On this day, April 5 …
1976: Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes dies in Houston at age 70.
Also on this day:
- 1614: Indian Chief Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas marries Englishman John Rolfe, a widower, in the Virginia Colony.
- 1915: Jess Willard knocks out Jack Johnson in the 26th round of their fight in Havana, Cuba, to claim boxing’s world heavyweight title.
- 1955: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigns from his office for health reasons.
- 1955: Democrat Richard J. Daley becomes the first elected mayor of Chicago, defeating Republican Robert E. Merriam.
- 1964: Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur dies in Washington, D.C., at age 84.
- 1974: Stephen King’s first published novel, “Carrie,” is released by Doubleday.
- 1975: Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek dies in Taipei at age 87.
- 1986: Two American servicemen and a Turkish woman are killed in the bombing of a West Berlin discotheque, an incident that would lead to a U.S. air raid on Libya more than a week later
- 1988: A 15-day hijacking ordeal begins as gunmen force a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet to land in Iran.
- 1991: Former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, his daughter Marian and 21 other people are killed in a commuter plane crash near Brunswick, Ga.
- 2005: ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings reveals he has lung cancer.
- 2008: Legendary actor Charlton Heston, who was later president of the National Rifle Association, dies in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 84.
- 2009: The Pentagon quietly lifts an 18-year ban on media coverage of fallen U.S. service members.
- 2018: In his first public comments about Stormy Daniels, President Trump says he didn’t know about the $130,000 payment his former personal attorney Michael Cohen made to the porn actress who alleged she had an affair with Trump.
- 2018: In a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute with China, President Trump tells the U.S. trade representative to consider slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.