Today in History

Today is Tuesday, April 9, the 99th day of 2019. There are 266 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 9, 1968, funeral services, private and public, were held for Martin Luther King Jr. at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and Morehouse College in Atlanta, five days after the civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

On this date:

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 1940, during World War II, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

In 1942, during World War II, some 75,000 Philippine 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.

In 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.

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 1979, officials declared an end to the crisis involving the Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, 12 days after a partial core meltdown.

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger ended its first mission with a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1984, "Terms of Endearment" won five Academy Awards, including best picture, best actress for Shirley MacLaine and best supporting actor for Jack Nicholson.

In 1992, former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega was convicted in Miami of eight drug and racketeering charges; he served a 17-year U.S. prison sentence.

In 2003, jubilant Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad and embracing American troops as liberators.

Ten years ago: North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament appointed Kim Jong Il to a third term as leader. Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, and two others were killed in a car crash by a suspected drunken driver. (Andrew Thomas Gallo was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to 51 years to life in prison.)

Five years ago: A 16-year-old boy armed with two knives went on a rampage at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, stabbing 20 students and a security guard (all of whom survived). President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, visited Fort Hood, Texas, the scene of a shooting a week earlier in which three U.S. Army soldiers were killed by a fellow soldier who then took his own life.

One year ago: Federal agents raided the office of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, seizing records on matters including a $130,000 payment made to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump denounced Robert Mueller's Russia investigation as "an attack on our country," prompting new speculation that he might seek the removal of the Justice Department's special counsel. Opening statements began in the retrial of Bill Cosby, charged with drugging and molesting Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home. (Cosby was convicted and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.) Facebook began alerting some users that their data had been swept up in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. Fleetwood Mac announced that singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham would not be part of the band's new tour. (The tour began in October with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn replacing Buckingham.)

Today's Birthdays: Satirical songwriter and mathematician Tom Lehrer is 91. Naturalist Jim Fowler is 89. Actor Jean-Paul Belmondo is 86. Actress Michael Learned is 80. Country singer Margo Smith is 77. Country singer Hal Ketchum is 66. Actor Dennis Quaid is 65. Comedian Jimmy Tingle is 64. Country musician Dave Innis (Restless Heart) is 60. Talk show host Joe Scarborough is 56. Actress-sports reporter Lisa Guerrero is 55. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is 55. Actor Mark Pellegrino is 54. Actress-model Paulina Porizkova is 54. Actress Cynthia Nixon is 53. Rock singer Kevin Martin (Candlebox) is 50. TV personality Sunny Anderson is 44. Rock singer Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) is 42. Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam is 40. Rock musician Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes) is 39. Actor Charlie Hunnam is 39. Actor Ryan Northcott is 39. Actor Arlen Escarpeta is 38. Actor Jay Baruchel is 37. Actress Annie Funke is 34. Actor Jordan Masterson is 33. Actress Leighton Meester is 33. Actor-singer Jesse McCartney is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Jazmine Sullivan is 32. Actress Kristen Stewart is 29. Actress Elle Fanning is 21. Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright is 20. Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho is 19.

Thought for Today: "The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945).