April 15 in history — What Happened Today in History

The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.

At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.

World War II: The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI.

World War II: In the Belfast Blitz, 200 bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing some 1,000 people.

First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.

Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.

Racially motivated Nihon Shōgakkō fire lit by a serial arsonist kills 10 children in Sacramento, California.

U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.

Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.

The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 712 of 2,207 passengers and crew on board survive.

Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.

Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.

The General Electric Company is formed.

President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president.

President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.

Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.

Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, receives its premiere performance in London, England.

Foundation of the short-lived Kingdom of Corsica.

The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.

Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.

Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor

Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater

Emma Watson, English actress

Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player

Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player

Steven Defour, Belgian footballer

Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher

Tom Heaton, English footballer

Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer

Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player

Antonio Cromartie, American football player

Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player

Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player

Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1928)

John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (born 1919)

Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (born 1935)

Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (born 1930)

Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (born 1946)

Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (born 1928)

Paul Bogart, American director and producer (born 1919)

Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (born 1968)

Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (born 1975)

Jack Herer, American author and activist (born 1939)

Michael Pataki, American actor and director (born 1938)

Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (born 1924)

László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (born 1907)