http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Apr 9, 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders
At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.
In retreating from the Union army's Appomattox Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had stumbled through the Virginia countryside stripped of food and supplies. At one point, Union cavalry forces under General Philip Sheridan had actually outrun Lee's army, blocking their retreat and taking 6,000 prisoners at Sayler's Creek. Desertions were mounting daily, and by April 8 the Confederates were surrounded with no possibility of escape. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender. The two generals met in the parlor of the Wilmer McLean home at one o'clock in the afternoon.
Lee and Grant, both holding the highest rank in their respective armies, had known each other slightly during the Mexican War and exchanged awkward personal inquiries. Characteristically, Grant arrived in his muddy field uniform while Lee had turned out in full dress attire, complete with sash and sword. Lee asked for the terms, and Grant hurriedly wrote them out. All officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property--most important, the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their side arms, and Lee's starving men would be given Union rations. Shushing a band that had begun to play in celebration, General Grant told his officers, "The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again." Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks, for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an end.
Apr 9, 1959: First astronauts introduced
On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.
On October 4, 1957, the USSR scored the first victory of the "space race" when it successfully launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into Earth's orbit. In response, the United States consolidated its various military and civilian space efforts into NASA, which dedicated itself to beating the Soviets to manned space flight. In January 1959, NASA began the astronaut selection procedure, screening the records of 508 military test pilots and choosing 110 candidates. This number was arbitrarily divided into three groups, and the first two groups reported to Washington. Because of the high rate of volunteering, the third group was eliminated. Of the 62 pilots who volunteered, six were found to have grown too tall since their last medical examination. An initial battery of written tests, interviews, and medical history reviews further reduced the number of candidates to 36. After learning of the extreme physical and mental tests planned for them, four of these men dropped out.
The final 32 candidates traveled to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they underwent exhaustive medical and psychological examinations. The men proved so healthy, however, that only one candidate was eliminated. The remaining 31 candidates then traveled to the Wright Aeromedical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, where they underwent the most grueling part of the selection process. For six days and three nights, the men were subjected to various tortures that tested their tolerance of physical and psychological stress. Among other tests, the candidates were forced to spend an hour in a pressure chamber that simulated an altitude of 65,000 feet, and two hours in a chamber that was heated to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of one week, 18 candidates remained. From among these men, the selection committee was to choose six based on interviews, but seven candidates were so strong they ended up settling on that number.
After they were announced, the "Mercury Seven" became overnight celebrities. The Mercury Project suffered some early setbacks, however, and on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in the world's first manned space flight. Less than one month later, on May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard was successfully launched into space on a suborbital flight. On February 20, 1962, in a major step for the U.S. space program, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. NASA continued to trail the Soviets in space achievements until the late 1960s, when NASA's Apollo program put the first men on the moon and safely returned them to Earth.
In 1998, 36 years after his first space flight, John Glenn traveled into space again. Glenn, then 77 years old, was part of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew, whose 9-day research mission launched on October 29, 1998. Among the crew's investigations was a study of space flight and the aging process.
Apr 9, 1940: Germany invades Norway and Denmark
On this day in 1940, German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. At the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen, among other Danish cities.
German forces were able to slip through the mines Britain had laid around Norwegian ports because local garrisons were ordered to allow the Germans to land unopposed. The order came from a Norwegian commander loyal to Norway's pro-fascist former foreign minister Vidkun Quisling. Hours after the invasion, the German minister in Oslo demanded Norway's surrender. The Norwegian government refused, and the Germans responded with a parachute invasion and the establishment of a puppet regime led by Quisling (whose name would become a synonym for "traitor"). Norwegian forces refused to accept German rule in the guise of a Quisling government and continued to fight alongside British troops. But an accelerating German offensive in France led Britain to transfer thousand of soldiers from Norway to France, resulting ultimately in a German victory.
In Denmark, King Christian X, convinced his army could not fight off a German invasion, surrendered almost immediately. Hitler now added a second and third conquered nation to his quarry, which began with Poland.
Apr 9, 1942: U.S. surrenders in Bataan
On this day in 1942, Major General Edward P. King Jr. surrenders at Bataan, Philippines--against General Douglas MacArthur's orders--and 78,000 troops (66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 Americans), the largest contingent of U.S. soldiers ever to surrender, are taken captive by the Japanese.
The prisoners were at once led 55 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan peninsula, to San Fernando, on what became known as the "Bataan Death March." At least 600 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos died because of the extreme brutality of their captors, who starved, beat, and kicked them on the way; those who became too weak to walk were bayoneted. Those who survived were taken by rail from San Fernando to POW camps, where another 16,000 Filipinos and at least 1,000 Americans died from disease, mistreatment, and starvation.
After the war, the International Military Tribunal, established by MacArthur, tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines. He was held responsible for the death march, a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the
army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
475 - Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter
(Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological
position.
715 - Constantine ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1241 - Battle of Liegnitz - Mongol armies defeat Poles &
Germans
1388 - Battle of Näfels; Glarius Swiss defeat Habsburg
(Austrian) army
1413 - Henry V is crowned King of England.
1440 - Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
1454 - Milan/Venice signs peace of Lodi
1474 - Breisach land guardian Peter von Hagenbach throws out
Walloon/Italians
1483 - Edward V (12) succeeds his father Edward IV as king
of England (never crowned). Disappears, presumed murdered same year.
1538 - Danish king Christian III enters Schmalkaldische
Union
1555 - Marcello Cervini elected Pope Marcellus II
1609 - Spain & Netherlands sign 12 Year Resistant Pact
1621 - Spain & Netherlands 12 Year Resistant Pact ends
1667 - 1st public art exhibition (Palais-Royale, Paris)
1682 - Robert La Salle claims lower Mississippi (Louisiana)
for France
1691 - French troops occupy Mons
1724 - 1st Easter [NS=April 16]
1783 - Tippu Sahib drives out English from Bednore India
1808 - Mayor Wolters offers French king Louis Napoleon
townhall as a palace
1814 - Elias Canneman (L) resigns as minister of Finance
1816 - African Methodist Episcopal Church organizes (Phila)
1829 - Danzig (Gdansk) dike break flood kills 1,200
1831 - Robert Jenkins loses an ear, starts war between
Britain & Spain
1833 - 1st tax-supported public library (Peterborough, NH)
1838 - National Gallery re-opens in its new dedicated
building in Trafalgar Square London
1864 - Battle of Pleasant Hill LA, 2870 casualities
Confederate General Robert E. LeeConfederate General Robert
E. Lee 1865 - General Robert E. Lee and 26,765 troops, surrender at Appomattox
Court House in Virginia to US Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant
1866 - Civil Rights Bill passes over President Andrew
Johnson's veto
1869 - Hudson Bay Company cedes it's territory to Canada
1870 - American Anti-Slavery Society dissolves
1872 - Samuel R Percy patents dried milk
1894 - 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B
in Graz
1906 - 3½th modern Olympic games opens in Athens (4/22 NS)
1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Act.
1912 - 1st exhibition baseball game at Fenway Park (Red Sox
vs Harvard)
1912 - Titanic leaves Queenstown Ireland for NY
1913 - Brooklyn Dodger's Ebbets Field opens, Phillies win
1-0
1914 - "World, the Flesh & the Devil," 1st
color film, shown in London
1914 - 1st full color film shown "World, Flesh &
Devil" (London)
1914 - Tampico incident - US ship crew arrested in Mexico
1917 - Battle of Arras begins
1917 - Vimy Ridge France stormed by Canadian troops
1918 - Latvia proclaims independence
1923 - Sean O'Casey's "Shadow of a Gunman,"
premieres in Dublin
Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1925 - Babe
Ruth rushed to hospital
1927 - Italy & US anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti given
death sentences
1928 - Eugene O'Neill's "Lazarus Laughed,"
premieres in Pasadena
1928 - Mae West's NYC debut in a daring new play
"Diamond Lil"
1928 - Top-Oss soccer team forms in Oss
1928 - Turkey passes separation of church & state
1931 - Chicago Cy Wentworth beats Mont Canadiens at 13:50 of
6th period
1932 - Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs sweep NY Rangers in
3 games
1935 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Maroons sweep Toronto Maple
Leafs in 3 games
1939 - Marian Anderson sings before 75,000 at Lincoln
Memorial
1940 - German cruiser Blucher torpedoed/capsizes in
Oslofjord, 1,000 die
1940 - Germany invades Norway & Denmark during WW II
(Denmark surrenders)
1941 - PGA establishes Golf Hall of Fame
1942 - Battle of Bataan-US-Filipino forces overwhelmed by
Japanese at Bataan
1944 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientals
Ecclesiae
Actress Mae WestActress Mae West 1945 - Battleship Admiral
Scheer sunk by RAF bombing in Kiel
1945 - Liberty ship at Bari Italy carrying aerial bombs
explodes, kills 360
1945 - NFL requires players to wear long stockings
1945 - World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East
Prussia, ends.
1946 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 4
games to 1
1947 - Atomic Energy Commission confirmed
1947 - Baseball suspends Bkln Dodger Leo Durocher for 1 year
1947 - Tornadoes striking West Texas & Oklahoma kill
169, injuring 1,300
1948 - Massacre at Deir Yassin.
1949 - UN Intl Court of Justice held Albania responsible for
incidents in Corfu Channel & awards Britain damages
1950 - 14th Golf Masters Championship: Jimmy Demaret wins,
shooting a 283
1950 - 4th Tony Awards: Cocktail Party & South Pacific
win
1950 - Bob Hope's 1st TV appearance
1952 - Popular uprising in Bolivia
1952 - Hugo Ballivian's government is overthrown by the
Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal
suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines
Entertainer Bob HopeEntertainer Bob Hope 1953 - "TV
Guide" publishes 1st issue
1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film,
entitled House of Wax.
1954 - WECT TV channel 6 in Wilmington, NC (NBC/CBS) begins
broadcasting
1955 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1957 - Howard Hanson's "Song of Democracy,"
premieres in Wash DC
1957 - Suez Canal cleared for all shipping
1959 - Balt Orioles pull their 2nd triple play (3-6-3 vs
Wash Senators)
1959 - Bill Sharman hits a NBA record 56 consecutive foul
shot
1959 - NASA names 1st 7 astronauts for Project Mercury
1959 - 13th NBA Championship: Bost Celtics sweep Minn Lakers
in 4 games Boston Celtics wins 8th straight title
1960 - 14th NBA Championship: Bost Celtics beat St Louis
Hawks, 4 games to 3
1960 - South African premier Verwoerd wounded in battle
1962 - 26th Golf Masters Championship: Arnold Palmer wins,
shooting a 280
1962 - 34th Academy Awards - "West Side Story,"
Sophia Loren & Max Schell win
1962 - JFK throws out 1st ball at Washington's new DC Stadium
Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston
ChurchillSoldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 1963 -
Winston Churchill becomes 1st honorary US citizen
1965 - Beatles "Ticket to Ride" is released in UK
1965 - India & Pakistan engage in border fight
1965 - 1st game at Astrodome, Houston beats Yankees 2-1 in
exhibition as Mickey Mantle hits 1st indoor homerun
1966 - Anaheim Stadium for California Angels opens
1967 - "At the Drop of Another Hat" closes at
Booth NYC after 105 perfs
1967 - 1st Boeing 737 rolls out
1967 - 31st Golf Masters Championship: Gay Brewer Jr wins,
shooting a 280
1967 - Shortwave broadcaster Radio NY Worldwide's
transmitter burns down
1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden
flight.
1968 - German DR adopts constitution
1968 - Martin Luther King Jr, buried in Atlanta
1968 - Minn's Wayne Connelly is 1st to score on a Stanley
Cup penalty shot
1968 - Ralph Aberbathy elected to head So Christian
Leadership Conference
1969 - 1st flight of Concorde 002 (Filton-Bristol)
Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King
Jr.Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. 1969 - Chic Cub
Billy Williams hits 4 consecutive doubles beat Phillies 11-3
1971 - Ringo releases "It Don't Come Easy" in UK
1972 - "Sugar" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for
506 performances
1972 - 36th Golf Masters Championship: Jack Nicklaus wins,
shooting a 286
1972 - Glenn Turner (259) & Terry Jarvis make 387
opening cricket stand v WI
1972 - USSR & Iraq sign friendship treaty
1973 - 37th Golf Masters Championship: Tommy Aaron wins,
shooting a 283
1973 - Netherlands recognizes North Vietnam
1973 - Otto Kerner, former governor of Illinois, convicted
for his role in an illegal racetrack scheme
1974 - Padres owner Ray Kroc, addresses fans "Ladies
& gentlemen, I suffer with you I've never seen such stupid baseball playing
in my life"
1976 - US & Russia agreed on size of nuclear tests for
peaceful use
1977 - Communist party in Spain allowed legally after 40
years
1978 - 42nd Golf Masters Championship: Gary Player wins,
shooting a 277
1978 - Brewers sweep Orioles 11-3, 16-3, & 13-5 (each
with a grand slam)
1978 - David Thompson scores ties 3rd highest total in the
NBA - 73
MacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray KrocMacDonalds Entreprenuer Ray
Kroc 1978 - Denver's David Thompson scores 73 points & San Antonio's George
Gervin scores 63 points in separate NBA games (33 in 1 quarter)
1979 - 51st Academy Awards - "Deer Hunter," Jon
Voight & Jane Fonda win
1980 - Belgium's Marten's government resigns
1980 - Kings tie NHL rec with 2 shorthanded playoff goals in
a pd vs Isles
1980 - Soyuz 35 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6
1981 - LA Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela's 1st start, beats
Astros 2-0
1981 - US sub George Washington rams Japanese freighter
Nisso Maru
1982 - LA Lakers block 21 Denver shots setting NBA
regulation game record
1983 - 6th Space Shuttle Mission-Challenger 1 returns to
Earth
1983 - Caps 2-Isles 6 -Patrick Semis-Denis Potvin fails on
penalty shot
1984 - 56th Academy Awards - "Terms of
Endearment," R Duvall & S Maclaine win
1985 - White Sox pitcher Tom Seaver starts a record 15th
opening day game
1986 - "Dallas" announces it will revive killed
Bobby Ewing character
1987 - For 3rd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 goals in a
Stanley Cup game Wayne Gretzky passes Jean Beliveau as all time playoff scoring
champ
1988 - "Les Miserables," opens at Umeda-Koma
Theatre, Osaka
NHL all-time top scorer Wayne GretzkyNHL all-time top scorer
Wayne Gretzky 1988 - Devils 3-0 over Islanders-Devils lead 2-1 in 1st round
1988 - US imposes economic sanctions on Panama
1989 - 53rd Golf Masters Championship: Nick Faldo wins,
shooting a 283
1989 - Mike Tyson strikes a parking attendant when asked to
move his car
1989 - Patti Rizzo wins LPGA Red Robin Kyocera Inamori Golf
Classic
1989 - Rickey Henderson steals his 800th career base in NY's
4-3 loss to Clev
1989 - Scott Hoch chokes on 18 inch putt & loses Masters
golf tournament
1989 - Wash DC march supporting 1973 Roe vs Wade decision
(allow abortions)
1990 - "Capital News" starring Lloyd Bridges
premieres on ABC-TV
1990 - Don Mattingly signs a $19.7 million 5-year contract
with Yankees
1990 - NY Islanders beat NY Rangers 4-3 in double
overtime-Rangers lead 2-1
1990 - World's largest bunny hop at Radio City Music Hall
(NYC)
1991 - Georgia SSR votes to secede from USSR
1992 - "Redwood Curtain" opens at Neiderlander
theater on Broadway
1992 - Florida drops rape charges against NY Mets Gooden,
Boston & Coleman
1992 - John Majors, (C) elected PM of England
1992 - Noriega convicted on 8 of 10 drug & racketeering
charges
1992 - Record 18 golfers shoot in 60s in Masters round 1
(old record 12)
1992 - US Fed court finds Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega
guilty of drugs
1992 - William O Studeman, becomes deputy director of CIA
1993 - Colorado Rockies 1st home game & 1st victory,
11-4 over Mont Expos
1994 - BPAA US Open by Justin Hromek
1994 - STS-59 (Endeavour) launches into orbit
1995 - "Translations" closes at Plymouth Theater
NYC after 25 performances
1995 - 59th Golf Masters Championship: Ben Crenshaw wins,
shooting a 274
1997 - Cleve Indians closer Jose Mesa found guilty of rape
1997 - Major League Soccer announces Miami & Chicago
expansion
1997 - NFL announces it will give $3M to CFL & possible
"World Classic Bowl"
1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, President of Niger, is
assassinated.
2000 - 64th Golf Masters Championship: Vijay Singh wins,
shooting a 278
Consort of George VI & mother of Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen MotherConsort of George VI & mother of Queen
Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother 2002 - Funeral of Queen
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother at Westminster Abbey UK. More than a million people
line the streets
2003 - Baghdad falls to U.S. forces resulting in widespread
looting
2006 - 70th Golf Masters Championship: Phil Mickelson wins,
shooting a 281
2011 - A gunman murdered five people, injured eleven, and
committed suicide in a mall in the Netherlands.
2012 - The Lion King becomes highest grossing Broadway show
after overtaking The Phantom of the Opera
2013 - 12 civilians and UN peacekeepers are killed in an
ambush in Jonglei, Sudan
2013 - 37 people are killed and 850 are injured after a
magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Iran
2013 - 13 people are killed and 3 are injured from a
shooting spree in Velika Ivanča, Serbia
2013 - The French Senate approves a bill for same-sex
marriage
0193 - In the Balkans, the distinguished soldier Septimius Seversus was proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum. 0715 - Constantine ended his reign as Catholic Pope. 1241 - In the Battle of Liegnitz, Mongol armies defeated the Poles and the Germans. 1454 - The city states of Venice, Milan and Florence signed a peace agreement at Lodi, Italy. 1667 - In Paris, The first public art exhibition was held at the Palais-Royale. 1682 - Robert La Salle claimed the lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France. 1770 - Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay on the Australian continent. 1833 - Peterborough, NH, opened the first municipally supported public library in the United States. 1838 - The National Galley opened in London. 1865 - At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in the parlor of Wilmer McClean's home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep their sidearms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops. 1866 - The Civil Rights Bill passed over U.S. President Andrew Johnson's veto. 1867 - The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty with Russia that purchased the territory of Alaska by one vote. 1869 - The Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to Canada. 1870 - The American Anti-Slavery Society was dissolved. 1872 - S.R. Percy received a patent for dried milk. 1900 - British forces routed the Boers at Kroonstadt, South Africa. 1905 - The first aerial ferry bridge went into operation in Duluth, MN. 1912 - The first exhibition baseball game was held at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was between Red Sox and Harvard. 1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opened. 1914 - In London, the first full-color film, "The World, The Flesh & the Devil," was shown. 1916 - The German army launched it’s third offensive during the Battle of Verdun. 1917 - The Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops began a massive assault on Vimy Ridge. 1918 - Latvia proclaimed its independence. 1921 - The Russo-Polish conflict ended with signing of Riga Treaty. 1928 - Mae West made her debut on Broadway in the production of "Diamond Lil." 1940 - Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. 1942 - In the Battle of Bataan, American and Filipino forces were overwhelmed by the Japanese Army. 1945 - National Football League officials decreed that it was mandatory for football players to wear socks in all league games. 1945 - At Bari, Italy, the Liberty exploded and killed 360 people. The ship was carrying aerial bombs. 1947 - 169 people were killed and 1,300 were injured by a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 1950 - Bob Hope made his first television appearance on "Star-Spangled Review" on NBC-TV. 1957 - The Suez Canal was cleared for all shipping. 1959 - NASA announced the selection of America's first seven astronauts. 1963 - Winston Churchill became the first honorary U.S. citizen. 1965 - "TIME" magazine featured a cover with the entire "Peanuts" comic gang. 1965 - The Houston Astrodome held its first baseball game. 1967 - The first Boeing 737 was rolled out for use. 1968 - Murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was buried. 1976 - The U.S. and Russia agreed on the size of nuclear tests for peaceful use. 1981 - The U.S. Submarine George Washington struck and sunk a small Japanese freighter in the East China Sea. The Nissho Maru's captain and first mate died. 1983 - The space shuttle Challenger concluded it first flight. 1984 - Nicaragua asked the World Court to declare U.S. support for guerilla raids illegal. 1985 - Japanese Premier Nakasone urged Japanese people to buy foreign products. 1986 - It was announced that Patrick Duffy's character on the TV show Dallas would be returning after being killed off. 1987 - Dikye Baggett became the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson’s disease. 1988 - The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Panama. 1989 - 16 civilians were killed during rioting in Soviet Georgia. 1989 - Hundreds of thousands marched past the White House in support of the right to abortion. 1991 - Georgia voted to secede from the U.S.S.R. 1992 - Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami, FL, of eight drug and racketeering charges. 1998 - The National Prisoner of War Museum opened in Andersonville, GA, at the site of an infamous Civil War camp. 1998 - More than 150 Muslims died in stampede in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on last day of the haj pilgrimage. 1999 - In Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh of the ruling Popular Rally for Progress and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy was elected president. 1999 - In Niger, President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was assassinated. Daouda Malam Wanke was designated president two days later. 2000 - CBS-TV aired "Failsafe." It was the first live full-length show to by aired by CBS in 39 years.
1731 Robert Jenkins's ear was cut off, sparking the War of Jenkins’s Ear between Spain and England. 1865 Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. 1914 The first full-color film, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, was shown in London. 1939 Contralto Marian Anderson, after being denied performing at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., gave a concert at the Lincoln Memorial. 1942 American and Philippine troops on Bataan were overwhelmed by Japanese forces during World War II. The "Bataan Death March" began soon after. 1959 NASA announced the selection of America’s first astronauts, including Alan Shepard and John Glenn. 1963 Winston Churchill became the first honorary U.S. citizen. 1992 Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted of drug and racketeering charges. 2003 American Marines pulled down Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad after U.S. commanders declared his rule ended. 2005 Britain's Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr09.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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