 Today's highlight in history:
On April 28, 1789, there was a mutiny on the Bounty as rebelling
crew members of the British ship led by Fletcher Christian set Capt.
William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South
Pacific. (Bligh and most of the men with him managed to reach Timor
in 47 days.)
On this date:
In 1758, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was
born in Westmoreland County, Va.
In 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S.
Constitution.
In 1817, the United States and Britain signed the Rush-Bagot Treaty,
which limited the number of naval vessels allowed in the Great
Lakes. In 1918, Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
of Austria and the archduke's wife, Sophie, died in prison of
tuberculosis.
In 1937, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was born in the
village of al-Oja near the desert town of Tikrit (he was executed in
Dec. 2006).
In 1942, pollster George Gallup said most Americans preferred to
call the current global conflict "World War II" or "The Second World
War" (other suggestions included "Survival War" or "War of World
Freedom").
In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara
Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to
flee the country.
In 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty signed in San
Francisco the year before took effect. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
resigned as Supreme Allied commander in Europe; he was succeeded by
Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway.
In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be
inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland
told Congress the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam."
In 1987, Contra rebels in Nicaragua killed Benjamin Ernest Linder,
an American engineer working on a hydroelectric project for the
Sandinista government.
In 1988, a flight attendant was killed and more than 60 persons
injured when part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 tore
off during a flight from Hilo (HEE'-loh) to Honolulu.
In 1992, the Agriculture Department unveiled its pyramid-shaped
recommended-diet chart that had cost nearly $1 million to develop.
(A revised pyramid was introduced in 2005; a new approach, "MyPlate,"
replaced the pyramid concept in 2011.)
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Ten years ago: Severe weather, including tornadoes in
Missouri and Maryland, killed at least six people. Alexander Lebed,
the gruff former general who'd helped defeat the 1991 hard-line
Soviet coup, was killed in a helicopter crash near the Russian town
of Abakan; he was 52.
Five years ago: A suicide car bomber struck in Karbala, Iraq,
killing at least 63 people. A suicide attack on Pakistan's Interior
Minister (Aftab Khan Sherpao) killed 28 people; the official was
slightly hurt. Death claimed "Tonight Show" assistant conductor
Tommy Newsom at age 78 and character actor Dabbs Greer at age 90.
One year ago: President Barack Obama reshuffled his national
security team, with CIA Director Leon Panetta succeeding Defense
Secretary Robert Gates and Gen. David Petraeus replacing Panetta at
the CIA. Convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy,
pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a California girl, Jaycee
Dugard, who was abducted in 1991 at the age of 11 and rescued 18
years later. (Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life in
prison; Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison.)
Canada's Patrick Chan won the world figure skating championships in
Moscow. Today's birthdays: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee
is 86. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 82.
Director-actor Richard C. Sarafian is 82. Actress-singer Ann-Margret
is 71. Actress Marcia Strassman is 64. Actor Paul Guilfoyle ("CSI")
is 63. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is 62. Rock musician Chuck
Leavell is 60. Actress Mary McDonnell is 59. Rock singer-musician
Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 59. Rapper Too Short is 46. Actress
Simbi Khali is 41. Actress Bridget Moynahan is 41. Actor Chris Young
is 41. Rapper Big Gipp is 39. Actor Jorge Garcia is 39. Actress
Elisabeth Rohm is 39. Actress Penelope Cruz is 38. Actor Nate
Richert is 34. Actress Jessica Alba is 31. Actor Harry Shum Jr. (TV:
"Glee") is 30. Actress Jenna Ushkowitz (TV: "Glee") is 26. Actress
Aleisha Allen is 21.
Thought for today: "We have two lives... the one we learn
with and the life we live with after that." -- Bernard Malamud,
American author (1914-1986)
[Associated Press]
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