TODAY IN HISTORY

1844

Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.

1941

The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.

1961

A group of Freedom Riders was arrested at a bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi, charged with breaching the peace for entering whitedesignated areas.

1962

Astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.