1918

What were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 soldiers would die. (The influenza outbreak would ultimately kill an estimated 20 million to 40 million people worldwide.)

1941

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, which provided war supplies to Allied countries during World War II.

1985

Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Konstantin Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

2006

Former Serb leader Slobodan Miloševic was found dead at age 64 of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Netherlands, abruptly ending his four-year U.N. war crimes trial.

2011

A magnitude 9 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

Birthdays

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 94. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 91. Singer Lisa Loeb is 57. Actor Terrence Howard is 56. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 54. Rock musicians Benji and Joel Madden are 46. Singer LeToya Luckett is 44. Actor Thora Birch is 43.