This Day in History for April 16

1947 - financier and presidential confidant Bernard M. Baruch said in a speech at the South Carolina statehouse: "Let us not be deceived -- we are today in the midst of a cold war."

1789 - President-elect Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.

1862 - a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia became law.

1912 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

1917 - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.

1935 - the radio comedy program "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered on the NBC Blue Network.

1945 - in his first speech to Congress, President Truman pledged to carry out the war and peace policies of his late predecessor, President Roosevelt.

1945 - US troops reached Nuremberg, Germany, during the Second World War.

1947 - the French ship "Grandcamp" blew up at the harbor in Texas City, Texas; another ship, the "Highflyer," exploded the following day. The blasts and resulting fires killed 576 people.

1962 - Walter Cronkite succeeded Douglas Edwards as anchorman of "The CBS Evening News."

1972 - Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.