|
 Today's highlight in history:
On April 7, 1927, an audience in New York watched as the image as well as voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.
On this date:
In 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.
In 1939, Italy invaded Albania, which was annexed less than a week later.
In 1945, during World War II, American planes intercepted and effectively destroyed a Japanese fleet that was headed to Okinawa on a suicide mission.
In 1948, the World Health Organization was founded.
In 1953, the U.N. General Assembly elected Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden to be secretary-general.
In 1957, shortly after midnight, the last of New York's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan.
In 1958, anti-nuclear peace protesters arrived at the Atomic Weapons Establishment near Aldermaston, England, after marching for several days from London.
In 1966, the U.S. Navy recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain.
In 1978, President Carter announced he was deferring development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation weapon.
In 1983, space shuttle astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson took the first U.S. space walk in almost a decade as they worked in the open cargo bay of Challenger for nearly four hours.
Ten years ago: President Clinton held a town meeting in Kansas City, Mo., on the future of Social Security. Mary Bono, the widow of entertainer-turned-politician Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Five years ago: U.S. troops in more than 100 U.S. armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Baghdad, seizing one of Saddam Hussein's opulent palaces and toppling a 40-foot statue of the Iraqi ruler. The Supreme Court voted 6-3 to uphold a 50-year-old Virginia law making it a crime to burn a cross as an act of intimidation. The Boston Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service for its coverage of the priest sex abuse scandal. Syracuse won the NCAA basketball tournament with an 81-78 victory over Kansas.
One year ago: A Russian rocket carrying American billionaire Charles Simonyi roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending its three occupants on a trip to the international space station. "B.C." comic strip creator Johnny Hart died in Nineveh, N.Y., at age 76. Actor Barry Nelson died in Bucks County, Pa., at age 89.
Today's birthdays: Actor R.G. Armstrong is 91. Sitar player Ravi Shankar is 88. Actor James Garner is 80. Country singer Cal Smith is 76. Actor Wayne Rogers is 75. Media commentator Hodding Carter III is 73. Country singer Bobby Bare is 73. Rhythm-and-blues singer Charlie Thomas (The Drifters) is 71. Jazz musician Freddie Hubbard is 70. California Attorney General Jerry Brown is 70. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 69. TV personality David Frost is 69. Singer Patricia Bennett (The Chiffons) is 61. Singer John Oates is 59. Singer Janis Ian is 57. Country musician John Dittrich is 57. Actor Jackie Chan is 54. Football Hall-of-Famer Tony Dorsett is 54. Actor Russell Crowe is 44. Rhythm-and-blues singer Mark Kibble (Take 6) is 44. Actor Bill Bellamy is 43. Rock musician Dave "Yorkie" Palmer (Space) is 43. Former football player-turned-analyst Tiki Barber is 33. Actress Heather Burns is 33. Actor Conner Rayburn is 9.
Thought for today: "It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, American first lady (1884-1962)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
 |
