Today in History, 4/8

217: Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard Prefect Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
1093: The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated.1730: Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.1820: The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.1867: The first World's Fair is inaugurated in Paris.
1886: William Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
1895: The US Supreme Court declares the income tax to be unconstitutional in Pollock vs. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. This ruling would later be nullified by the 16th Amendment.
1904: Longacre Square in Manhattan is renamed Times Square in honor of The New York Times.
1913: The 17th Amendment of the Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
1918: During World War I, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York's financial district.1937: Seymour Hersh is born. He's the journalist who broke the story of the My Lai Massacre.1942: During the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Army forces open a railway link to the city.
1942: Douglas Trumbull is born. He is best known for doing the special effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but he also directed the bizarre Bruce Dern ecological parable Silent Running.

1946: The last meeting of the League of Nations is held.
1946: Stuart Pankin is born. He's the guy who runs the factory where transparent aluminum is created in Star Trek: The Voyage Home.
1946: Tim Thomerson is born. He plays tough guys in all kinds of low budget movies from Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Syn to Cherry 2000. Never lie to Lester.

1955: Kane Hodder is born. He's the man behind the mask in most of the Friday the 13th movies.
1955: Barbara Kingsolver is born. She wrote The Poisonwood Bible.1960: John Schneider is born. He played Bo Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard.1974: Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.1990: Twin Peaks debuts on ABC.


Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.