This Day in History: April 27

John Hinckley, Jr. (center) Getty

On this day, April 27 ...

1982: The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot four people -- including President Ronald Reagan -- begins in Washington.

Also on this day:

• 1791: Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, is born in Charlestown, Mass.
• 1941: German forces occupy Athens during World War II.
• 1950: Britain formally recognizes the state of Israel.
• 1965: Journalist Edward R. Murrow dies in Pawling, N.Y.
• 1968: President Hubert H. Humphrey declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president, less than a month after President Lyndon B. Johnson said he would not run for reelection.
• 1978: Convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months.

John Hinckley Jr. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

• 1982: The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot four people -- including President Ronald Reagan -- begins in Washington.
• 2006: Construction begins on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
• 2009: A 23-month-old Mexico City toddler dies at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, becoming the first swine flu death on U.S. soil. 
• 2009: General Motors announces plans to cut 21,000 hourly jobs and scrap the Pontiac brand.
• 2014: Two 20th century popes who’d changed the course of the Roman Catholic church become saints as Pope Francis honors John XXIII and John Paul II.
• 2014: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas calls the Nazi Holocaust "the most heinous crime" of modern history. 
• 2018: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes history by crossing over to South Korea to meet with President Moon Jae-in; it was the first time a member of the Kim dynasty had set foot on southern soil since the end of the Korean War in 1953.