MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2014: The South Korean ferry Sewol, traveling from Inch'ŏn to Cheju, capsized and sank, killing 304 people, most of whom were high schoolers. [Learn about seven of the world's deadliest shipwrecks.]

2007: In one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States, 33 people, including the shooter, were killed on the Blacksburg, Virginia, campus of Virginia Tech.

2003: At age 40, Michael Jordan, widely regarded as the best player in the history of basketball, played his last game in the National Basketball Association. [ Find out if Michael Jordan tops our list of the 10 greatest basketball players of all time.]

1962: American journalist Walter Cronkite became anchor of the CBS Evening News , a position he held for nearly two decades, during which time he became known as “the most trusted man in America.”

1948: In order to restore the economy of Europe after World War II, 16 European countries formed the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (later the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). [ Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about European history.]

1947: American basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988), was born. [How well do you know basketball player nicknames?]