Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Friday, April 25, 2025
Today is the 115th day of 2025. There are 250 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1792
Highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by guillotine.
1859
Ground was broken for the Suez Canal.
1898
The United States declared war on Spain.
1901
New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was $1.
1915
During World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of the war.
1945
Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
1945
During World War II, United States and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, in central Europe, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany.
1959
The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.
1983
Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983
The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.
1990
Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.
1992
Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.
1998
Whitewater prosecutors questioned first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
Notable Births
1874
Radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy.
Notable Deaths
1995
Actress Ginger Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.