April 9
Today in America's Present Past
1597 | Cleric John Davenport was born.
1768 | War of Independence: John Hancock denied British government agents the ability to inspect his ship (Liberty), considered the colonies’ first physical act of rebellion.
1784 | War of Independence: The Treaty of Paris, signed September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War was ratified by all parties.
1833 | The first American tax-subsidized government library was opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
1864 | Civil War: The Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana.
1865 | Civil War: Confederate forces surrendered at Appomattox, concluding the American Civil War.
1865 | General Thomas Alfred Smyth died.
1866 | Congress: An override of Democrat President Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Act was passed.
1867 | Congress: The U.S Senate approved the purchase of Alaska.
1872 | Entrepreneur Erastus Corning died.
1899 | SCOTUS: Justice Stephen Johnson Field died.
1905 | Politician J. William Fulbright was born.
1909 | Congress: The Payne-Aldrich tariff passed.
1926 | Publisher Hugh Hefner was born.
1932 | Musician Carl Perkins was born.
1939 Civil Rights: After contralto, Marian Anderson was denied singing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall; she performed to a crowd of 75,000 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
1942 | WWII: Japanese forces forced marched 75,000 Allied soldiers in what is known as the “The Bataan Death March” began.
1950 | TV: Bob Hope’s first television appearance.
1954 | Actor Dennis Quaid was born.
1959 | Architect Frank Lloyd Wright died.
1963 | Winston Churchill becomes the first “honorary” U.S. Citizen.
1963 | Politician and TV comentator Joe Scarborough was born.
1966 | Actress Cynthia Nixon was born.
1968 | Civil War: MLK-related riots continue in Kansas City, Missouri.
1968 | Martin Luther King, Jr. was buried in Atlanta, Georgia.
1990 | Actress Kristen Stewart was born.
1996 | Author Richard Condon died.
1999 | Musician Lil Nas X was born.
2003 | War on Terror: Baghdad surrendered to U.S. forces.
2019 | Author Charles Van Doren died.