Today in History: April 9, Lee surrenders to Grant
Today in History
Today is Saturday, April 9, the 99th day of 2022. There are 266 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
On this date:
In 1413, the coronation of England’s King Henry V took place in Westminster Abbey.
In 1939, Marian Anderson performed a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after the Black singer was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In 1940, during World War II, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
In 1942, during World War II, some 75,000 Philippine and American defenders on Bataan surrendered to Japanese troops, who forced the prisoners into what became known as the Bataan Death March; thousands died or were killed en route.
In 1959, NASA presented its first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 91, died in Phoenix, Arizona.
In 1968, funeral services, private and public, were held for Martin Luther King Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and Morehouse College in Atlanta, five days after the civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1979, officials declared an end to the crisis involving the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, 12 days after a partial core meltdown.
In 1996, in a dramatic shift of purse-string power, President Bill Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. (However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.)
In 2003, jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad and embracing American troops as liberators.
In 2005, Britain’s Prince Charles married longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles, who took the title Duchess of Cornwall.
In 2010, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his retirement. (His vacancy was filled by Elena Kagan.)
In 2020, the government reported that 6.6 million people had sought unemployment benefits in the preceding week, bringing the total to 16.8 million in the three weeks since the coronavirus outbreak took hold. The Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones, telling him to stop pitching bogus remedies for the coronavirus.
Ten years ago: A Florida special prosecutor said a grand jury would not look into the Trayvon Martin case, leaving the decision of whether to charge the teen’s shooter in her hands alone. (Prosecutor Angela Corey ended up filing second-degree murder charges against George Zimmerman, who pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense; Zimmerman was acquitted at trial.)
Five years ago: Suicide bombers struck hours apart at two Coptic churches in northern Egypt, killing 43 people and turning Palm Sunday services into scenes of horror and outrage. Dr. David Dao, a passenger on a United Express flight about to take off for Louisville, Kentucky, was dragged off the plane by security officers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to make room for four airline employees; the incident was captured on video that went viral. (United reached a settlement with Dao.) Sergio Garcia beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at the Masters for his first major.
One year ago: Britain’s Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died at the age of 99; he was Britain’s longest-serving consort. Hip-hop icon DMX died at a hospital in White Plains, New York, days after suffering what officials called a catastrophic cardiac arrest; the Grammy-nominated rapper and actor was 50. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark died in New York at age 93. A trio of Russian and American space travelers launched successfully from Kazakhstan and reached the International Space Station. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a partial ban on no-knock warrants a year after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. The National Labor Relations Board said workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama had voted against forming a union. San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove pitched the first no-hitter in the team’s history, a 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers.
Today’s Birthdays: Satirical songwriter and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 94. Actor Michael Learned is 83. Country singer Margo Smith is 80. Actor Dennis Quaid is 68. Comedian Jimmy Tingle is 67. Country musician Dave Innis (Restless Heart) is 63. Talk show host Joe Scarborough is 59. Actor-sports reporter Lisa Guerrero is 58. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is 58. Actor Mark Pellegrino is 57. Actor-model Paulina Porizkova is 57. Actor Cynthia Nixon is 56. Rock singer Kevin Martin (Candlebox) is 53. TV personality Sunny Anderson is 47. Rock singer Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) is 45. Actor Keshia Knight Pulliam is 43. Rock musician Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes) is 42. Actor Charlie Hunnam is 42. Actor Ryan Northcott is 42. Actor Arlen Escarpeta is 41. Actor Jay Baruchel is 40. Actor Annie Funke is 37. Actor Jordan Masterson is 36. Actor Leighton Meester is 36. Actor-singer Jesse McCartney is 35. R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan is 35. Actor Kristen Stewart is 32. Actor Elle Fanning is 24. Rapper Lil Nas X is 23. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright is 23. Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho (ee-VAYN’-koh) is 22.
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