President Abraham Lincoln died in Washington, D.C., on this
day in history, April 15, 1865, one day after he was shot by
actor John Wilkes Booth. He was 56.

Lincoln, who was elected president in 1860, was the first U.S.
president to be assassinated. 

This engraving depicts John Wilkes Booth escaping after shooting President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre. 

The Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall and is dedicated
to the memory of President Abraham Lincoln.

Free Palestine Eugene protesters disrupt I-5
traffic Monday morning, both lanes reopened.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, at age 28, became the first
African American player in Major League Baseball’s modern
era when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete
for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier
in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years.

Exactly 50 years later, in 1997, Robinson’s groundbreaking
career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired
from Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bud Selig in
a ceremony attended by over 50,000 fans at New York City’s
Shea Stadium. Robinson’s was the first-ever number retired
by all teams in the league.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson
(January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972)

At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the British ocean liner Titanic
sank into the North Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles south of
Newfoundland, Canada. The massive ship, which carried
2,200 passengers and crew, had struck an iceberg two and
half hours before.

The iceberg thought to have been hit by Titanic, it was          
reported to have a streak of red paint from a ships hull
along it s waterline on one side.
 

Opening Day welcomes the new spring baseball season each
year, a uniquely American tradition steeped in history and
fanfare.       

On this day in history, April 14, 1910, President William Howard 
Taft (above) became the first U.S. president to throw out the 
first pitch at a Major League Baseball game.       

William Howard Taft (1857 – 1930)