Today is Sunday, April 30, the 120th day of 2017. There are 245 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On April 30, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a resolution officially confirming the name of Hoover Dam, which had also come to be known as “Boulder Dam.”
On this date:
In 1517, Londoners began attacking foreign residents in rioting that carried over into the next day; no deaths were reported from what came to be known as “Evil May Day,” but about a dozen rioters, maybe more, ended up being executed.
In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York as the first president of the United States.
In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.
In 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state of the Union.
In 1900, engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Mississippi, after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.
In 1939, the New York World’s Fair officially opened with a ceremony that included an address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.
In 1968, New York City police forcibly removed student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.
In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean, who was actually fired.
In 1975, the Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces.
In 1988, Gen. Manuel Noriega, waving a machete, vowed at a rally to keep fighting U.S. efforts to oust him as Panama’s military ruler.
In 1997, ABC-TV aired the “coming out” episode of the situation comedy “Ellen” in which the title character played by Ellen DeGeneres acknowledged her homosexuality, weeks after DeGeneres revealed in Time magazine that she, too, was a lesbian.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Cloris Leachman is 91. Singer Willie Nelson is 84. Actor Burt Young is 77. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is 71. Movie director Allan Arkush is 69. Actor Perry King is 69. Singer-musician Wayne Kramer is 69. Singer Merrill Osmond is 64. Movie director Jane Campion is 63. Movie director Lars von Trier is 61. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is 58. Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas is 56. Actor Johnny Galecki is 42. Actress Kirsten Dunst is 35. Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 33. Actress Dianna Agron is 31.
Thought for today: “Upper classes are a nation’s past; the middle class is its future.” — Ayn Rand, Russian-born author (1905-1982).
Associated Press
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