11th April: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, April 11, the 101st day of 2017. There are 264 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

Events:

1947:  Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers played in an exhibition against the New York Yankees at Ebbets Field, four days before his regular-season debut that broke baseball’s color line. (The Dodgers won, 14-6.) “Monsieur Verdoux,” Charlie Chaplin’s dark comedy about a Bluebeard-like figure, received a hostile reception at its premiere in New York.

1689:  William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

1713:  The Treaty of Utrecht was signed, ending the War of the Spanish Succession.

1865:  President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White House, saying, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver.)

1921:  Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax, at 2 cents a package.

1945:  During World War II, American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

1951:  President Harry S. Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East.

1965:  Dozens of tornadoes raked six Midwestern states on Palm Sunday, killing 271 people.

1970:  Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon.

1979:  Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian (tan-zuh-NEE’-uhn) forces seized control.

1980:  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations specifically prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors.

1981:  President Ronald Reagan returned to the White House from the hospital, 12 days after he was wounded in an assassination attempt. Race-related rioting erupted in the Brixton district of south London.

1996:  7-year-old Jessica Dubroff, who’d hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country, was killed along with her father and flight instructor when her plane crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Birthdays:

Ethel Kennedy is 89.

Actor Joel Grey is 85.

Actress Louise Lasser is 78.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman is 76.

Movie writer-director John Milius is 73.

Actor Peter Riegert is 70.

Movie director Carl Franklin is 68.

Actor Bill Irwin is 67.

Country singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale is 60.

Songwriter-producer Daryl Simmons is 60.

Rock musician Nigel Pulsford is 56.

Actor Lucky Vanous is 56.

Country singer Steve Azar is 53.