On this day, April 19 …

1995: A truck bomb destroys the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Okla., killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh, who prosecutors said planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege of two years earlier, would be convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001.)

Also on this day:

1775: The American Revolutionary War begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

The American Revolutionary War begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord. 1865: A funeral is held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin is then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda.

A funeral is held at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln, assassinated five days earlier; his coffin is then taken to the U.S. Capitol for a private memorial service in the Rotunda. 1939: Connecticut becomes the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.

Connecticut becomes the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect. 1951: Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bids farewell in an address to Congress in which he quotes a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Harry S. Truman, bids farewell in an address to Congress in which he quotes a line from a ballad: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” 1966: Bobbi Gibb, 23, becomes the first woman to run the Boston Marathon at a time when only men are allowed to participate.

Bobbi Gibb, 23, becomes the first woman to run the Boston Marathon at a time when only men are allowed to participate. 1977: The Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, rules 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.