TODAY IN HISTORY

1865

President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

1917

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the same day an American cargo ship, the SS Housatonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats.

1959

Rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

1966

The Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

1988

The U.S. House of Representatives handed President Ronald Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his request for $36.2million in new aid to the Nicaraguan Contras by a vote of 219-211.

1998

A U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.