On April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was given the death penalty
after being convicted in the assassination of senator Robert
F. Kennedy. In 1972, Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life
in prison after California abolished the death penalty. He
turned 80  last month.     
      
      
     

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy speaks his final words to supporters
at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, moments before
he was shot on June 5, 1968. At his side are his wife, Ethel,
left.

Robert F. Kennedy lies mortally wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. Kneeling beside him
is 17-year-old busboy Juan Romero, who was
shaking Kennedy’s hand when Sirhan Sirhan fired
the shots.

At precisely high noon, thousands of would-be settlers made
a mad dash into the newly opened Oklahoma Territory to claim       
cheap land.

The nearly two million acres of land opened up to white
settlement was located in Indian Territory, a large area that
once encompassed much of modern-day Oklahoma.

Initially considered unsuitable for white colonization, Indian
Territory was thought to be an ideal place to relocate Native
Americans who were removed from their traditional lands to
make way for white settlement.

On this day in history, April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was
celebrated — ushering in a host of new environmental
legislation.

The idea for the observation "Earth Day" originated with Sen.
Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who had "long
been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the
United States.”  (EarthDay.org.) 

Gaylord Anton Nelson
(June 4, 1916 – July 3, 2005)

Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving
from 1969 to 1974.

     
On April 22, 1994, the former president died after suffering a
stroke four days earlier.