On This Day in History - April 6th - Almanac

Today is Thursday, April 6, the 96th day of 2017 with 269 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Italian painter Raphael in 1483; newspaper editor Joseph Medill in 1823; journalist Lincoln Steffens in 1866; actor Walter Huston in 1884; radio commentator Lowell Thomas in 1892; baseball Hall of Fame member Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane in 1903; geneticist James Watson in 1928 (age 89); musician Andre Previn in 1929 (age 88); country singer Merle Haggard in 1937; actor Billy Dee Williams in 1937 (age 80); drag racing legend Don "The Snake" Prudhomme in 1941 (age 76); producer/director Barry Levinson in 1942 (age 75); actor John Ratzenberger in 1947 (age 70); actor Marilu Henner in 1952 (age 65); Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in 1963 (age 54); actor Zach Braff in 1975 (age 42); actor Candace Cameron Bure in 1976 (age 41); model Hilary Rhoda in 1987 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 1814, Napoleon was exiled to Elba.

In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, originally known as the Church of Christ, was founded between three groups of followers in Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville, N.Y.

In 1851, Portland, Ore., was founded.

In 1896, the first modern Olympics formally opened in Athens, Greece. The Olympics had last been staged 1,500 years earlier.

In 1909, explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reached the North Pole. It would be November of the same year before the National Geographic Society confirmed the accomplishment.

In 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, propelling America into World War I.

In 1938, DuPont researchers Roy Plunkett and Jack Rebok stumbled upon the chemical compound that was later marketed as Teflon.

In 1947, the first Tony Awards, honoring distinguished work in the theater, were presented in New York City.

In 1968, federal troops and National Guardsmen were deployed in Chicago, Washington and Detroit as rioting continued over the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1973, American League baseball teams used a designated hitter for the first time.

In 1992, science fiction patriarch Isaac Asimov, author of works like The Bicentennial Man and I, Robot, died following a lengthy illness. He was 72.

In 1994, the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were among those killed when their plane was hit by rockets as it was landing in Kigali, Rwanda. The attack triggered fighting between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups that left hundreds of thousands of people dead in what became known as the Rwandan Genocide.

In 2004, the University of Connecticut became the first school to win both the NCAA Division I men's and women's college basketball championships the same year. The UConn teams did it again in 2014.

In 2005, Prince Rainier III of Monaco, one of Europe's longest-reigning monarchs, died from multiple organ failure at the age of 81. He was succeeded by Prince Albert, one of three children of Rainier and his wife, movie star Grace Kelly, who died in a car crash in 1982.

In 2009, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck central Italy's Abruzzo region, killing 307 people and causing damage throughout the city of L'Aquila.

In 2011, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill under which the state of Washington would acknowledge same-sex marriages in other states as domestic partnerships.

In 2014, Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 93.

A thought for the day: "I won't be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of 6 and 16 wearing a glove and swinging a bat." -- Babe Ruth