Associated Press "Today in History" feature, April 24

[alp227]

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 24, 1961, in the wake of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, the White House issued a statement saying that President John F. Kennedy “bears sole responsibility for the events of the past few days.”

On this date:

In 1792, the national anthem of France, “La Marseillaise” (lah mahr-say-YEHZ’), was composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.

In 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.

In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. (The United States responded in kind the next day.)

In 1915, what’s widely regarded as the start of the Armenian genocide began as the Ottoman Empire rounded up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople.

(...)

In 1960, rioting erupted in Biloxi, Miss., after black protesters staging a “wade-in” at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of hostile whites.

(...)

In 1980, the United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.

(...)

Five years ago: Terrorist bombings killed at least 23 people at a beach resort on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Speaking in Irvine, Calif., President George W. Bush said those calling for deporting all of the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants back to their home countries were being “unrealistic.” Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum, spiritual leader of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, died in New York at age 91.

Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/today_in_history/2011/04/24/AF1OydYE_story.html