This Day in History
1865: Pres. Abraham Lincoln dies after having been shot the night before; Andrew Johnson becomes president.
1912: The luxury liner Titanic, which hit an iceberg the night before, sinks in the early morning hours; more than 1,500 die.
1924: Rand McNally published its first road atlas.
1955: The first McDonald's opens, in Des Plaines, IL.
1959: The new Cuban leader, Fidel Castro , arrives in the United States.
1972: In the Vietnam War , the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong after a 4-year lull.
1998: Cambodian despot Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, dies.
Today's Birthdays
1452: Leonardo da Vinci, artist/sculptor/inventor (Vinci, Italy; died 1519)
1741: Charles Wilson Peale, portrait painter (Queen Anne County, MD; died 1827)
1843: Henry James, novelist/short-story writer/critic (New York, NY; died 1916)
1858: Emile Durkheim, sociologist (France; died 1917)
1889: Thomas Hart Benton, painter (Neosho, MO; died 1975)
1894: Bessie Smith, blues singer (Chattanooga, TN; died 1937)
1912: Kim Il Sung, first premier and president of North Korea (near P'yongyang, North Korea; died 1994)
1922: Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago (Chicago, IL; died 1987)
1924: Neville Marriner, conductor/musician (London, England)
1933: Roy Clark, singer/musician (Meherrin, VA)
1939: Claudia Cardinale, actress (Tunis, Tunisia)
1942: Kenneth L. Lay, former CEO of Enron, indicted on fraud charges (Tyrone, MO)
1947: Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, TV writer/producer, Clinton friend (Poplar Bluff, AR)
1951: Heloise (Cruse Evans), household hints columnist (Waco, TX)
1956: Michael Cooper, basketball player (Los Angeles, CA)
1957: Evelyn Ashford, Olympic champion sprinter (Shreveport, LA)
1959: Emma Thompson, actress (London, England)
1990: Emma Watson, actress (Oxford, England)
