Today in History

Today is Friday, April 5, the 95th day of 2013. There are 270 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Civilian Conservation Corps and an anti-hoarding order that effectively prohibited private ownership of gold.

On this date:

In 1614, Pocahontas, daughter of the leader of the Powhatan tribe, married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia. (A convert to Christianity, she went by the name Lady Rebecca.)

In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts on a monthlong return trip to England.

In 1792, President George Washington cast his first veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.

In 1862, during the Civil War, the monthlong Siege of Yorktown began in Virginia.

In 1887, in Tuscumbia, Ala., Anne Sullivan achieved a breakthrough as her blind and deaf pupil, Helen Keller, learned the meaning of the word "water" as spelled out in the Manual Alphabet.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who'd accused the writer of homosexual practices.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction in New York on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.

In 1964, Army General Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84.

In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 70.

In 1986, two American servicemen and a Turkish woman were killed in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, an incident which prompted a U.S. air raid on Libya more than a week later.

In 1987, Fox Broadcasting Co. made its prime-time TV debut by airing a total of three times the premiere episode of "Married... with Children" followed by "The Tracey Ullman Show."

In 1988, a 15-day hijacking ordeal began as gunmen forced a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in Iran.

Ten years ago: U.S. officials declared a near chokehold on the Iraqi capital Baghdad even while warning that many other parts of Iraq were not yet under allied control. A prison riot in northern Honduras left 69 inmates dead and dozens injured.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin opened farewell talks at Putin's heavily wooded retreat on the Black Sea. Actor Charlton Heston, big-screen hero and later leader of the National Rifle Association, died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 84.

One year ago: President Barack Obama signed bipartisan jobs legislation intended to help small businesses and make it easier for startups to raise capital. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, 76, grandson of the automaker's founder who developed the Porsche 911, died in Salzburg, Austria. Jim Marshall, 88, the man behind the amplifier that guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend of The Who, and Eric Clapton - used to create ear-shattering sounds in the 1960s, died in London. Barney McKenna, 72, the last original member of the Irish folk band The Dubliners, died in Dublin.

Today's Birthdays: Movie producer Roger Corman is 87. Country music producer Cowboy Jack Clement is 82. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is 76. Country singer Tommy Cash is 73. Actor Michael Moriarty is 72. Pop singer Allan Clarke (The Hollies) is 71. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 71. Actor Max Gail is 70. Actress Jane Asher is 67. Singer Agnetha (ag-NEE'-tah) Faltskog (ABBA) is 63. Actor Mitch Pileggi is 61. Singer-songwriter Peter Case is 59. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 47. Country singer Troy Gentry is 46. Singer Paula Cole is 45. Actress Krista Allen is 42. Country singer Pat Green is 41. Rapper-producer Pharrell (fa-REHL') Williams is 40.

Thought for Today: "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooden, basketball Hall of Famer (1910-2010).

(Above Advance for Use Friday, April 5)

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