Today in History: April 5, Rosenbergs sentenced to death
Apr 4, 2022, 9:00 PM | Updated: 9:47 pm
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, April 5, the 95th day of 2022. There are 270 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction in New York on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.
On this date:
In 1614, Indian Chief Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas married Englishman John Rolfe, a widower, in the Virginia Colony.
In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts on a monthlong return trip to England.
In 1764, Britain’s Parliament passed The American Revenue Act of 1764, also known as the Sugar Act.
In 1887, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, teacher Anne Sullivan achieved a breakthrough as her 6-year-old deaf-blind pupil, Helen Keller, learned the meaning of the word “water” as spelled out in the Manual Alphabet.
In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 70.
In 1986, two American servicemen and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, an incident that prompted a U.S. air raid on Libya more than a week later.
In 1987, Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut by airing the situation comedy “Married with Children” followed by “The Tracey Ullman Show,” then repeating both premiere episodes two more times in the same evening.
In 1991, former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, his daughter Marian and 21 other people were killed in a commuter plane crash near Brunswick, Georgia.
In 2008, actor Charlton Heston, big-screen hero and later leader of the National Rifle Association, died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 84.
In 2010, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine near Charleston, West Virginia, killed 29 workers. In a televised rescue, 115 Chinese coal miners were freed after spending eight days trapped in a flooded mine, surviving an accident that had killed 38.
In 2016, UConn won an unprecedented fourth straight women’s national championship, capping another perfect season by routing Syracuse 82-51.
In 2019, inspecting a refurbished section of fencing at the Mexican border in California, President Donald Trump declared that “our country is full,” and that illegal crossings must be stopped.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama signed bipartisan jobs legislation intended to help small businesses and make it easier for startups to raise capital. Barney McKenna, 72, the last original member of the Irish folk band The Dubliners, died in Dublin.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump declared that a deadly chemical attack in Syria the day before had crossed “many, many lines” and abruptly changed his views of Syrian President Bashar Assad, but he refused to say what the U.S. might do in response. A senior U.S. defense official said a North Korean missile test ended in failure when the rocket spun out of control and plunged into the ocean in a fiery crash. YouTube TV, Google’s new streaming package of about 40 television channels, made its debut.
One year ago: The Minneapolis police chief testified that former officer Derek Chauvin had violated departmental policy in pressing his knee against George Floyd’s neck and keeping Floyd down after he had stopped breathing; the testimony came on the sixth day of Chauvin’s murder trial. (Chauvin would be convicted of murder and manslaughter.) Baylor defeated Gonzaga 86-70 in the championship game of the NCAA basketball tournament in Indianapolis, ending Gonzaga’s hopes for an undefeated season.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie producer Roger Corman is 96. Country singer Tommy Cash is 82. Actor Michael Moriarty is 81. Pop singer Allan Clarke (The Hollies) is 80. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 80. Actor Max Gail is 79. Actor Jane Asher is 76. Singer Agnetha (ag-NEE’-tah) Faltskog (ABBA) is 72. Actor Mitch Pileggi is 70. Singer-songwriter Peter Case is 68. Hip-hop artist/actor Christopher “Kid” Reid is 58. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 56. Singer Paula Cole is 54. Actor Krista Allen is 51. Actor Victoria Hamilton is 51. Country singer Pat Green is 50. Rapper-producer Pharrell (fa-REHL’) Williams is 49. Rapper/producer Juicy J is 47. Actor Sterling K. Brown is 46. Country singer-musician Mike Eli (The Eli Young Band) is 41. Actor Hayley Atwell is 40. Actor Lily James is 33.
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