Today in history: April 6
In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1862: Battle of Shiloh
In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the next day.
1896: Olympic Games
In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
1917: World War I
In 1917, the United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.
1954: Joseph McCarthy
In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” said in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”
1974: ABBA
In 1974, Swedish pop group ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Brighton, England, with a performance of the song “Waterloo.”
1985: William J. Schroeder
In 1985, William J. Schroeder (SHRAY’-dur) became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.
2008: Barack Obama
In 2008, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, speaking at a private fundraiser in San Francisco, spoke of voters in Pennsylvania’s Rust Belt communities who “cling to guns or religion” because of bitterness about their economic lot; Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton seized on the comment, calling it “elitist.”
2011: Moammar Gadhafi
Ten years ago: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appealed directly to President Barack Obama in a letter to end what Gadhafi called “an unjust war”; he also wished Obama good luck in his bid for re-election.
2011: Portugal
Ten years ago: Portugal became the third debt-stressed European country to need a bailout as the prime minister announced his country would request international assistance.
2016: Don Blankenship
Five years ago: A federal judge in Charleston, West Virginia, sentenced former coal executive Don Blankenship to a year in prison for his role in the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion that killed 29 men in America’s deadliest mining disaster in four decades; Blankenship maintained that he had committed no crime.
2016: Merle Haggard
Five years ago: Country giant Merle Haggard died in Palo Cedro, California, on his 79th birthday.
2017: Don Rickles
In 2017, Don Rickles, the big-mouthed, bald-headed “Mr. Warmth” whose verbal assaults endeared him to audiences and peers and made him the acknowledged grandmaster of insult comedy, died at his Beverly Hills home at age 90.
2019: Ernest "Fritz" Hollings
In 2019, former South Carolina Democratic Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, who had also helped guide the state through desegregation as governor, died at the age of 97; he was the eighth-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
2020: Benjamin Netanyahu
One year ago: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a complete lockdown over the upcoming Passover holiday to control the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
2020: Wisconsin
One year ago: Hours after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order postponing the following day’s election for two months, the Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with Republicans in the state legislature who said Evers didn’t have the authority to reschedule the race; the decision left Wisconsin as the only state proceeding with an April election amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Your Tuesday morning headlines: Ten have been indicted in Iran over the 2020 shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane; Baylor wins NCAA men's title.