By The Associated Press

Today in History

Today is Thursday, April 22, the 112th day of 2021. There are 253 days left in the year.

Todayís Highlight in History:

On April 22, 2005, Zacarias Moussaoui (zak-uh-REEí-uhs moo-SOWí-ee) pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom outside Washington, D.C. to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers to kill Americans. (Moussaoui is serving a life prison sentence.)

On this date:

In 1864, Congress authorized the use of the phrase ìIn God We Trustî on U.S. coins.

In 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims.

In 1898, with the United States and Spain on the verge of war, the U.S. Navy began blockading Cuban ports. Congress authorized creation of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, also known as the ìRough Riders.î

In 1915, the first full-scale use of deadly chemicals in warfare took place as German forces unleashed chlorine gas against Allied troops at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres (EEí-preh) in Belgium during World War I; thousands of soldiers are believed to have died.

In 1937, thousands of college students in New York City staged a ìpeace strikeî opposing American entry into another possible world conflict.

In 1952, an atomic test in Nevada became the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television as a 31-kiloton bomb was dropped from a B-50 Superfortress.

In 1954, the publicly televised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began.

In 1970, millions of Americans concerned about the environment observed the first ìEarth Day.î

In 1994, Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died at a New York hospital four days after suffering a stroke; he was 81.

In 2000, in a dramatic pre-dawn raid, armed immigration agents seized Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of a custody dispute, from his relativesí home in Miami; Elian was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

In 2004, Army Ranger Pat Tillman, whoíd traded in a multi-million-dollar NFL contract to serve in Afghanistan, was killed by friendly fire; he was 27.

In 2015, a federal judge in Philadelphia approved a settlement agreement expected to cost the NFL $1 billion over 65 years to resolve thousands of concussion lawsuits. A federal appeals court in San Francisco overturned home run leader Barry Bondsí obstruction of justice conviction, ruling 10-1 that his meandering answer before a grand jury in 2003 was not material to the governmentís investigation into illegal steroids distribution.

Ten years ago: Syrian security forces fired at protesters, killing at least 75 people around the country. A tornado ripped through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, causing significant damage to the C Concourse.