History for April 11

History for April 11 - On-This-Day.com:
Lizzie P. Bliss 1864 - Co-founder of New York City's Museum of Modern Art, Dean G. Acheson 1893, Percy Julian 1899 - Scientist


Joel Grey 1932 - Singer (Katz), dancer, actor ("Cabaret"), actress Jennifer Grey's father, Louise Lasser 1939 - Actress ("Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman", "Slither"), Ellen Goodman 1941 - Syndicated columnist


1898 - U.S. President William McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war with Spain.


1921 - Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax.


1945 - During World War II, American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in Germany.


1947 - Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major-league history. He played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.


1951 - U.S. President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur as head of United Nations forces in Korea.


1968 - U.S. President Johnson signed the 1968 Civil Rights Act.


1970 - Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon that was disrupted when an explosion crippled the spacecraft. The astronauts did return safely.


2001 - China agreed to release 24 crewmembers of a U.S. surveillance plane. The EP-3E Navy crew had been held since April 1 on Hainon, where the plane had made an emergency landing after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was missing and presumed dead.