TUESDAY, APRIL 9

TODAY IN HISTORY

1865

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the U.S. Civil War after nearly four years.

On this date

1413

The coronation of England’s King Henry V took place in Westminster Abbey.

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.

1940

Duringworldwar II, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

1942

Duringworldwar II, some 75,000Philippine 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.

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.

1979

Officials declared an end to the crisis involving the Three Mile Island Unit 2nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, 12days after a partial core meltdown.

1996

In a dramatic shift of pursestring power, President Bill Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. (The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.)

2003

Jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad.

2005

Britain’s Prince Charles married longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles, who took the title Duchess of Cornwall.