April 9 Events

193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeats the Polish and German armies.
1413 - Henry V is crowned King of England.
1667: First public art exhibition opens in Paris.
1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
1865 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
1867 - Alaska purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
1909 - The U.S. Congress passes the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act.
1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opens.
1916 - World War I: Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
1917 - World War I: Battle of Arras - The battle begins with Canadian forces executing a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
1937 - The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London - it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
1939 - Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after having been refused the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
1940 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
1942 - World War II: Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March - United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. Japanese Navy launches air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the country's East Coast.
1945 - World War II: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.
1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 - The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride of 16 black and white men traveling through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws begins. The riders, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, are seeking to force southern states to enforce the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).
1948 - Massacre at Deir Yassin.
1949 - The Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is formed.
1953 - Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film, entitled House of Wax
1959 - Mercury program: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts which the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) takes its maiden flight.
1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
1986 - The government of France rules against the privatization of French automaker Renault.
1987 - Dikye Baggett becomes the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson's disease.
1989 - April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgia: An anti-Soviet demonstration was quashed by the Soviet army.
1991 - Georgia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 - US Federal court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty on 8 of 10 drug and racketeering charges. He is serving a 30-year prison sentence.
1992 - John Major's Conservative Party wins an unprecedented fourth general election victory in the United Kingdom.
1998 - The National Prisoner of War Museum is dedicated in Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an American Civil War POW camp.
1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh is elected president of Djibouti.
1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is assassinated.
2001 - Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman announces his retirement, ending his 13-season, Hall of Fame career in the NFL
2002 - The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey.
2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: Baghdad, Iraq falls to American forces.
2005 - HRH Charles, Prince of Wales weds Camilla Parker Bowles.
2006 - Education and Sharing Day.

April 9 Births

1336 - Tamerlane, Turkish conqueror (d. 1405)
1498 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (d. 1550)
1597 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (d. 1670)
1648 - Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
1649 - James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of Great Britain (d. 1685)
1680 - Philippe Néricault Destouches, French dramatist (d. 1754)
1686 - James Craggs the Younger, British politician (d. 1721)
1691 - Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar (d. 1761)
1757 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (d. 1833)
1770 - Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
1773 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (d. 1824)
1794 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (d. 1881)
1806 - Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (d. 1859)
1821 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
1830 - Eadweard Muybridge, English-born photographer and motion picture pioneer (d. 1904)
1835 - King Léopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
1865 - Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
1867 - Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
1872 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (d. 1950)
1888 - Sol Hurok, Russian-born impresario (d. 1974)
1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
1897 - John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
1898 - Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)
1898 - Paul Robeson, American singer and activist (d. 1976)
1903 - Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
1904 - Sharkey Bonano, American musician (d. 1972)
1905 - J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
1906 - Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
1908 - Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-born painter (d. 1997)
1910 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
1912 - Lew Kopelew, Russian author (d. 1997)
1917 - Johannes Bobrowski, German lyricist, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist (d. 1965)
1917 - Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
1918 - Jørn Utzon, Danish architect
1919 - J. Presper Eckert, American computer pioneer (d. 1995)
1926 - Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher
1928 - Tom Lehrer, American musician and mathematician
1932 - Jim Fowler, American zoologist
1932 - Carl Perkins, American musician (d. 1998)
1932 - Cheeta, the longest living known chimpanzee in history
1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
1934 - Bill Birch, New Zealand politician
1935 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (d. 2002)
1937 - Marty Krofft, children's television producer
1938 - Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician
1939 - Michael Learned, American actress
1942 - Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
1945 - Peter Gammons, baseball journalist
1946 - David Webb, English footballer, and football coach
1948 - Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress
1954 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
1954 - Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
1957 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
1962 - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
1964 - Rick Tocchet, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 - Jeff Zucker, American television executive
1966 - Cynthia Nixon, American actress
1967 - Rajendra Yadav, Indian doctor
1971 - Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
1974 - Jenna Jameson, American porn star
1975 - Robbie Fowler, English footballer
1977 - Gerard Way, American singer (My Chemical Romance)
1978 - Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
1978 - Rachel Stevens, English singer
1978 - Vesna Pisarovic´, Croatian singer
1979 - Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
1981 - Milan Bartovic¼, Slovak ice hockey player
1981 - Eric Harris, Columbine High school shooter
1986 - Brian Larsen, American musician and record producer
1987 - Jesse McCartney, American singer/actor
1990 - Kristen Stewart, American actress
1998 - Elle Fanning, American child actress

April 9 Deaths

491 - Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
715 - Pope Constantine
1024 - Pope Benedict VIII
1137 - William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
1483 - King Edward IV of England (b. 1442)
1484 - Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473)
1553 - François Rabelais, French writer
1557 - Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. 1510)
1626 - Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist (b. 1561)
1654 - Matei Basarab, Prince of Wallachia (b. 1588)
1693 - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)
1739 - Nicolas Saunderson, English scientist and mathematician (b. 1682)
1747 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief
1754 - Christian Wolff, German philosopher (b. 1679)
1761 - William Law, British minister (b. 1686)
1804 - Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
1806 - William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
1889 - Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)
1917 - James Hope Moulton, British scholar of Classical Greek (b. 1863)
1936 - Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (b. 1855)
1940 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, British actress (b. 1865)
1944 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1920)
1945 - Wilhelm Canaris, German Nazi leader (b. 1887)
1945 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
1948 - George Carpenter, Australian Salvation Army general (b. 1872)
1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
1951 - Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist (b. 1862)
1959 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
1961 - King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
1963 - Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
1976 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist (b. 1903)
1976 - Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
1988 - Brook Benton, American singer (b. 1931)
1991 - Martin Hannett, record producer (b. 1948)
1996 - Richard Condon, American novelist (b. 1915)
1996 - James W. Rouse, American real estate developer, activist, and philanthropist (b. 1914)
1999 - Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Niger politician and general (b. 1949)
2001 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (b. 1940)
2002 - Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
2005 - Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b. 1946)
2006 - Billy Hitchcock, baseball player, coach, and official (b. 1916)

Back to Calendar