April sixth

Today's Highlight in History:
On April sixth, 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. (The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.)

On this date:
In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, New York.

In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.

In 1892, author, journalist, broadcaster and world traveler Lowell Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio.

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

In 1917, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.

In 1965, the United States launched the Early Bird communications satellite.

In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.

In 1985, William J. Schroeder became the first artificial heart recipient to be discharged from the hospital as he moved into an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1994, Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun announced his retirement after 24 years.

In 1998, country singer Tammy Wynette died at her Nashville, Tennessee, home at age 55.

Ten years ago: Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze concluded three days of talks in Washington, after which Shevardnadze personally delivered to President Bush a letter from Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Five years ago: The Senate unanimously approved a $16 billion package of cuts in social programs. Earlier in the day, Senator Alfonse D'Amato (Republican, New York) apologized on the Senate floor for lampooning O.J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito on a nationally syndicated radio program by employing a mock Japanese accent.

One year ago: Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic declared a unilateral cease-fire in his campaign to crush rebels in Kosovo; Western leaders called the move a sham and pledged to press ahead with airstrikes.

"After the age of eighty, everything reminds you of something else."

-- Lowell Thomas, American author and broadcaster (1892-1981).