CHICKEN BUCKETS: TODAY IN HISTORY

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

AP Highlight in History:
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.; the killing sparked a wave of riots across the country.

Sen. Robert Kennedy breaks the news to supporters at a presidential campaign rally.

AP Photo

On this date in:
1818	Congress decided the U.S. flag would consist of 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars, with a new star to be added for every new state.
1841	President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia one month after his inauguration, becoming the first U.S. president to die in office.
1850	The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.
1887	Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community - Argonia, Kan.
1888	Baseball Hall of Famer Tris Speaker was born in Hubbard, Texas.
1902	British financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will to provide scholarships at Oxford University in England.
1949	Twelve nations, including the United States, signed the North Atlantic Treaty.
1974	Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's career home run record by hitting his 714th round-tripper in Cincinnati.
1981	Henry Cisneros became the first Hispanic elected mayor of a major U.S. city - San Antonio, Texas.
1988	The Arizona Senate convicted Gov. Evan Mecham of two charges of official misconduct and removed him from office.
2003	U.S. forces seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad.
2003	Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the 18th major league baseball player to hit 500 career home runs.
2006	The Iraq tribunal charged Saddam Hussein and six others, accusing them of genocide and crimes against humanity stemming from a 1980s crackdown against Kurds.
2007	Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. He was later fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC.
2011	Yielding to political opposition, the Obama administration gave up on trying avowed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators in civilian federal courts and said it would prosecute them instead before military commissions.