On this date:
In 1789, President-elect Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.
In 1862, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.
In 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
In 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
In 1935, the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.
In 1945, in his first speech to Congress, President Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Roosevelt.
In 1945, US troops reached Nuremberg, Germany, during the Second World War.
In 1947, the French ship "Grandcamp" blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the "Highflyer," exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed 576 people.
In 1962, Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."
In 1972, Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
Ten years ago: The Supreme Court rejected appeals by Dalton Prejean, a nearly retarded man condemned to die for the 1977 murder of a Louisiana state trooper (Prejean was executed the following month). The court also let stand a ban on school dances in the Bible Belt town of Purdy, Missouri.
Five years ago: In his Easter Sunday message, Pope John Paul the Second sent a message of peace to victims of unrest, including the Palestinians and Kurds.
One year ago: President Clinton defended NATO airstrikes against Serbian targets during visits to Michigan and Massachusetts, saying US involvement in Kosovo was a moral imperative. Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement from hockey.
"We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."
-- Jonathan Swift, English satirist (1667-1745).