TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 9
193 In the Balkans, the distinguished soldier Septimius Severus is proclaimed emperor by the army in Illyricum.
715 Constantine ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1483 Edward V (aged 12) succeeds his father Edward IV as king of England. He is never crowned, and disappears presumed murdered, after incarceration in the Tower of London with his younger brother Richard (the “Princes in the Tower”)
1682 Robert La Salle claims lower Mississippi River and all lands that touch it for France.
1731 British Captain Robert Jenkins loses an ear to a band of Spanish brigands, starting a war between Britain and Spain: The War of Jenkins’ Ear.
1768 John Hancock refuses to allow two British customs agents to go below deck of his ship, considered by some to be the first act of physical resistance to British authority in the colonies
1770 Captain James Cook discovers Botany Bay on the Australian continent.
1860 French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville used his phonautograph, the earliest known sound recording device, to capture himself singing the French folk song “Au clair de la lune”.
1865 General Robert E. Lee surrenders his rebel forces to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Va.
1866 The Civil Rights Bill passed over U.S. President Andrew Johnson’s veto.
1872 S.R. Percy received a patent for dried milk.
1914 The first full-color film, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, was shown in London.
1927 Mae West is Arrested during her starring role in the play “Sex” which she wrote, produced, directed and starred in on Broadway. She was prosecuted on morals charges and sentenced to 10 days in jail for public obscenity.
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 becomes the first honorary U.S. citizen.
1966 The statue of Winston Churchill is dedicated at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.
1970 Paul McCartney announces the official break-up of the Beatles.
1974 As oil prices continue to rise major debates are continuing in Government over the increased use of Nuclear power for electricity production or increasing the number of Coal Fired plants with opponents on both sides due to safety and environmental concerns
1984 Nicaragua asked the World Court to declare U.S. support for guerilla raids illegal.
1989 Hundreds of thousands marched past the White House in support of the right to abortion.
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.
2003 Baghdad falls to U.S. forces ending the invasion of Iraqi but resulting in widespread looting
2009 The U.S. has stopped running its global network of secret prisons, according to the C.I.A. Director Leon Panetta. “C.I.A. no longer operates detention facilities or black sites,” he has written. He went on to say that the any remaining sites would be decommissioned.
2012 Twelve people died and another thirty were injured after a bomb exploded in a busy market in the town of Baidoa in Somalia.
2014 A sixteen year old suspect went into a school near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with two knives and stabbed twenty-two people.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
