Today in history:
On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on student demonstrators during an anti-war protest at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.
Also on this date:
In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a deadly riot when a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers and at least four civilians.
In 1904, the United States took over construction of the Panama Canal from France.
In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, began in the Pacific during World War II. (The outcome was considered a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic victory for the Allies.)
In 1961, the first group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.
In 1998, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was given four life sentences plus 30 years by a federal judge in Sacramento, California, under a plea agreement that spared him the death penalty.
In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, telling the convicted terrorist, “You will die with a whimper.”
In 2011, President Barack Obama said he had decided not to release death photos of Osama bin Laden because their graphic nature could incite violence and create national security risks. Officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan shot and killed him after they saw him appear to reach for a weapon.
In 2023, former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. (Tarrio was later sentenced to 22 years in prison, but was pardoned by Trump on January 20, 2025, the first day of Trump’s second term in office.)
