TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS PALM SUNDAY, April 9, the 99th day of 2017. There are 266 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1942, during World War II, some 75,000 Philippine and American defenders on Bataan surrendered to Japanese troops, who forced the prisoners to travel on foot more than 60 miles to a prison camp in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Thousands died or were killed en route.
In 1682, French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France.
In 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
In 1913, the first game was played at Ebbets Field, the newly built home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0.
In 1939, singer Marian Anderson performed a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In 1947, a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas claimed 181 lives.
In 1959, NASA presented its first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.
In 1965, the newly built Astrodome in Houston featured its first baseball game, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York Yankees, with President Lyndon B. Johnson in attendance. The Astros won, 2-1, in 12 innings.
In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger ended its first mission with a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 1996, in a dramatic shift of pursestring power, President Bill Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner is 91. Satirical songwriter and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 89. Naturalist Jim Fowler is 87. Country singer Margo Smith is 75. Country singer Hal Ketchum is 64. Actor Dennis Quaid is 63. Country musician Dave Innis (Restless Heart) is 58. Actress-sports reporter Lisa Guerrero is 53. Actress Cynthia Nixon is 51. Rock singer Kevin Martin (Candlebox) is 48. Rock singer Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) is 40. Rock musician Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), and actors Charlie Hunnam and Ryan Northcott are 37. Actor Jay Baruchel is 35. Actor Jordan Masterson and actress Leighton Meester are 31. Actress Kristen Stewart is 27. Actress Elle Fanning is 19. Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho is 17.