Today in History

Today is Monday, April 30, the 120th day of 2018. There are 245 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 30, 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

On this date:

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 1948, the Organization of American States was founded with the signing of its charter in Bogota, Colombia.

In 1958, Britain's Life Peerages Act 1958 allowed women to become members of the House of Lords.

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, brandishing a machete, vowed at a rally to keep fighting U.S. efforts to oust him as Panama's military ruler.

In 1993, top-ranked women's tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during a match in Hamburg, Germany, by a man who described himself as a fan of second-ranked German player Steffi Graf. (The man, convicted of causing grievous bodily harm, was given a suspended sentence.)

Ten years ago: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a seventh straight time, reducing the federal funds rate a quarter-point to 2 percent. An avalanche in Italy's northwestern Alps killed five French ski-mountaineers.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama said he wanted more information about chemical weapons use in the Syrian civil war before deciding on escalating U.S. military or diplomatic responses, despite earlier assertions that use of such weapons would be a "game-changer." The FDA lowered to 15 the age at which females could buy the Plan B emergency contraceptive without a prescription, and said it no longer had to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than a century as his mother, Beatrix, abdicated after 33 years as queen.

One year ago: President Donald Trump said after North Korea's latest failed rocket launch that communist leader Kim Jong Un would eventually develop better missiles, and that "we can't allow it to happen"; in a taped interview broadcast on CBS' "Face the Nation," the president would not discuss the possibility of military action. Police shot and killed a 49-year-old man suspected of shooting seven people, one fatally, during a birthday pool party at an apartment complex in San Diego. "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" won the Daytime Emmy Award for best entertainment talk show, 20 years to the day that her character came out as gay on the sitcom "Ellen."

Today's Birthdays: Actress Cloris Leachman is 92. Singer Willie Nelson is 85. Actor Burt Young is 78. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is 72. Movie director Allan Arkush is 70. Actor Perry King is 70. Singer-musician Wayne Kramer is 70. Singer Merrill Osmond is 65. Movie director Jane Campion is 64. Movie director Lars von Trier is 62. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is 59. Actor Paul Gross is 59. Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas is 57. Country musician Robert Reynolds is 56. Actor Adrian Pasdar is 53. Rock singer J.R. Richards (Dishwalla) is 51. Rapper Turbo B (Snap) is 51. Rock musician Clark Vogeler is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chris "Choc" Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 47. Rock musician Chris Henderson (3 Doors Down) is 47. Country singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson is 47. Actress Lisa Dean Ryan is 46. Rhythm-and-blues singer Akon is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) is 45. Actor Johnny Galecki is 43. Singer-musician Cole Deggs (Cole Deggs and the Lonesome) is 42. Actor Sam Heughan is 38. Actor Kunal Nayyar is 37. Rapper Lloyd Banks is 36. Actress Kirsten Dunst is 36. Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 34. Actress Dianna Agron is 32.

Thought for Today: "In America, getting on in the world means getting out of the world we have known before." -- Ellery Sedgwick, American editor (1872-1960).