 Today's highlight in history:
On April 13, 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in
South Carolina fell to Confederate forces as the Union commander,
Maj. Robert Anderson, agreed to surrender in the face of relentless
bombardment.
On this date:
In 1598, King Henry IV of France endorsed the Edict of Nantes, which
granted rights to the Protestant Huguenots. (The edict was abrogated
in 1685 by King Louis XIV, who declared France entirely Catholic
again.)
In 1742, Handel's "Messiah" had its first public performance in
Dublin, Ireland.
In 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson,
was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony. In 1860, the Pony Express completed its inaugural run from St.
Joseph, Mo. to Sacramento, Calif. in 10 days.
In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps, a predecessor of Britain's Royal
Air Force, was created.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson
Memorial.
In 1958, Van Cliburn of the United States won the first
International Tchaikovsky Competition for piano in Moscow; Russian
Valery Klimov won the violin competition.
In 1960, the U.S. Navy's Transit 1B navigational satellite was
successfully launched into orbit.
In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a
leading role to win an Academy Award for "Lilies of the Field."
(Patricia Neal was named Best Actress for "Hud"; Best Picture went
to "Tom Jones.")
In 1970, Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled
when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed
to return safely.)
In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in
the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of
worship.
In 1992, the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city's
century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water
from the Chicago River. Ten years ago: Venezuela's interim president, Pedro Carmona,
resigned a day after taking office in the face of protests by
thousands of supporters of the ousted president, Hugo Chavez.
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Five years ago: Iraq's parliament met in an extraordinary
session on a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and declared it would
not bow to terrorism; a bouquet of red roses and a white lily sat in
the place of a lawmaker killed in a parliament dining hall suicide
bombing. One year ago: Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and
his two sons were detained for investigation of corruption, abuse of
power and killings of protesters. A federal jury in San Francisco
convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice,
but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of
allegations that he'd knowingly used steroids and human growth
hormone and lied to a grand jury about it. The NBA fined Kobe Bryant
$100,000 for using a derogatory gay term in frustration over a
referee's call.
Today's birthdays: Movie director Stanley Donen is 88. Former
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 79. Actor Lyle Waggoner is
77. Actor Edward Fox is 75. Actor Paul Sorvino is 73. Poet Seamus
Heaney is 73. Movie-TV composer Bill Conti is 70. Rock musician Jack
Casady is 68. Actor Tony Dow is 67. Singer Al Green is 66. Actor Ron
Perlman is 62. Actor William Sadler is 62. Singer Peabo Bryson is
61. Bandleader/rock musician Max Weinberg is 61. Bluegrass
singer-musician Sam Bush is 60. Rock musician Jimmy Destri is 58.
Singer-musician Louis Johnson (The Brothers Johnson) is 57. Comedian
Gary Kroeger is 55. Actress Saundra Santiago is 55. Sen. Bob Casey
Jr., D-Pa., is 52. Rock musician Joey Mazzola (Sponge) is 51. Chess
grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 49. Actress Page Hannah is 48.
Actress-comedian Caroline Rhea (RAY) is 48. Rock musician Lisa
Umbarger is 47. Rock musician Marc Ford is 46. Reggae singer
Capleton is 45. Actor Ricky Schroder is 42. Rock singer Aaron Lewis
(Staind) is 40. Actor Bokeem Woodbine is 39. Singer Lou Bega is 37.
Actor-producer Glenn Howerton is 36. Actor Kyle Howard is 34.
Actress Courtney Peldon is 31. Pop singer Nellie McKay (mih-KY') is
30. Actress Hannah Marks is 19.
Thought for today: "In the landscape of extinction,
precision is next to godliness." -- Samuel Beckett, Irish poet
and playwright (born this date in 1906, died 1989)
[Associated Press]
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