1792: Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed "La Marseillaise," the national anthem of France.
1800: U.S. Library of Congress established in Washington, D.C. Capitol building. The national research powerhouse moved to its own quarters in 1897.
1916: Easter Rising launched in Dublin by 1,600 Irish nationalists. Key sites seized. After seven days of fighting, British army suppressed insurrection.
1981: IBM introduces its first personal computer.
Born Today:
Painter Willem de Kooning (1904)
Writer Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989)
Actress Shirley MacLaine (1934)
Novelist Sue Grafton (1940)
Entertainer Barbra Streisand (1942)
Singer Kelly Clarkson (1983)
