ABC News correspondent shot and killed by Nicaraguan security forces

An ABC News correspondent, Bill Stewart, was shot and killed on June 20, 1979, by a member of the Nicaraguan National Guard while on assignment in the civil-war-torn Central American country. Video of the execution-style shooting sparked outrage in the US and drastically reduced the country’s support for Nicaragua’s right-wing Somoza regime.

Read a retrospective on the incident from ABC, and read a statement from then-President Jimmy Carter on Stewart’s murder.

 

THIS DAY @ LAW

Republic of Ireland Act enters force

On April 18, 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act went into force, creating a republic in the state of Ireland.

Treason charges against poet Ezra Pound dropped

On April 18, 1958, treason charges against American poet Ezra Pound, first laid in 1943 in connection with his wartime broadcasts for the Italian Fascist government of Benito Mussolini, were dropped.