened by John F. Cantrell in Fort Worth, Texas; the “Washateria,” as it was called, rented four electric washing machines to the public on an hourly basis.

In 1946, the League of Nations met for the last time. The International Court of Justice, the judicial arm of the United Nations, held its first sitting in The Hague, Netherlands.

In 1956, American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony. (A church wedding took place the next day.)

In 1966, “The Sound of Music” won the Oscar for best picture of 1965 at the 38th Academy Awards. The first Major League baseball game played on AstroTurf took place at the Houston Astrodome as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Astros 6-3. Bill Russell was named player-coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the NBA’s first black coach.

In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.

Ten years ago: Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox faced the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 no-hit victory over the Texas Rangers. Curtis Strange and Hubert Green were elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Five years ago: Dick Clark, the ever-youthful television host and producer who helped bring rock ‘n’ roll into the mainstream on “American Bandstand” and rang in the New Year for the masses at Times Square, died in Santa Monica, California, at age 82.

One year ago: The Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for documenting the use of slave labor in Southeast Asia to supply seafood to American tables. “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop stage biography of America’s first treasury secretary, won the Pulitzer for drama. At the Boston Marathon, Ethiopians won both the men’s and women’s races for the first time in history; Lemi Berhanu Hayle won the men’s race in 2:12:45 and Atsede Baysa won the women’s race in 2:29:19.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” — Albert Einstein, German-American physicist (born 1879, died this date in 1955).