TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 18
1506 Construction of the current St. Peter’s Basilica begins
1521 Martin Luther confronts the emperor Charles V, refusing to retract the views which led to his excommunication.
1775 American revolutionaries Paul Revere and William Dawes ride though the towns of Massachusetts warning that “the British are coming.”
1791 National Guardsmen prevent Louis XVI and his family from leaving Paris
1838 The Wilkes’ expedition to the South Pole sets sail.
1847 U.S. forces defeat Mexicans at Cerro Gordo in one of the bloodiest battle of the Mexican-American War.
1906 A massive earthquake hits San Francisco, measuring 8.25 on the Richter scale.
1909 Joan of Arc declared a saint
1937 Leon Trotsky calls for the overthrow of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
1942 “Stars & Stripes” paper for US armed forces starts
1951 The European Coal and Steel Community, a precursor of the European Union, is established
1954 Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power & becomes Prime Minister of Egypt
1968 London Bridge was sold to an American. It was rebuilt in Arizona.
1978 Senate votes to turn Panamá Canal over to Panamá on Dec 31, 1999
1983 A lone suicide bomber kills 63, at the US Embassy in Lebanon
1990 Supreme Court rules that states could make it a crime to possess or look at child pornography, even in one’s home
1991 Census Bureau says it failed to count up to 63 million in 1990 census
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
