This Day in History

On April 24, 1916, Irish republicans launched the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland. Though the rebels surrendered to British forces six days later, the uprising set the stage for republican victories in the Irish general election of 1918 and the establishment of the Irish Free State via the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922.

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In 1800, President John Adams signed legislation providing $5,000 for books for use by Congress, effectively launching the Library of Congress that would later become one of the world's largest public collections of millions of catalcatalogeds and items including manuscripts, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.

In 1915, in what is considered the start of the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople.

In 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Black protesters staging a "wade-in" at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of white people.

In 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into the Earth after his parachutes failed to deploy properly during reentry. He was the first human spaceflight fatality.

In 1980, the United States launched Operation Eagle Claw, an unsuccessful attempt to free 53 American hostages in Iran that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. service members.

In 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

In 1995, the final bomb linked to the Unabomber exploded inside the Sacramento, California, offices of the California Forestry Association, killing chief lobbyist Gilbert B. Murray. (Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison for a series of bombings that killed three people and injured 23 others; he died by suicide in 2023.)

In 2013, in Bangladesh, a shoddily constructed eight-story commercial building housing garment factories collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

In 2018, former police officer Joseph DeAngelo was arrested at his home near Sacramento after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer; authorities believed he committed 13 murders and more than 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s. (DeAngelo would plead guilty in 2020 to 13 counts of murder and be sentenced to life in prison without parole.)

In 2021, the United States formally declared the systematic killing and deportation of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Empire forces in the early 20th century was "genocide." President Joe Biden used that exact word after the White House had avoided it for decades for fear of alienating its ally Turkey.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Shirley MacLaine is 92. Actor-singer-filmmaker Barbra Streisand is 84. Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier is 74. Actor Eric Bogosian is 73. Actor Michael O'Keefe is 71. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 62. Actor Djimon Hounsou (JEYE'-mihn OHN'-soo) is 62. Actor Aidan Gillen is 58. Actor Rory McCann is 57. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 55. Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones is 54. Actor Derek Luke is 52. Singer-TV personality Kelly Clarkson is 44. Country singer Carly Pearce is 36. Actor-musician Joe Keery is 34. Actor Jack Quaid is 34. Actor Jordan Fisher is 32. Golfer Lydia Ko is 29. Singer Skylar Simone is 24.