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Today is Friday, April 28, the 118th day of 2023. There are 247 days left in the year. Summer arrives in 54 days (June 21, 2023). There are 153 days until fall (September 23, 2023).
Here are some notable events in history on this day — some that still have an impact on us:
In 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.
In 1947, a six-man expedition set out from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the Kon-Tiki on a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean to the Polynesian Islands.
In 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty signed in San Francisco the year before took effect. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Allied commander in Europe; he was succeeded by Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered U.S. Marines to the Dominican Republic to protect American citizens and interests in the face of a civil war.
In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title after he refused to be inducted into the armed forces.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who had opposed the failed rescue mission aimed at freeing American hostages in Iran. Vance was succeeded by Edmund Muskie.
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In 1986, the Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
In 1990, the musical “A Chorus Line” closed after 6,137 performances on Broadway.
In 1994, former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had passed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2001, a Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the international space station.
In 2011, convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a California girl, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted in 1991 at the age of 11 and rescued 18 years later. Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life in prison; Nancy Garrido was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison.
In 2013, Mohammed Sohel Rana, the fugitive owner of an illegally constructed building in Bangladesh that collapsed and killed more than 1,100 people, was captured by a commando force as he tried to flee into India.
In 2022, Russia pounded targets from one end of Ukraine to the other, including Kyiv, bombarding the city while the head of the United Nations was visiting in the boldest attack on the capital since Moscow’s forces retreated weeks earlier.
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Today’s Birthdays: Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 93. Actor-singer Ann-Margret is 82. Actor Paul Guilfoyle is 74. Former “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno is 73. Rock musician Chuck Leavell is 71. Actor Mary McDonnell is 71. Rock singer-musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 70. Actor Nancy Lee Grahn is 67. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is 63. Rapper Too Short is 57. Actor Bridget Moynahan is 52. Actor Chris Young is 52. Rapper Big Gipp is 51. Actor Jorge Garcia is 50. Actor Elisabeth Rohm is 50. Actor Penelope Cruz is 49. Actor Nate Richert is 45. TV personalities Drew and Jonathan Scott are 45. Actor Jessica Alba is 42. Actor Harry Shum Jr. is 41. Actor Jenna Ushkowitz is 37. Actor Aleisha Allen is 32.
