Today In History

Today is Friday, April 15, the 105th day of 2011. There are 260 days left in the year. In 1912, the British luxury liner RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg; some 1,500 people died...

Today is Thursday, April 14, the 104th day of 2011. There are 261 days left in the year. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth during a performance of "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington; the president died nine hours later...

Today is Wednesday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2011. There are 262 days left in the year. On April 13, 1861, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell as the Union commander, Maj. Robert Anderson, agreed to surrender in the face of the Confederates' relentless bombardment...

Today is Tuesday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2011. There are 263 days left in the year. On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Union troops holding the fort surrendered the following day...

Today is Monday, April 11, the 101st day of 2011. There are 264 days left in the year. In 1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba...

Today is Thursday, April 7, the 97th day of 2011. There are 268 days left in the year. In 1927, the image and voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington to New York in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television...

Today is Tuesday, April 5, the 95th day of 2011. There are 270 days left in the year. In 1614, Pocahontas, daughter of the leader of the Powhatan tribe, married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia. (A convert to Christianity, she went by the name Lady Rebecca...

Today is Wednesday, March 30, the 89th day of 2011. There are 276 days left in the year. On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady; Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty...