06-04-2025
Today in History: April 6, United States enters World War I
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 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
Advertisement
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, Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, 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, Ind.
Advertisement
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, Okla. 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.