On April 28, 1945, “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci,
(shown above) were shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as
they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established by his
German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in northern Italy
during the German occupation toward the close of the war. As the Allies
fought their way up the Italian peninsula, defeat of the Axis powers all
but certain, Mussolini considered his options. Not wanting to fall into
the hands of either the British or the Americans, and knowing that the
communist partisans, who had been fighting the remnants of roving
Italian fascist soldiers and thugs in the north, would try him as a war
criminal, he settled on escape to a neutral country.

Benito Mussolini (left) with Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

MIKE GRACIA

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1963, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby (below) shot
and killed Lee Harvey Oswald live on national television.

The pistol that Jack Ruby used to kill Lee Harvey
Oswald.

It was on November 22, two days before the shooting of Oswald.

On this day in 1971, hijacker Dan Cooper, known as D.B. Cooper, parachuted from a Northwest Airlines 727 over Washington state
with $200,000 in ransom money.

August 1972

ROSS SIMPSON

On this day in 1978, Cult leader Jim Jones and hundreds of his
followers died in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana
in South America. It was the largest mass suicide in modern
history and resulted in the largest single loss of American
civilian life in a non-natural disaster until September 11, 2001.

Shown are bodies of members of the Peoples Temple who died
after their leader Jim Jones ordered them to drink Flav-R-Aid
laced with cyanide. 

Congressman Leo Ryan (above) was among five killed by Temple members at the nearby Port Kaituma airstrip (below).

The first successful sound-synchronized animated cartoon premiered
in New York on this day in 1928. It was Walt Disney’s "Steamboat
Willie," starring Mickey Mouse.

Walt Disney drawing “Steamboat Willie”.

CARLATA BRADLEY

On this day in 1947, over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California,
pilot Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 rocket plane and became the
first person to break the sound barrier.

Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager turned
95 in February.

The Battle of Hastings occurred in England on this day in 1066. The Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England.

Battle Abbey is a partially ruined Benedictine abbey in Battle, East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St Martin of Tours.

On this day in 1977, singer Bing Crosby died of a heart attack.

singer and actor Bing Crosby was the first multimedia star, Crosby
was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture
grosses from 1931 to 1954. Crosby won an Academy Award for
Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O’Malley in the 1944 motion
picture Going My Way and was nominated for his reprise of the role
in The Bells of St. Mary’s opposite Ingrid Bergman the following year.

1940

1942
 

1944

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr.(May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977)