This day in history

[April 20, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, April 15, the 105th day of 2010. There are 260 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died, nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington. Andrew Johnson became the nation's 17th president.

On this date:

In 1817, the first permanent American school for the deaf opened in Hartford, Conn.

In 1850, the city of San Francisco was incorporated.

In 1861, three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called out Union troops.

In 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg; some 1,500 people died.

In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson, baseball's first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day. The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.

In 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro arrived in Washington to begin a goodwill tour of the United States. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles resigned for health reasons; he was succeeded by Christian A. Herter.

In 1960, a three-day conference to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) began at Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. The group's first chairman was Marion Barry.

In 1980, existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre died in Paris at age 74.

In 1990, actress Greta Garbo died in New York at age 84.

Ten years ago: The world's leading financial officials, meeting in Washington, pledged cooperation to promote global prosperity. Meanwhile, anti-globalization protesters swarmed through the heart of the nation's capital. Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. The Orioles won the game, 6-4.

Five years ago: A Paris hotel fire killed 24 people, many of them African immigrants. A Russian rocket blasted off from the Central Asian steppes, catapulting three crew members on a two-day journey to the international space station.

One year ago: Tens of thousands of protesters staged "tea parties" around the country to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts. A U.S. Army master sergeant, John Hatley, was convicted of murder at a court-martial in Vilseck, Germany, in the 2007 killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis. Hatley initially received life in prison but had his sentence later reduced to 40 years. Pirates released the Greek-owned cargo ship Titan that had been hijacked off the Somali coast on March 19.

Today's birthdays: Actor Michael Ansara is 88. Country singer Roy Clark is 77. Author and politician Jeffrey Archer is 70. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 66. Actress Lois Chiles is 63. Writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is 63. Actress Amy Wright is 60. Columnist Heloise is 59. Actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 51. Bluegrass musician Jeff Parker is 49. Singer Samantha Fox is 44. Rock musician Ed O'Brien (Radiohead) is 42. Actor Flex Alexander is 40. Actor Danny Pino is 36. Actor-writer Seth Rogen is 28. Actress Alice Braga is 27. Rock musician De'Mar Hamilton (Plain White T's) is 26. Actress Emma Watson is 20.

Thought for today: "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you." -- Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980

[Associated Press]

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