Today is Monday, April 23, the 114th day of 2012. There are 252 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight:
On April 23, 1789, President-elect George Washington and his wife, Martha, moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.
On this date:
In 1616, English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare, 52, died on what has been traditionally regarded as the anniversary of his birth in 1564.
In 1791, the 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pa.
In 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous “Man in the Arena” speech at the Sorbonne in Paris.
In 1940, about 200 people died in the Rhythm Night Club Fire in Natchez, Miss.
In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)
In 1961, Judy Garland performed her legendary concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
In 1962, NASA launched Ranger 4 on a mission to the moon. (The spacecraft was supposed to transmit pictures and data just before crashing into the lunar surface three days later; however, due to equipment malfunction, no data was sent.)
In 1968, student protesters began occupying buildings on the campus of Columbia University in New York; police put down the protests a week later.
In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)
In 1987, 28 construction workers were killed when an apartment complex being built in Bridgeport, Conn., suddenly collapsed.
In 1992, McDonald’s opened its first fast-food restaurant in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
In 2005, website YouTube uploaded its first video, titled “Me at the Zoo,” consisting of 18 seconds of co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.
Ten years ago: American cardinals opened an extraordinary meeting with top Vatican officials to discuss a sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church in the United States; Pope John Paul II told the American church leaders there was no room in the priesthood “for those who would harm the young.” President George W. Bush’s top White House aide, Karen Hughes, resigned to return home to Texas with her family.
Five years ago: Boris Yeltsin, the first freely elected Russian president, died in Moscow at age 76. Congressional Democratic leaders agreed on legislation requiring the first U.S. combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later; President George W. Bush pledged to veto such a measure. Classes at Virginia Tech resumed one week after the killings of 32 victims by a suicidal gunman. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam died in a car crash in Menlo Park, Calif., at age 73.
One year ago: Yemen’s embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. (Saleh ended up leaving office in February 2012.) Former Sony Corp. president and chairman Norio Ohga, credited with developing the compact disc, died in Tokyo at age 81.
Associated Press
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