Today in History

Today is Monday, April 9, the 100th day of 2012. There are 266 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

On April 9, 1942, during World War II, American and Philippine defenders on Bataan capitulated to Japanese forces; the surrender was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March which claimed thousands of lives.

On this date:

In 1682, French explorer Robert de La Salle claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France.

In 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

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 1947, a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas claimed 181 lives.

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, Ariz.

In 1962, “West Side Story” won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1961; Sophia Loren was named Best Actress for “Two Women,” while Maximilian Schell received the Best Actor Oscar for “Judgment at Nuremberg.”

In 1965, the newly built Astrodome in Houston featured its first baseball game, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York Yankees. (The Astros won, 2-1, in 12 innings.)

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

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 1996, in a dramatic shift of purse-string power, President Bill Clinton signed a line-item veto bill into law. (However, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the veto in 1998.)

In 2005, Britain’s Prince Charles married longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles, who took the title Duchess of Cornwall.

Ten years ago: Former Arthur Andersen auditor David B. Duncan pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to ordering the shredding of Enron documents, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors (however, Duncan later withdrew his plea). Palestinian militants killed 13 Israeli soldiers during intense fighting in a refugee camp in Jenin (juh-NEEN’), West Bank. Britain said goodbye to the Queen Mother Elizabeth with a funeral at Westminster Abbey. Figure skater Michelle Kwan won the 2001 Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.

Five years ago: Tens of thousands of Shiites marched in Iraq to demand that U.S. forces leave their country; some ripped apart American flags and tromped across a Stars and Stripes rug. President George W. Bush visited the U.S.-Mexico border to tout a guest worker program for immigrants.

One year ago: A man armed with several weapons opened fire in a crowded shopping mall in the Netherlands, killing six people before committing suicide. Minnesota Duluth won a 3-2 victory over Michigan in the NCAA men’s ice hockey championship game, the first national title for the Bulldogs. Sidney Lumet, the award-winning director of such American film classics as “Network,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “12 Angry Men,” died in New York at age 86.

Associated Press