Today is Wednesday, April 15, the 106th day of 2020. There are 260 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 15, 2013, two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line, killing two women and an 8-year-old boy and injuring more than 260. Suspected bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaevdied in a shootout with police; his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.
On this date:
In 1452, artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born in or near the Tuscan town of Vinci.
In 1850, the city of San Francisco was incorporated.
In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson became the nation’s 17th president.
In 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic foundered in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland more than 2 1/2 hours after hitting an iceberg; 1,514 people died, while less than half as many survived.
In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died on April 12, was buried at the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, New York.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson, baseball’s first black major league player, made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on opening day at Ebbets Field. (The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.)
In 1955, Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald’s restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
In 1998, Pol Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 72, evading prosecution for the deaths of two million Cambodians.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Claudia Cardinale is 82. Author and politician Jeffrey Archer is 80. Rock singer-guitarist Dave Edmunds is 77. Actor Michael Tucci is 74. Actress Lois Chiles is 73. Writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is 73. Actress Amy Wright is 70. Columnist Heloise is 69. Actor Sam McMurray is 68. Actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson is 61. Bluegrass musician Jeff Parker is 59. Singer Samantha Fox is 54. Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal swimmer Dara Torres is 53. Rock musician Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) is 52.
Thought for Today: “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” — Arthur Ashe, American tennis champion (1943-1993).
