This day in history

[April 20, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, April 14, the 104th day of 2010. There are 261 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On April 14, 1910, President William Howard Taft became the first U.S. chief executive to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game as the Washington Senators opened their season with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.

On this date:

In 1775, the first American society for the abolition of slavery was formed in Philadelphia.

In 1828, the first edition of Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of the English Language" was published.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington.

In 1902, James Cash Penney opened his first store, The Golden Rule, in Kemmerer, Wyo.

In 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began sinking.

In 1939, the John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published.

In 1949, at the conclusion of the so-called "Wilhelmstrasse Trial," 19 former Nazi Foreign Office officials were sentenced by an American tribunal in Nuremberg to prison terms ranging from four to 25 years.

In 1956, Ampex Corp. demonstrated the first successful videotape recorder at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention in Chicago.

In 1960, the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opened on Broadway. Tamla Records and Motown Records, founded by Berry Gordy Jr., were incorporated as Motown Record Corp. The Montreal Canadiens won their fifth consecutive Stanley Cup, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 in Game 4 of the finals.

In 1989, former winery worker Ramon Salcido went on a rampage in Sonoma County, Calif., killing seven people, including his wife and two daughters; he is currently on death row.

Ten years ago: On Wall Street, stocks plummeted in heavy trading, with the Dow industrials down 617 points and the Nasdaq composite index falling 355 points. In Washington, protesters dumped manure on Pennsylvania Avenue, seeking to disrupt meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Five years ago: The House passed and sent to President George W. Bush legislation making it tougher to erase obligations in bankruptcy. The Oregon Supreme Court nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year earlier by Portland's Multnomah County. Yankees right fielder Gary Sheffield got into a brief scuffle with a fan at Fenway Park during New York's 8-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

One year ago: Somali pirates seized four ships with 60 hostages. North Korea said it was restarting its rogue nuclear program, booting U.N. inspectors and pulling out of disarmament talks in an angry reaction to the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of its April 5 rocket launch.

Today's birthdays: Actor Bradford Dillman is 80. Actor Jay Robinson is 80. Country singer Loretta Lynn is 75. Actress Julie Christie is 70. Former MLB All-Star Pete Rose is 69. Rock musician Ritchie Blackmore is 65. Actor John Shea is 61. Actor-race car driver Brian Forster is 50. Actor Brad Garrett is 50. Actor Robert Carlyle is 49. Rock singer-musician John Bell (Widespread Panic) is 48. Actor Robert Clendenin is 46. Actor Lloyd Owen is 44. Former MLB All-Star Greg Maddux is 44. Rock musician Barrett Martin is 43. Actor Anthony Michael Hall is 42. Actor Adrien Brody is 37. Classical singer David Miller is 37. Rapper DaBrat is 36. Actor Antwon Tanner is 35. Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar is 33. Actor-producer Rob McElhenney is 33. Actress Vivien Cardone is 17. Actress Abigail Breslin is 14.

Thought for today: "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy." -- Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

[Associated Press]

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