Today is the 102nd day of 2014 and the 24th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1861, Confederate forces fired on Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C., in an engagement that marked the beginning of the Civil War.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died at his retreat in Warm Springs, Ga.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to travel in space and the first to orbit the Earth.

In 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Clay (1777-1852), politician/statesman; Lily Pons (1898-1976), opera singer/actress; Beverly Cleary (1916- ), writer; Herbie Hancock (1940- ), musician; Ed O'Neill (1946- ), actor; Tom Clancy (1947-2013), author; David Letterman (1947- ), TV personality; Scott Turow (1949- ), author; Jon Krakauer (1954- ), author; Andy Garcia (1956- ), actor; Vince Gill (1957- ), singer-songwriter; Claire Danes (1979- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Franklin D. Roosevelt has consistently come in first or second in the Zogby International Presidential Greatness polls since 1997, but his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, consistently outranked him in approval polls during his lifetime.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, the New York Giants drafted University of North Carolina linebacker Lawrence Taylor in the first round of the NFL draft.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next." -- Beverly Cleary, "Ramona the Pest"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 108 -- length (in minutes) of the first orbital human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin aboard the Vostok 3KA spacecraft on this day in 1961.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).

Today is the 101st day of 2014 and the 23rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne and was banished to the island of Elba.

In 1945, U.S. forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp.

In 1951, President Harry Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea.

In 1979, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was overthrown.

In 2006, Iran announced that it had successfully enriched uranium.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Dean Acheson (1893-1971), diplomat/statesman; Oleg Cassini (1913-2006), fashion designer; Joel Grey (1932- ), actor; Louise Lasser (1939- ), actress; Thomas Harris (1940- ), author/screenwriter; Jason Varitek (1972- ), baseball player; Jennifer Esposito (1973- ), actress; Mark Teixeira (1980- ), baseball player; Joss Stone (1987- ), singer.

TODAY'S FACT: Idi Amin was one of only two native officers in Uganda's military when the nation gained its independence in 1962.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Phil Mickelson won his first Masters Golf Tournament after eight second- or third-place majors finishes in almost 12 years as a professional golfer, sinking an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to edge Ernie Els by a single stroke.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "No people in history have ever survived who thought they could protect their freedom by making themselves inoffensive to their enemies." -- Dean Acheson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 16.4 million -- mobile phone subscriptions in Uganda in 2012, compared to only 315,000 landlines.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).

Today is the 100th day of 2014 and the 22nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was founded in New York City.

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was published in New York City.

In 1938, Nazi Germany officially annexed Austria.

In 1972, famed comic actor and director Charlie Chaplin received an honorary Oscar.

In 2003, Congress approved the Amber Alert system, which alerts the public to child abductions.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Hazlitt (1778-1830), writer; William Booth (1829-1912), Salvation Army founder; Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), publisher; Harry Morgan (1915-2011), actor; Max von Sydow (1929- ), actor; Omar Sharif (1932- ), actor; John Madden (1936- ), football coach/broadcaster; Steven Seagal (1952- ), actor; Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (1959- ), singer-songwriter/producer; Michael Pitt (1981- ), actor; Mandy Moore (1984- ), actress/singer-songwriter; Haley Joel Osment (1988- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: According to 2014 estimates from the CIA, residents of the 0.77-square-mile principality of Monaco enjoy the longest life expectancy in the world, at an average of 89.6 years.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers announced the purchase of Jackie Robinson's contract from the Montreal Royals, a minor-league club.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be." -- William Hazlitt

TODAY'S NUMBER: 69.9 million -- dogs owned as pets in the United States in 2012.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 7) and full moon (April 15).