Today is Thursday, April 29, the 119th day of 2010. There are 246 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a French victory over the English.

In 1798, Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" was rehearsed in Vienna, Austria, before an invited audience.

In 1901, Japanese Emperor Hirohito was born in Tokyo.

In 1916, the Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.

In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp; the same day, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and designated Adm. Karl Doenitz president.

In 1968, the counterculture musical "Hair" opened on Broadway following limited engagements off-Broadway.

In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.

In 1983, Harold Washington was sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.

In 1992, deadly rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, California acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

Thought for Today:

"An intellectual hatred is the worst." — William Butler Yeats, Irish poet and playwright (1865-1939).