April 18 is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 257 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid using Donato Bramante's design. Michelangelo (di Lodovico) Buonarroti (Simoni) took over the design 40 years later and added the 435 foot high dome. Photo mine (2000).
1775 – American Revolution: The British advance by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
1807 – The Harwich ferry disaster occurred near the North Sea port of Harwich on the Essex coast (England) in which 60-90 people drowned during the capsizing of a small ferry boat.
1807 – The Harwich ferry disaster occurred near the North Sea port of Harwich on the Essex coast (England) in which 60-90 people drowned during the capsizing of a small ferry boat.
1831 – The University of Alabama is founded.
1848 – The American victory under Winfield Scott at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for the invasion of Mexico in the Mexican-American War.
1880 – An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California destroying over 80% of the city. At the time of the disaster, San Francisco was the ninth-largest city in the United States and the largest on the West Coast, with a population of about 410,000.
1909 – Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) is beatified in Rome, 478 years after her exection.
1923 – The original Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built", opens. The new Yankee Stadium (opening on April 2, 2009) cost $2.3 billion, and was built with $1.2 billion in public subsidies, replaced the original Yankee Stadium. It is one block north of the original, on the 24-acre former site of Macombs Dam Park; the 8-acre site of the original stadium is now a public park called Heritage Field. The stadium incorporates replicas of some design elements from the original Yankee Stadium and like its predecessor it has hosted additional events, including college football games, soccer matches, two outdoor NHL games, and concerts.
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island. The mission of the U.S. aircraft was specifically to kill Yamamoto and was based on United States Navy intelligence on Yamamoto's itinerary in the Solomon Islands area. The death of Yamamoto reportedly damaged the morale of Japanese naval personnel, raised the morale of the Allied forces, and was intended as revenge by U.S. leaders who blamed Yamamoto for the attack on Pearl Harbor which initiated the formal state of war between Imperial Japan and the United States.
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ is composed of fifteen judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council from a list of people nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ is composed of fifteen judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council from a list of people nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt. Following a 1954 attempt on his life by a Muslim Brotherhood member acting on his own, he cracked down on the organization, put President Muhammad Naguib under house arrest, and assumed executive office, officially becoming president in June 1956.
1983 – A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The death toll was 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers, making this incident the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Armed Forces since the first day of the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, the deadliest single terrorist attack on American citizens in general prior to the September 11 attacks, and the deadliest single terrorist attack on American citizens overseas. Another 128 Americans were wounded in the blast. Thirteen later died of their injuries, and they are numbered among the total number who died.
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Quana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
2007 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5–4 decision.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Quana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
2007 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5–4 decision.
2013 – A suicide bombing in a Baghdad cafe kills 27 people and injures another 65.
BORN TODAY
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1923 – Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, English engineer and politician (d. 2015)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1923 – Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, English engineer and politician (d. 2015)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
From Wikipedia and Google (images), ex as noted.
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