April 16 in history — What Happened Today in History

Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

U.S. civil rights campaigner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes his open letter from Birmingham Jail, sometimes known as "The Negro Is Your Brother", while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting against segregation.

In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed.

An explosion on board a freighter in port causes Texas City in the state of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.

Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.

World War II: The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).

World War II: More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.

World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.

Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.

World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.

World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.

During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.

The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.

Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.

Polish–Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

Russian Revolution: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.

Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

The oldest indoor ice hockey arena used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.

Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.

In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.

The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issues a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish.

American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.

American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.

American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.

The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is dissolved.

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane.

Cenk Akyol, Turkish basketball player

Aaron Lennon, English international footballer

Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer

Peter Regin, Danish ice hockey player

Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast

Luol Deng, Sudanese-English basketball player

Nate Diaz, American mixed martial artist

Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player

Katerina Stikoudi, Greek singer, actress, TV host, model, businesswoman, former champion swimmer and beauty pageant titleholder.

Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer

Claire Foy, English actress

Tucker Fredricks, American speed skater

Paweł Kieszek, Polish footballer

Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (born 1949)

Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (born 1929)

Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (born 1923)

Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (born 1928)

Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (born 1926)

Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1925)

George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (born 1909)

Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (born 1930)

Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (born 1919)

Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (born 1914)

George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (born 1956)

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (born 1913)

Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (born 1948)