TODAY IN HISTORY

1789

President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.

1862

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia.

1945

A Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea torpedoed and sank the MV Goya, which Germany was using to transport civilian refugees and wounded soldiers; it’s estimated that up to 7,000 people died.

1963

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which the civil rights activist responded to a group of local clergymen who had criticized him for leading street protests.

1972

Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon with astronauts John W. Young, Charles M. Duke Jr. and Ken Mattingly on board.

2007

In one of America’s worst school attacks, a college senior killed 32 people on the campus of Virginia Tech before taking his own life.

Birthdays

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is 94. Singer Bobby Vinton is 86. Former Massachusetts first lady Ann Romney is 72. NFL coach Bill Belichick is

69. Rock singer David Pirner is 57. Actor Lukas Haas is 45. Actor Claire Foy is 37. Figure skater Mirai Nagasu is 28. Actor Sadie Sink is 19.