http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Apr 20, 1898: McKinley asks for declaration of war with Spain
President William McKinley asks Congress to declare war on Spain on this day in 1898.
In 1895, Cuba, located less than 100 miles south of the United States, attempted to overthrow Spanish colonial rule. The rebels received financial assistance from private U.S. interests and used America as a base of operations from which to attack. The Spanish military responded with brutal force; approximately 100,000 Cuban civilians died in wretched conditions within Spanish concentration camps between 1895 and 1898. McKinley originally tried to avoid an armed conflict with Spain, but the American media, led by newspaper baron Randolph Hearst, lambasted McKinley as weak and whipped up popular sentiment for a war to give Cubans their independence.
On February 17, 1898, the battleship USS Maine, moored in Havana's harbor, sank after being rocked by two explosions; 252 men onboard were killed. Hawks in the media and within the government immediately blamed Spain, and President McKinley, abandoning his hopes for neutrality in the Cuban-Spanish conflict, bowed to Congressional calls for war. (It was later discovered that the explosion was caused by the spontaneous ignition of faulty ammunitions onboard the Maine.)
Swift, successful naval battles in the Philippines and the army's capture of Santiago and Puerto Rico, led by future President Theodore Roosevelt and his band of Rough Riders, ended what became known as the Spanish-American War in four months with relatively few casualties. The quick success boosted American confidence, leading to further intervention in foreign affairs in an attempt to liberate what were, in the eyes of the U.S. government, at least, oppressed nations yearning for democracy and independence. Although contemporaries of McKinley and Roosevelt called it a splendid little war, the Spanish-American War is now viewed by most historians as a war of American imperialism.
Apr 20, 1999: A massacre at Columbine High School
Two teenage gunmen kill 13 people in a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. At about 11:20 a.m., Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, dressed in long trench coats, began shooting students outside the school before moving inside to continue their rampage. By the time SWAT team officers finally entered the school at about 3:00 p.m., Klebold and Harris had killed 12 fellow students and a teacher, and had wounded another 23 people. Then, around noon, they turned their guns on themselves and committed suicide.
The awful crime captured the nation's attention, prompting an unprecedented search--much of it based on false information--for a scapegoat on whom to pin the blame. In the days immediately following the shootings, many claimed that Klebold and Harris purposely chose jocks, blacks, and Christians as their victims. In one particular instance, student Cassie Bernall was allegedly asked by one of the gunmen if she believed in God. When Bernall said, "Yes," she was shot to death. Her parents later wrote a book entitled "She Said Yes," and toured the country, honoring their martyred daughter.
Apparently, however, the question was never actually posed to Bernall. In fact, it was asked of another student who had already been wounded by a gunshot. When that victim replied, "Yes," the shooter walked away. Subsequent investigations also determined that Klebold and Harris chose their victims completely at random. Their original plan was for two bombs to explode in the school's cafeteria, forcing the survivors outside and into their line of fire. When the homemade bombs didn't work, Klebold and Harris decided to go into the school to carry out their murderous rampage.
Commentators also railed against the so-called "Trench Coat Mafia" and "goths," and questioned why these groups and cliques were not monitored more closely. However, further investigation revealed that Klebold and Harris were not part of either group.
Columbine High School reopened in the fall of 1999, but the massacre left behind an unmistakable scar on the Littleton community. Mark Manes, the young man who sold a gun to Harris and bought him 100 rounds of ammunition the day before the murders, was sentenced to six years in prison. Carla Hochhalter, the mother of a student who was paralyzed in the attack, killed herself at a gun shop. Several other parents filed suit against the school and the police. Even Dylan Klebold's parents filed notice of their intent to sue, claiming that police should have stopped Harris earlier. A senior at Columbine was arrested after he threatened to "finish the job." And when a carpenter from Chicago erected 15 crosses in a local park on behalf of everyone who died on April 20, parents of the victims tore down the two in memory of Klebold and Harris.
In an effort to show the world "that life goes on," Columbine school board officials voted to replace the library where students were murdered with an atrium. The shootings at Columbine stood as the worst school shooting in U.S. history until April 16, 2007, when 32 people were shot and many others wounded by a student gunman on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Apr 20, 1945: Operation Corncob is launched while Hitler celebrates his birthday
On this day in 1945, Allied bombers in Italy begin a three-day attack on the bridges over the rivers Adige and Brenta to cut off German lines of retreat on the peninsula. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler celebrates his 56th birthday as a Gestapo reign of terror results in the hanging of 20 Russian prisoners of war and 20 Jewish children: Of these, at least nine are under the age of 12. All of the victims had been taken from Auschwitz to Neuengamme, the place of execution, for the purpose of medical experimentation.
Apr 20, 1871: Ku Klux Act passed by Congress
With passage of the Third Force Act, popularly known as the Ku Klux Act, Congress authorizes President Ulysses S. Grant to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
Founded in 1865 by a group of Confederate veterans, the KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government's progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South, especially policies that elevated the rights of the local African-American population. The name of the Ku Klux Klan was derived from the Greek word kyklos, meaning "circle," and the Scottish-Gaelic word "clan," which was probably chosen for the sake of alliteration. Under a platform of philosophized white racial superiority, the group employed violence as a means of pushing back Reconstruction and its enfranchisement of African-Americans. Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the KKK's first grand wizard and in 1869 unsuccessfully tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klan's excessive violence.
Most prominent in counties where the races were relatively balanced, the KKK engaged in terrorist raids against African-Americans and white Republicans at night, employing intimidation, destruction of property, assault, and murder to achieve its aims and influence upcoming elections. In a few Southern states, Republicans organized militia units to break up the Klan. In 1871, passage of the Ku Klux Act led to nine South Carolina counties being placed under martial law and thousands of arrests. In 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the Ku Klux Act unconstitutional, but by that time Reconstruction had ended, and the KKK had faded away.
The 20th century would see two revivals of the KKK: one in response to immigration in the 1910s and '20s, and another in response to the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
295 - 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
850 - Guntherus becomes bishop of Cologne
1139 - 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens
in Rome
1505 - Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert
of Luxembourg
1551 - John Dudley becomes Earl Marshal of England
1650 - Dutch East India Company (VOC) management sets new
guidelines
1653 - Cromwell routes English parliament to house
1657 - Battle in Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife: English fleet
under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed,
lays siege to Derry.
1702 - Comet C/1702 H1 approaches within 0.0437 AUs of Earth
1715 - Nicholas Rowe's "Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey"
premieres in London
1759 - George Frederic Handel is buried in Westminster
Abbey, London
1770 - Captain Cook arrives in New South Wales
1775 - British begin siege of Boston
1777 - New York adopts new constitution as an independent
state
1792 - France declares war on Austria, Prussia &
Sardinia
1799 - Friedrich von Schiller's "Wallensteins Tod"
premieres in Weimar
1799 - Napoleon issues a decree calling for establishing
Jerusalem for Jews
1809 - Napoleon I defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg,
Bavaria
Composer George Friedrich HandelComposer George Friedrich
Handel 1810 - The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from
Spain.
1828 - René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
1836 - Territory of Wisconsin created
1841 - 1st detective story (Edgar Allen Poe's "Murders
in Rue Morgue") published
1861 - Battle of Norfolk, VA
1861 - Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from Union army
1862 - The first pasteurization test completed by Louis
Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
1865 - Chicago's Crosby Opera House opens
1871 - 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of
habeas corpus)
1872 - SF Bar Association organized
1879 - 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from
London & Cyprus
1884 - Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Freemasonry"
1888 - 246 reported killed by hail in Moradabad, India
1894 - 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase
1896 - 1st public film showing in US John Philip Sousa's
"El Capitan" premieres in NYC
Composer John Philip SousaComposer John Philip Sousa 1898 -
US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota opens
1902 - Marie & Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive
element radium chloride
1903 - 7th Boston Marathon won by John Lorden of Mass in
2:41:29.8
1904 - George Bernard Shaw's "Candida" premieres
in London
1904 - Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis
1908 - 12th Boston Marathon won by Tom Morrissey of NY in 2:25:43.2
1908 - Opening day of competition of the New South Wales
Rugby League.
1910 - Cleve Indians Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter, beats
Chicago, 1-0
1910 - Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at
87.9 million km
1912 - Fenway Park officially opens, Red Sox beat NY
Highlanders 7-6 in 11
1912 - Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleve
Indians 6-5
1914 - 18th Boston Marathon won by James Duffy of Canada in
2:25:01.2
1914 - 33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow,
Colo
1916 - German-British sea battle off Belgian coast
1916 - Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field) in Chicago opens, Cubs
beat Cin Reds 7-6
Pilot The Red BaronPilot The Red Baron 1918 - Manfred von
Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking
his final victories before his death the following day.
1919 - Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet
Army
1920 - 7th modern Olympic games opens in Antwerp Belgium
1920 - Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a
British Mandate
1920 - Big Show ends 2 year run on NBC radio
1920 - Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama & Mississippi
1920 - Phillies mgr Gravvy Cravath puts himself in as pinch
hitter, his 3- run homer beats NY Giants 3-0
1925 - 29th Boston Marathon won by Charles Mellor of Ill in
2:33:00.6
1926 - 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across
Atlantic
1931 - 35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan of Mass in
2:46:45.8
1931 - British House of Commons agrees for sports play on
Sunday
1934 - Heinrich Himmler becomes inspector Prussian secret
state police
1935 - "Your Hit Parade" begins broadcasting
(becomes #1 quickly)
1936 - 40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown of RI in
2:33:40.8
1936 - Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine
Baseball Player Ted WilliamsBaseball Player Ted Williams
1939 - Ted Williams' 1st hit (off of Yankee Red Ruffing) a double
1940 - 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA),
Philadelphia, Pa
1941 - 100 German bombers attack Athens
1941 - Dodgers start to wear liners in their caps
1942 - German occupiers forbids Dutch access to their beach
1942 - Heavy German assault on Malta
1943 - Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi,
fractures a leg
1944 - Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma
sentence to death
1944 - NFL legalizes coaching from bench
1945 - Cleveland Browns organization formed by Arthur
"Mickey" McBride
1945 - German occupiers flood Beemster & Fencer
1945 - Soviet troops enter Berlin
1945 - US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
1945 - US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa
1946 - 1st baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs
Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw
1946 - 50th Boston Marathon won by Stylianos Kyriakides of Greece in 2:29:27
1947 - Frederik IX becomes king of Denmark
1948 - NYC hikes subway fare from 5 cents to 10 cents
1948 - Walter P Reuther UAW pres shot & wounded at his
home in Detroit
1949 - Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany,
California
1950 - Balt's Memorial Stadium opens - Orioles of
International League
1951 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1951 - Velsen city council demands investigation of police
collaborators
1953 - 57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in
2:18:51
1954 - "Golden Apple" opens at Alvin Theater NYC
for 125 performances
1955 - "Saint of Bleecker St" closes at Broadway
Theater NYC after 92 perfs
1957 - 61st Boston Marathon won by John J Kelley of Conn in
2:20:05
1957 - Yankee Bill Skowron becomes 3rd player to hit a ball
out of Fenway
1958 - Buses replace Key System trains at 3 AM
1958 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf
Open
1958 - Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins 4 games to 2
for Stanley Cup
1958 - Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops
1959 - 63rd Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland
in 2:22:42
1960 - "From A to Z" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC
for 21 performances
1961 - American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight
1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to
63,250 m
1962 - New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to
blacks to move North
1962 - OAS-leader ex-general Salan arrested in Algiers
1963 - "Sophie" closes at Winter Garden Theater
NYC after 8 performances
1963 - -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in
Kampala Uganda
1964 - 68th Boston Marathon won by Aurele Vandendriessche of
Belgium in 2:19:59
1964 - 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
1965 - People's Republic China offers North Vietnam military
aid
1966 - WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington, DC (IND) begins
broadcasting
1967 - French author Régis Debray caught in Bolivia
1967 - NY Met Tom Seaver's 1st victory, beats Cubs, 6-1
1967 - US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
1967 - US planes bomb Haiphong for 1st time during Vietnam
War
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1967 - A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at
Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
1968 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau sworn-in as Canada's PM
1968 - S Afr Boeing 707 crashes at Windhoek, 122 killed
1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes his
controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
1969 - 23rd Tony Awards: Great White Hope & 1776 win
1969 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Lady Carling Golf Open
1970 - 74th Boston Marathon won by Ron Hill of Great Britain
in 2:10:30
1970 - Bruno Kreisky becomes 1st socialist chancellor of
Austria
1970 - Ron Hill's 2:10:30 at Boston, sets new US marathon
record
Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra
StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1971 - Barbra
Streisand records "We've Only Just Begun"
1971 - US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve
racial desegregation
1972 - Apollo 16's Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing
Lunar Rover #2
1972 - Kallicharran scores his 2nd Test century in his 2nd
Test Cricket
1973 - Mass murderer Ed Kemper attempted to dispose of his
mother's vocal chords in a domestic waste disposal unit.
1973 - Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in
orbit
1974 - Paul McCartney & Wings release single "Band
on the Run"
1975 - 29th Tony Awards: Equus & Wiz win
1975 - 4th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by
Sandra Palmer
1975 - Penguins 1-Isles 3-Quarterfinals-Penguins hold 3-1
lead
1976 - George Harrison sings lumberjack song with Monty
Python
1977 - Supreme Court rules "Live Free or Die" may
be covered on NH licenses
1977 - Woody Allen's film "Annie Hall" premieres
1980 - Cubans begin to arrive in US from Mariel boatlift
1980 - Donna White wins LPGA Florida "Lady Citrus"
Golf Tournament
Actor, Screenwriter & Director Woody AllenActor,
Screenwriter & Director Woody Allen 1980 - Climax of Berber Spring in
Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
1981 - 10th Boston Women's Marathon won by Allison Roe of NZ
in 2:26:46
1981 - 85th Boston Marathon won by Toshihiko Seko of Japan
in 2:09:26
1981 - Final performance of TV show "Soap" airs
1981 - Rocker Papa John Phillips arrested for drug
possession
1982 - Atlanta Braves become 1st team to win 1st 12 games of
the season
1983 - President Reagan signs a $165B bail out for Social
Security
1983 - Rangers 2-Isles 7-Patrick Div Finals-Isles hold 3-2
lead
1983 - Soyuz T-8 launched; mission aborted when capsule
fails to dock
1983 - Soyuz T-8 is launched (lands 2 days later)
1984 - Russian offensive in Panshirvallei Afghanistan
1985 - Carlos Lopes runs world record marathon (2:07:12)
1985 - Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won
by Mark Williams
1985 - Karyn Marshall of NYC lifted 303 lbs in a clean &
jerk lift
1985 - ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of
the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
US President & Actor Ronald ReaganUS President &
Actor Ronald Reagan 1986 - "Jerry's Girls" closes at St James Theater
NYC after 139 performances
1986 - Michael Jordan sets NBA playoff record with 63 points
in a game
1986 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 - Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
1987 - 16th Boston Women's Marathon won by Rosa Mota of
Portugal in 2:25:21
1987 - 91st Boston Marathon won by Toshihiko Seko of Japan
in 2:11:50
1987 - Sri Lanka: Tamils shoot 122 Singalezen dead
1987 - US deports Karl Linnas to USSR, charged with Nazi war
crimes
1988 - Balt Orioles set worst record to start a season 0-14
(will go 0-21)
1988 - NJ Devils 1st playoff hat trick-Eric Broten
1988 - US accuses Renamo of killing 100,000 Mozambiquians
1988 - Yanks HR 9,999 (D Winfield) 10,000 (C Washington)
10,001 (J Clarke)
1990 - Pete Rose pleads guilty to hiding $300,000 in income
1990 - 8 2/3 inning perfect game pitched by Brian Holman of
Oakland A's is spoiled by a home run hit by Ken Philips
1991 - "Les Miserables" opens at Odense Teater,
Odense
Basketball Superstar Michael JordanBasketball Superstar
Michael Jordan 1991 - 1st non stop flight Schiphol-Flamingo airport Bonaire
1991 - Mark Lenzi is 1st diver to score 100 pts on a dive
(101.85)
1991 - Raghib "Rocket" Ismael signs with Toronto
Argonauts for $26.2 million
1992 - 100th episode of "Murphy Brown" airs
1992 - 21st Boston Women's Marathon won by Olga Markova of
Russia in 2:23:43
1992 - 96th Boston Marathon won by Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya
in 2:08:14
1992 - All star concert in memory of Freddie Mercury held at
Wembley Stadium
1992 - Expo '92 opens in Seville Spain
1992 - Joan Lunden, breaks her left shoulder after being
thrown from a horse
1992 - Madonna signs $60-million deal with Time Warner
1993 - Uranus passes Neptune (once every 171 years)
1994 - Danny Harold Rolling sentenced to death in Florida
for killing 5
1994 - Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia, 47
killed
1994 - Sohail & Inzamam make world record ODI
partnership of 263
1994 - Space shuttle STS-59 (Endeavour 6), lands
Pop Star MadonnaPop Star Madonna 1996 - Chicago Bulls win
record 72 games in a season
1997 - "Gin Game" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for
144 performances
1997 - "Present Laughter" closes at Walter Kerr
Theater NYC
1997 - 1st baseball game in Hawaii, Cards beat Padres in
doubleheader
1997 - 27th Easter Seal Telethon raises $47,392,682
1997 - 58th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Hale Irwin
1997 - Cubs beat NY Mets ending NL worst opening, lost 14
straight games
1997 - Karrie Webb wins LPGA Susan G Komen International
1997 - Myrtle Beach LPGA Classic
1997 - Nick Price wins golf MCI Classic
1997 - PGA Seniors Championship
1997 - Mark McGwire is 4th to HR on Detroit Tiger left field
roof (others are Frank Howard, Harmon Killibrew, & Cecil Fielder)
1998 - TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes
into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces
their dissolution after 28 years.
1999 - Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan
Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at
Columbine High School located in Jefferson County, Colorado.
2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by
insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
2007 - Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun
barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before
killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 - Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the
first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 - Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion kills 11 and
causes rig to sink, initiating a massive oil discharge in the Gulf of Mexico.
2012 - Plane crash near Islamabad, Pakistan, kills 127
people
2012 - 40 people are killed and 27 injured after a tractor
trailer collided with a bus in Alamo, Mexico
2013 - 193 people are killed and 11,826 are injured after a
magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Lushan County, China
2013 - 5 snowboarders are killed by an avalanche in Loveland
Pass, Colorado
2013 - Giorgio Napolitano is re-elected President of Italy
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr20.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
295 - 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
850 - Guntherus becomes bishop of Cologne
1139 - 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opened in Rome
1505 - Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1534 - Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, set sail from St. Malo to explore the North American coastline.
1505 - Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1653 - Cromwell routes English parliament to house
1657 - Battle in Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife: English fleet under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1769 - Ottawa Chief Pontiac was murdered by an Illinois Indian in Cahokia.
1775 - American troops began the siege of British-held Boston.
1792 - France declared war on Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia. It was the start of the French Revolutionary wars.
1799 - Napoleon issues a decree calling for establishing Jerusalem for Jews
1809 - Napoleon defeated Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria.
1828 - René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
1841 - In Philadelphia, PA, Edgar Allen Poe's first detective story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," was published in Graham's Magazine.
1853 - Harriet Tubman started Underground Railroad
1861 - Robert E. Lee resigned from U.S. Army.
1889 - Adolf Hitler born in Braunau, Austria
1912 - Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, died.
1912 - The Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway Park. They beat the N.Y. Highlanders (who in 1913 would become known as the Yankees) 7-6.
1916 - Chicago's Wrigley Field held its first Cubs game with the first National League game at the ballpark. The Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings.
1919 - The Polish Army captured Vilno, Lithuania from the Soviets.
1942 - Pierre Laval, the premier of Vichy France, in a radio broadcast, establishes a policy of "true reconciliation with Germany."
1945 - Soviet troops began their attack on Berlin.
1945 - During World War II, Allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.
1951 - General MacArthur addressed the joint session of Congress after being relieved by U.S. President Truman.
1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice of busing for racial desegregation.
1984 - Britain announced that its administration of Hong Kong would cease in 1997.
1987 - In Argentina, President Raul Alfonsin quelled a military revolt.
1999 - Columbine massacre in Littleton, Colorado. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. 14 students (including the shooters) and 1 teacher were killed; 23 others were wounded.
2008 - Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race.
2010 - An explosion on a BP oil drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana kills 11 people and injures 17. Experts estimate that 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour are pouring into the Gulf of Mexico.
2012 - This one is on a personal note. Some horrible things have happened on this date in history. But last year, something more cheerful happened on this day, as Basia & I had our first date, of what turned into a very nice relationship! Kocham Cię, Basia!
Also, on a personal note, it might as well be added that on this day in 1995, I organized my first ever public event as President of the Bergen Community College Environmental Club. Looking back, I still think that the day was a success, more than anything else. Stressful, yes. But enjoyable, and leaving me with pleasant memories and, yes, even a sense of pride!
http://www.historyorb.com/day/april/20
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr20.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory/April-20
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