John Hinckley, Jr. (center) Getty
On this day, April 27 …
1982: The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot four people — including President Ronald Reagan — begins in Washington.
Also on this day:
- 1791: Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, is born in Charlestown, Mass.
- 1941: German forces occupy Athens during World War II.
- 1950: Britain formally recognizes the state of Israel.
- 1965: Journalist Edward R. Murrow dies in Pawling, N.Y.
- 1968: President Hubert H. Humphrey declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president, less than a month after President Lyndon B. Johnson said he would not run for reelection.
- 1978: Convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months.
John Hinckley Jr. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
- 1982: The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot four people — including President Ronald Reagan — begins in Washington.
- 2006: Construction begins on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
- 2009: A 23-month-old Mexico City toddler dies at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, becoming the first swine flu death on U.S. soil.
- 2009: General Motors announces plans to cut 21,000 hourly jobs and scrap the Pontiac brand.
- 2014: Two 20th century popes who’d changed the course of the Roman Catholic church become saints as Pope Francis honors John XXIII and John Paul II.
- 2014: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls the Nazi Holocaust “the most heinous crime” of modern history.
- 2018: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes history by crossing over to South Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in; it was the first time a member of the Kim dynasty had set foot on southern soil since the end of the Korean War in 1953.