1775 — The Battles of Lexington and Concord take place in Massachusetts, marking the first battle of the American Revolution. In this first battle of the American Revolution, Massachusetts colonists defied British authority, outnumbered and outfought the Redcoats, and embarked on a lengthy war to earn their independence.
1971 — The Soviet Union launches Salyut, the world’s first space station, into orbit. Designed for a 6-month on orbit operational lifetime
1995 — The Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 people when a truck bomb explodes outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m., a massive explosion occurred in a Ryder truck parked at the north entrance of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The bomb, weighing 48,000 pounds, was filled with ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. Tragically, the explosion resulted in the loss of 168 lives and injured approximately 850 individuals. In the aftermath of the bombing, reckless media accusations emerged, suggesting that the perpetrators were Islamic terrorists. These accusations sparked two days of intense anti-Muslim hysteria across the nation. However, the arrests of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols brought a disturbing realization. The perpetrators were not Islamic terrorists; they were military veterans of the Gulf War. They were influenced by the conspiratorial worldview of militia culture and believed that the bombing was a justified attack against the federal government of the United States. In McVeigh’s own words, the murder of innocent people was seen as “collateral damage.”
2002 — The Scorpion King — U.S. theatrical release. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first movie as leading man.
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