Today's Highlight in History:
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. (James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming his innocence before dying in prison in 1998.)
On this date:
In 1818, Congress decided the United States flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state of the Union.
In 1841, President William Henry Harrison succumbed to pneumonia one month after his inaugural, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to die in office.
In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.
In 1859, 150 years ago, "Dixie" was performed publicly for the first time by Bryant's Minstrels at Mechanics' Hall in New York. (The song is popularly attributed to Daniel Decatur Emmett, although his authorship has been called into question.)
In 1887, Susanna Madora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community: Argonia, Kan.
In 1945, during World War II, U.S. troops on Okinawa encountered the first significant resistance from Japanese forces at the Machinato Line.
In 1949, 12 nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington.
In 1975, more than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crash-landed shortly after take off from Saigon.
In 1979, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the deposed prime minister of Pakistan, was hanged after he was convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.
In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage.
Ten years ago: NATO warplanes and missiles attacked an army headquarters, oil refineries and other targets in and around Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 8-2 in baseball's first season opener held in Mexico.
