This day in history

[April 20, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, April 20, the 110th day of 2010. There are 255 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On April 20, 1980, Cuban President Fidel Castro invited any of his countrymen who wanted to leave their country to do so, sparking the massive Mariel Boatlift from Cuba to the United States.

On this date:

In 1812, the fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 72, becoming the first vice president to die while in office.

In 1836, Congress voted to establish the Wisconsin Territory.

In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

In 1940, RCA publicly demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope.

In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.

In 1971, the Supreme Court, in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, unanimously upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.

In 1972, the manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.

In 1978, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed.

In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Colorado as two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.

Ten years ago: Littleton, Colo. paused to remember the victims on the first anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy. In his first Mass as pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work for unity among Christians and to seek "an open and sincere dialogue" with other faiths. Ecuador's Congress voted to remove embattled President Lucio Gutierrez from office and swear in vice President Alfredo Palacio to replace him.

One year ago: In Geneva, the United Nations opened its first anti-racism conference in eight years; dozens of Western diplomats walked out as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime." (Nine countries, including the United States and Israel, had already boycotted the conference.) Medical student Philip Markoff was arrested in the death of Julissa Brisman, a masseuse he'd met through Craigslist and whose body was found in a Boston hotel. Ethiopia's Deriba Merga won the Boston Marathon in 2:08.42, almost a full minute ahead of Kenya's Daniel Rono; Salina Kosgei of Kenya won the women's race in 2:32:16.

Today's birthdays: Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 90. Actor Leslie Phillips is 86. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) is 74. Actor George Takei is 73. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 71. Actor Ryan O'Neal is 69. Bluegrass singer-musician Doyle Lawson (Quicksilver) is 66. Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band) is 62. Actor Gregory Itzin (iht-zihn) is 62. Actress Jessica Lange is 61. Actress Veronica Cartwright is 61. Actor Clint Howard is 51. Actor Crispin Glover is 46. Actor Andy Serkis is 46. Country singer Wade Hayes is 41. Actor Shemar Moore is 40. Rock musician Mikey Welsh is 39. Actress Carmen Electra is 38. Reggae singer Stephen Marley is 38. Rock musician Marty Crandall (The Shins) is 35. Actor Joey Lawrence is 34. Country musician Clay Cook (Zac Brown Band) is 32.

Thought for today: "Taste. You cannot buy such a rare and wonderful thing. You can't send away for it in a catalogue. And I'm afraid it's becoming obsolete." -- Rosalind Russell, American actress (1911-1976)

[Associated Press]

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