Apr 17, 2023 11:00 PM – 891 words
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, April 18, the 108th day of 2023. There are 257 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.
On this date:
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 1923, the first game was played at the original Yankee Stadium in New York; the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1.
In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser seized power as he became prime minister of Egypt.
In 1955, physicist Albert Einstein died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 76.
In 1966, 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.
In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 2002, police arrested actor Robert Blake in the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, nearly a year earlier (Blake was acquitted at his criminal trial but found liable in a civil trial).
In 2015, a ship believed to be carrying more than 800 migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya; only about 30 people were rescued.
In 2016, “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop stage biography of America’s first treasury secretary, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
In 2019, the final report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was made public; it outlined Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election but did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.
Ten years ago: The FBI released surveillance camera images of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing and asked for the public’s help in identifying them, hours after President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended an interfaith service at a Roman Catholic cathedral. Randy Newman, Heart, Rush, Public Enemy, Donna Summer, Albert King, and producers Quincy Jones and Lou Adler were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Los Angeles.
Five years ago: Cuba’s government selected 57-year-old First Vice President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez as the sole candidate to succeed President Raul Castro, a move that would install someone from outside the Castro family in the country’s highest office for the first time in nearly six decades; the 86-year-old Castro would remain head of the Communist Party. Amid a blackout that affected much of the rest of Puerto Rico, generators helped keep the lights on at a stadium in San Juan for the second of two games between the Cleveland Indians and the Minnesota Twins. Bruno Sammartino, who had once been one of the longest-reigning champions in professional wrestling, died at the age of 82.
One year ago: Russia launched a long-feared, full-scale offensive to take control of Ukraine’s east, the country’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland, where Moscow-backed separatists had been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years. A federal judge in Florida voided the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation as exceeding the authority of U.S. health officials in their response to the coronavirus pandemic. Alex Jones’ Infowars filed for bankruptcy after the conspiracy theorist lost defamation suits over his comments that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Clive Revill is 93. Actor Robert Hooks is 86. Actor Hayley Mills is 77. Actor James Woods is 76. Actor-director Dorothy Lyman is 76. Actor Cindy Pickett is 76. Actor Rick Moranis is 70. Actor Melody Thomas Scott is 67. Actor Eric Roberts is 67. Actor John James is 67. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 65. Author-journalist Susan Faludi is 64. Actor Jane Leeves is 62. Ventriloquist-comedian Jeff Dunham is 61. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 60. Actor Eric McCormack is 60. Actor Maria Bello is 56. Actor Mary Birdsong is 55. Actor David Hewlett is 55. Rock musician Greg Eklund (The Oolahs) is 53. Actor Lisa Locicero is 53. Actor Tamara Braun is 52. TV chef Ludovic Lefebvre is 52. Actor Fredro Starr is 52. Actor David Tennant is 52. Rock musician Mark Tremonti is 49. R&B singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 49. Actor Melissa Joan Hart is 47. Actor Sean Maguire is 47. Actor Kevin Rankin is 47. Actor Bryce Johnson is 46. Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian (kar-DASH’-ee-uhn) is 44. Detroit Tigers first baseman and DH Miguel Cabrera is 40. Actor America Ferrera is 39. Actor Tom Hughes is 38. Actor Ellen Woglom (TV: “Marvel’s Inhumans”) is 36. Actor Vanessa Kirby is 35. Actor Alia Shawkat is 34. Actor Britt Robertson is 33. Actor Chloe Bennet is 31. Rock singer Nathan Sykes (The Wanted) is 30. Actor Moises Arias is 29.
