On April 9th...

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1413 Henry V was crowned King of England.

1440 Christopher of Bavaria was appointed King of Denmark.

1483 King Edward IV of England died.

1555 Marcello Cervini was elected Pope; he took the name Marcellus II.

1626 Philosopher Francis Bacon died.

1682 An expedition led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, became the first to reach the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River.

1738 Rufus Putnam, the "father of Ohio," was born.

1758 Fisher Ames, member of the first U.S. House of Representatives, was born.

1770 Physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck was born.

1792 British General John Burgoyne died.

1816 The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1830 Eadweard Muybridge, pioneer in the field of "stop-action" photography, was born.

1833 The first tax-supported public library in the United States opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

1835 King Leopold II of Belgium was born.

1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
1865 Electrical engineer Charles Proteus Steinmetz was born.

1866 The U.S.Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill over President Andrew Johnson's veto.

1870 The American Anti-Slavery Society disbanded.

1872 Samuel R. Percy patented dried milk.
1872 Léon Blum, three-time Prime Minister of France, was born.

1883 Cartoonist Frank King was born.

1889 Violinist Efrem Zimbalist was born.

1898 Curly Lambeau, founder of the Green Bay Packers, was born.
1898 Singer Paul Robeson was born.

1899 Stephen J. Field, former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, died.

1903 Actor Ward Bond was born.

1905 American politician J. William Fulbright was born.

1906 Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the British Labour Party, was born.

1910 Laotian President Nouhak Phoumsavanh was born.
1910 American politician Abraham Ribicoff was born.

1918 Latvia proclaimed its independence.

1926 Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was born.

1928 American politician Floyd Spence was born.

1932 The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup.
1932 Naturalist Jim Fowler was born.
1932 Musician Carl Perkins was born.

1935 Comedian Avery Schreiber was born.

1937 Television producer Marty Krofft was born.

1938 Viktor Chernomyrdin, Prime Minister of Russia, was born.

1939 Opera singer Marian Anderson gave a concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
1939 Actress Michael Learned was born.

1940 Denmark surrendered to Germany.

1941 The PGA established the Golf Hall of Fame.

1942 Bataan fell to the Japanese.

1945 A Liberty Ship carrying aerial bombs exploded at Bari, Italy, killing 360 persons.

1946 The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup.

1950 Jimmy Demaret won the Masters Golf Tournament.
1950 Actor Nathan Cook was born.

1952 Hugo Ballivian's government was overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution.

1953 The first issue of TV Guide was published.

1954 Actor Dennis Quaid was born.

1957 Golfer Seve Ballesteros was born.

1959 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration introduced seven military test pilots as the first U.S. "space pilots."
1959 The Washington Senators beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-2 in the opening game of the 1959 Major League Baseball season.
1959 The Minnesota Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics to win their 8th streight NBA Championship.
1959 Architect Frank Lloyd Wright died.

1960 Hendrik F. Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa, was shot by a white planter at Johannesburg.
1960 The Boston Celtics defeated the St. Louis Hawks to win the NBA Championship.

1961 Sylvanus Olympio was elected President of Togo.
1961 King Zog of Albania died.

1962 A munitions factory explosion at St. Just d'Ardèche, France, killed 16 workers and injured 15 more.
1962 Arnold Palmer won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1965 The Astrodome hosted its first game, an exhibition game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees.

1966 Anaheim Stadium, home of the California Angels, opened.
1966 Actress Cynthia Nixon was born.

1967 The first Boeing 737 made its maiden flight.
1967 Gay Brewer, Jr., won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1968 The German Democratic Republic adopted a constitution.

1971 Auto racer Jacques Villeneuve was born.

1972 Jack Nicklaus won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1973 Tommy Aaron won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1976 The film All the President's Men was released.

1978 Basketball player John Havlicek played his last game.
1978 Gary Player won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1979 Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam was born.

1981 The U.S. Navy submarine George Washington rammed the Japanese freighter Nisso Maru.

1988 The United States imposed economic sanctions on Panama.

1989 Nick Faldo won the Masters Golf Tournament.

1990 "Capital News" premiered on ABC-TV.
1990 Actress Kristen Stewart was born.

1991 Georgia S.S.R. voted to secede from the U.S.S.R.

1992 Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami of drug and racketeering charges.

1993 The Colorado Rockies won their first home game, and their first game, over the Montreal Expos, 11-4.

1995 Ben Crenshaw won the Masters Golf Tournament.

2000 Vijay Singh won the Masters Golf Tournament.

2001 Baseball player Willie Stargell died.

2003 Baghdad, Iraq, fell to U.S. troops.
2003 Eva Narcissus Boyd, singer better known as Little Eva, died.

2006 Phil Mickelson won the Masters Golf Tournament.

2010 Former U.S. Congressman Bob Franks died.

2013 A magnitude 6.1 eathquake killed 37 persons and injured 850 in Iran.
2013 A shooting spree in Velicka Ivanca, Serbia, left 13 persons dead and 3 injured.
2013 Connecticut beats Louisville 93-60 to win the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

2017 Suicide bombers attacked Egyptian Coptic churches in Tantra and Alexandria, killing at least 44 persons,
2017 A suicide car bombing killed at least 17 persons in Mogadishu, Somalia.
2017 Sergio Garcia won the Masters Golf Tournament.

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This page was last updated on January 18, 2018.