Today is Saturday, April 18, the 109th day of 2020. There are 257 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 18, 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
On this date:
In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning colonists that British Regular troops were approaching.
In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.
In 1910, suffragists showed up at the U.S. Capitol with half a million signatures demanding that women be given the right to vote.
In 1934, the first laundromat (called a “washateria”) opened in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1938, Superman, AKA “The Man of Steel,” made his debut as the first issue of Action Comics (bearing a cover date of June) went on sale for 10 cents a copy. (In 2014, a nearly flawless original copy was sold on eBay for $3.2 million.)
In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.
In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 1995, quarterback Joe Montana retired from professional football. The Houston Post closed after more than a century.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Clive Revill is 90. Actor James Drury is 86. Actor Robert Hooks is 83. Actress Hayley Mills is 74. Actor James Woods is 73. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 73. Actress Cindy Pickett is 73. Country musician Walt Richmond (The Tractors) is 73. Country musician Jim Scholten (Sawyer Brown) is 68. Actor Rick Moranis is 67. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 64. Actor Eric Roberts is 64. Actor John James is 64. Rock musician Les Pattinson (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 62. Author-journalist Susan Faludi is 61. Actress Jane Leeves is 59. Ventriloquist-comedian Jeff Dunham is 58. Talk show host Conan O’Brien is 57. Bluegrass singer-musician Terry Eldredge is 57. Actor Eric McCormack is 57.
Thought for Today: “There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.” — Russian proverb.
