This Day in History

On April 6, 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.

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In 1830, Joseph Smith and others met in Fayette, New York, to form the Church of Christ — now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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 following day.

In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.

In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's broadside against him on "See It Now," claimed in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, "engaged in propaganda for Communist causes."

In 1968, 41 people were killed by a pair of explosions spurred by a natural gas leak at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.

In 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed when the jet they were riding in was shot down by surface-to-air missiles as it attempted to land in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 2012, five Black people were shot, three fatally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jake England and Alvin Watts, who admitted to targeting the victims because of their race, pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Today's Birthdays: Scientist James D. Watson is 97. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 88. Film director Barry Levinson is 83. Actor John Ratzenberger is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven is 74. Actor Marilu Henner is 73. Actor Michael Rooker is 70. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is 61. Football Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe is 60. Actor Paul Rudd is 56. Actor Zach Braff is 50. Actor Candace Cameron Bure is 49. Musician Robert Glasper is 47.