The way it was: Today in history - April 28
Throwback Thursday: A look back at events in history on April 28, including spy Aldrich Ames sentenced and the iTunes store launched by Apple.
Richard Byrd who will command the navy's planes on the expedition tries out the feather boat April 28, 1925, which will be taken with the explorers on the Macmillan Expedition, an exploration to the North Pole. Later in 1926, Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennet claimed to have flown over the North Pole, though skeptics voiced doubts. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor.
Bootlegger "Dutch" Schultz
Bronx bootlegger Arthur "Dutch" Schultz, right, shakes hands with his attorney James Noonan after Schultz's tax evasion trial ended in a hung jury in Federal Court in Syracuse, New York, April 28, 1935.
Pollinating houseflies
The common housefly is helping create a better carrot in work being carried out at the Massachusetts State College Experimental Station in Waltham, Mass., April 28, 1942.
The flies flit from one type of carrot to another, pollinating each better than a bee. One carrot is being cross-pollinated with another to give it more vitamins, according to Prof. Robert E. Young who is watching the flies at work.
Coney Island dims lights
One shielded street lamp now illuminates the entrance to Luna Park in Coney Island, in compliance with an army order for a dim-out of coastal points to protect shipping from being silhouetted for the enemy by the glare from the shore. The dim-out order went into effect April 28, 1942.
Luna Park's myriad of lights was replaced by a solitary street lamp, its shielded lamp visible above center "pinwheel."
Roy Rogers & Trigger
Roy Rogers' famous show horse Trigger, "blows a kiss" to a puckered up Pvt. Charles Ferrara, of New York City, in bed at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. on April 28, 1944. Pvt. Ferrara was wounded in the Italian campaign and had a leg amputated.
Mussolini hanged
The bodies of some fascist leaders are hanged by their feet in downtown Milan's Piazzale Loreto on April 28, 1945, the day after the liberation of Milan.
At center, face to camera, is Benito Mussolini, who was killed the same day in Dongo, by the Como lake, while trying to escape, and whose body was taken to Milan to be exposed on the same square where the bodies of 15 resistance fighters were left as a warning to the population in August 1944. Claretta Petacci, Mussolini's mistress, is hanged at the right of the Duce.
Hank Aaron's 600th home run
Hank Aaron holds the ball and bat he used to hit his 600th major league home run April 28, 1971, a high fly of 350 feet that landed on the stadium wall behind the left field fence.
Aaron, of the Atlanta Braves, now joins the ranks of Willie Mays, 1969, and Babe Ruth, 1931, of hitters with 600 or more home runs. In major league baseball history only 8 players have joined the 600 home run club. Aaron, Mays and Ruth were the only ones to achieve the feat before 2002.
Ali - conscientious objector
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is escorted from the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station in Houston by Lt. Col. J. Edwin McKee, commandant of the station, after Ali refused induction into the army, April 28, 1967.
Ali said he was a conscientious objector who would not serve in the Army of a country that treated members of his race as second-class citizens.
The Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg, co-defendant in the Pentagon Papers case, talks to newsmen outside the Federal building in Los Angeles, April 28, 1973. The judge in the case released a government memorandum saying G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, convicted Watergate conspirators, had burglarized the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist. Ellsberg called it another instance of "political espionage."
Fleeing Saigon
Refugees fleeing the advance of communist forces create a massive traffic jam on the northern outskirts of Saigon April 28, 1975, as South Vietnamese troops searched vehicles for communist infiltrators.
The Fall of Saigon happened on April 30, marking the end of the Vietnam War.
Failed hostage rescue
The burned out wreckage of a U.S. aircraft lies in the desert some 300 miles south of Tehran after the abortive commando-style raid into Iran, April 1980, aimed at freeing the 52 American hostages being held in Tehran.
On April 24, 1980, the military rescue operation fell apart when several helicopters failed and a helicopter and C141 transport plane collided. Eight U.S. servicemen died in the mission, ordered by President Jimmy Carter. It took another 270 days for the hostages to be released.
Dr. Spock demonstrates
Dr. Benjamin Spock, right, wearing glasses, famous baby physician and pacifist, gets caught in the crowd of demonstrators and policemen at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., April 28, 1980. Part of a group of anti-nuclear protesters trying to block the entrance to the building, he was arrested.
Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones pop group, at the press conference at the La Beat Route Club in London's Soho district on April 28, 1982. It was announced that the group will embark on their first European Tour in six years, starting in Rotterdam on June 4th.
Statue of Liberty covered
The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor gets a new covering as scaffolding for the restoration work on the statue reaches to the torch, completely covering the statue, April 28, 1984.
Aloha Airlines accident
Co-pilot Mimi Tompkins helps a man slide down a chute of a severely damaged Aloha Airlines 737 jet shortly after arrival in Kahului, Hawaii., April 28, 1988.
A large section of the 19-year-old jetliner on an inter-island hop was torn off over Hawaii. Although the pilots were able to land on the island of Maui, a flight attendant died and at least 61 of the 95 people on board were injured after the plane lost 18 feet (5 meters) of its upper fuselage. Investigators blamed metal fatigue.
"A Chorus Line" ends
This aerial view shows a Wednesday matinee crowd outside the Shubert Theatre in New York City for one of the final performances of "A Chorus Line," April 26, 1990.
The show closed Saturday, April 28, ending its 15-year run with 6,137 performances, making it the longest running musical in history.
Maradona on bail
Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona leaves a police station in Buenos Aires April 28, 1991, after paying a $20,000 bail on charges of drug possession and distribution of drugs free of charge. Carlos Bilardo, former head of the Argentine national team, is seated behind Maradona.
Maradona and two friends were arrested April 26 in an apartment, charged with cocaine possession and use, then held for 30 hours. He had been suspended in March 1991 by the Italian Football Federation for 15 months after he tested positive for cocaine.
Cesar Chavez funeral
The casket of United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez in place at the altar of his funeral mass at the UFW's Forty Acres compound, in Delano, California April 28, 1993.
South African elections
A long line of people wait outside the polling station in the black township of Soweto, in the southwest suburbs of Johannesburg, to vote in South Africa's first all-race elections, April 27, 1994.
Nelson Mandela, who became one of the world's most beloved statesmen and a colossus of the 20th century when he emerged from 27 years in prison to negotiate an end to white minority rule in South Africa, was elected the first black president of the country after three days of voting.
Spy Aldrich Ames sentenced
Former CIA agent Aldrich Ames leaves federal court after pleading guilty to espionage and tax evasion conspiracy charges in Alexandria, Virginia, April 28, 1994.
Aldrich, the highest ranking CIA employee ever caught spying, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Michael Jackson & Debbie Rowe
Wearing a black surgical mask, pop singer Michael Jackson arrives with a woman identified as Debbie Rowe in numerous publications, at a performance of the play "Sisterella," April 28, 1996 in Pasadena, California.
Rowe and Jackson later married in Sydney, Australia on Nov. 15, 1996.
iTunes launches
Apple Computer Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs gestures during Apple's launch of their new online "Music Store" in San Francisco,April 28, 2003.
A year later Apple had sold more than 70 million songs at 99 cents each.
Arlen Specter leaves Democrats
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., pauses after giving a news conference on April 28, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Specter switched parties with a suddenness that stunned the Senate, a moderate's defection that left Democrats one seat shy of a 60-vote filibuster-resistant majority and many of President Barack Obama's key legislative priorities on the horizon.
Unrest over Freddie Gray's death
A helicopter with a spot light watches over police and protesters before a mandatory, city-wide curfew of 10 p.m, April 28, 2015, near the CVS pharmacy that was set on fire the day before during rioting after the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland.
Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore's west side. Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody.