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History
Today is Saturday, April 20, the 110th day of 2002. There are 255 days left in the year.
Highlight in History:
On April 20, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.
On this date:
In 1812, the fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 73, becoming the first vice president to die while in office.
In 1836, the Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.
In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.
In 1940, RCA publicly demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope.
In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.
In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.
In 1972, the manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.
In 1978, a Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed.
In 1980, the first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.
In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Littleton, Colo., as students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher and wounded 26 others before taking their own lives.
Ten years ago:
The Russian congress adopted a resolution affirming Russia’s membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States in a victory for President Boris Yeltsin. Defending champion Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya became the sixth three-time winner of the Boston Marathon, while Russia’s Olga Markova won the women’s division.
Five years ago:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu escaped indictment in an influence-peddling scandal, with prosecutors saying they lacked evidence. Hwang Jang Yop, a high-ranking North Korean defector, arrived in South Korea, ending a 67-day odyssey that began in China.
One year ago:
A Peruvian air force jet shot down a small plane carrying American missionaries in Peru’s Amazon jungle region, killing Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity. President Bush attended his first international summit as leaders of the Western Hemisphere’s 34 democracies met in Quebec to advance plans to create the world’s largest free-trade zone; police in riot gear clashed with protesters. Two therapists were convicted in Golden, Colo., of reckless child abuse in a young girl’s suffocation death during a “rebirthing” therapy session. (Connell Watkins and Julie Ponder were later sentenced to 16 years in prison.)
Today’s Birthdays:
Bandleader Lionel Hampton is 94. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 82. Actress Nina Foch is 78. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 63. Actor George Takei is 62. Actor Ryan O’Neal is 61. Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band) is 54. Actress Jessica Lange is 53. Singer Luther Vandross is 51. Actor Clint Howard is 43. Actor Crispin Glover is 38. Country singer Wade Hayes is 33. Actor Shemar Moore is 32. Rock musician Mikey Welsh is 31. Actress Carmen Electra is 30. Actor Joey Lawrence is 26.
