Today In History

Today is Wednesday, April 25, the 115th day of 2018. There are 250 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1898: The United States Congress declared war on Spain; the 10-week conflict resulted in an American victory.

ON THIS DATE

› 404 B.C: The Peloponnesian War ended as Athens surrendered to Sparta.

› 1507: A world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contained the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

› 1792: French highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person to be executed by the guillotine.

› 1945: During World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany’s defenses. Delegates from some 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

› 1959: The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.

› 1983: Ten-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, received a reply from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov to a letter she’d written expressing her concerns about nuclear war; Andropov gave assurances that the Soviet Union did not want war, and invited Samantha to visit his country, a trip she made in July.

› 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed in orbit from the space shuttle Discovery.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Al Pacino is

78. Ballroom dance judge Len Goodman (TV: “Dancing with the Stars”) is 74. Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 73. Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 73. Actress Talia Shire is 73. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is

71. Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 64. Actor Hank Azaria is 54. Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 54. Rock musician Eric Avery is 53. Country musician Rory Feek (Joey + Rory) is 53. Actress Renee Zellweger is 49. Actress Gina Torres is 49. Actor Jason Lee is

48. Actor Jason Wiles is

48. Actress Emily Bergl is

43. Actor Jonathan Angel is 41. Actress Marguerite Moreau is 41. Singer Jacob Underwood is 38. Actress Melonie Diaz is

34. Actress Sara Paxton is

30. Actress Allisyn Ashley Arm is 22.