Today in History: First modern Olympic games held
Today in history:
On April 6, 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
Also on this date:
In 1830, Joseph Smith and others met in Fayette, New York, to form the Church of Christ — now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the following day.
In 1917, the United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.
In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow's broadside against him on 'See It Now,' claimed in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, 'engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.'
In 1968, 41 people were killed by a pair of explosions spurred by a natural gas leak at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.
In 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed when the jet they were riding in was shot down by surface-to-air missiles as it attempted to land in Kigali, Rwanda.
In 2012, five Black people were shot, three fatally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jake England and Alvin Watts, who admitted to targeting the victims because of their race, pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Today's Birthdays: Scientist James D. Watson is 97. Actor Billy Dee Williams is 88. Film director Barry Levinson is 83. Actor John Ratzenberger is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven is 74. Actor Marilu Henner is 73. Actor Michael Rooker is 70. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is 61. Football Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe is 60. Actor Paul Rudd is 56. Actor Zach Braff is 50. Actor Candace Cameron Bure is 49. Musician Robert Glasper is 47.
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His portfolio of posters included those for a dozen or so Woody Allen films plus Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1963), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), Too Late the Hero (1970), Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), Cabaret (1972), An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Gandhi (1982). Plus, Caroff designed the logo and title signature for Orion Pictures, several album covers for Decca Records and the logos for ABC's Olympic coverage (with the network's circular letters and five Olympic rings intertwined), ABC News and 20/20 (styled to resemble a pair of eyeglasses). The one quality he wanted his work to have was 'effervescence,' he said in the 2022 TCM documentary By Design: The Joe Caroff Story. 'I want it to have a life, it doesn't want to lie there flat.' For his first movie job — he would work on more than 300 campaigns during his career — United Artists executive David Chasman hired him to design the poster for West Side Story (1961), then asked him to come up with the letterhead for a publicity release tied to the first Bond film, Dr. No. (Chasman had designed the poster for the 1962 movie.) 'He said, 'I need a little decorative thing on top,'' Caroff recalled in 2021. 'I knew [Bond's] designation was 007, and when I wrote the stem of the seven, I thought, 'That looks like the handle of a gun to me.' It was very spontaneous, no effort, it was an instant piece of creativity.' Inspired by Ian Fleming's favorite gun, a Walther PPK, Caroff attached a barrel and trigger to the 007 and for his work received $300, the going rate for such an assignment, he said. 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