Today is Monday, April 5, the 96th day of 2004. There are 270 days left in the year. The Jewish holiday Passover begins at sunset.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 5, 1964, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur died in Washington at age 84.

On this date:

In 1614, American Indian princess Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.

In 1621, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, Mass., on a return trip to England.

In 1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.

In 1887, British historian Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused the writer of homosexual practices.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death following their conviction in New York on charges of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union; co-defendant Morton Sobell was sentenced to 30 years in prison (he was released in 1969).

In 1975, nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87.

In 1976, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes died in Houston at age 72.

In 1992, Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died in Little Rock, Ark., at age 74.

In 1997, Allen Ginsberg, the counterculture guru who’d shattered conventions as poet laureate of the Beat Generation, died in New York City at age 70.

Ten years ago: President Clinton presided over a 90-minute town hall meeting in Charlotte, N.C., in which he called himself the victim of “false charges” in connection with the Whitewater controversy.

Five years ago: NATO missiles and aircraft blasted Serbian targets inside Yugoslavia for a 13th straight day. The United Nations suspended sanctions against Libya after Moammar Gadhafi surrendered two suspected Libyan intelligence agents for trial in the 1988 Pan Am bombing. In Laramie, Wyo., Russell Henderson pleaded guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.

One year ago: U.S. officials declared a near chokehold on the Iraqi capital Baghdad even while warning that many other parts of Iraq were not yet under allied control. A prison riot in northern Honduras left 69 inmates dead and dozens injured.

Today’s Birthdays: Novelist Arthur Hailey is 84. Actress Gale Storm is 82. Movie producer Roger Corman is 78. Country music producer Cowboy Jack Clement is 73. Impressionist-actor Frank Gorshin is 71. Secretary of State Colin Powell is 67. Country singer Tommy Cash is 64. Actor Michael Moriarty is 63. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 62. Actor Max Gail is 61. Actress Jane Asher is 58. Singer Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA) is 54. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 39. Country singer Troy Gentry is 37. Singer Paula Cole is 36. Country singer Pat Green is 32. Rapper-producer Pharrell Williams is 31.

Thought for Today: “In war, you win or lose, live or die – and the difference is just an eyelash.” – Douglas MacArthur, Army general (1880-1964).