In New York, former President Richard Nixon dies at age 81, just days after suffering a stroke.

"Others may hate you, those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."Nixon pursued Cold War detente and wind down America's military role in the Vietnam War, but he became the only president to resign when the Watergate Scandal forced him from office.

2000:

“We were on the phone with them negotiating, they put them in hold and then we were in hold, they banned on the door, they broke everything in.”

During a predawn raid, federal agents in Miami seize Elian Gonzalez from his relative's home. The Cuban boy is later reunited with his father, and both of them return to Cuba.

1889:

The Oklahoma land rush begins at noon as thousands of homesteaders rushed to state claims to land in what is now the state of Oklahoma.

1970:

Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observe the first Earth Day. The demonstration becomes an annual event that's now observed around the world.

And 1937:

“Get out of my way, son, you're using my oxygen, you know what I mean?”

Actor Jack Nicholson is born in Neptune, New Jersy, among his movie roles: Chinatown, One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Terms of Endearment, and As Good As It Gets.

Today in History, April 22nd, Camille Bohannon, the Associated Press.