🌟 Editor's Note
Good morning — it’s Thursday, April 9. We're jumping into the mystery of the Princes in the Tower, the first public art exhibit, the War of Jenkins' Ear, America's first astronauts, Baghdad's fall, and the biggest U.S. surrender ever, and much more. It's all quick, sharp, and straight to the point.
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🚀 Time Machine
-1483
Edward V, aged 12, succeeds Edward IV, but he's never crowned. Known as the "Princes in the Tower," he and his younger brother Richard disappeared from the Tower of London.
-1667
The first public art exhibition opened at the Palais-Royal in Paris.
-1731
Spanish Guarda Costa cuts off British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear in the Caribbean, sparking a war between Britain and Spain.
-1865
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House to U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War in Northern Virginia.
-1881
After a one-day trial, Billy the Kid was found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County sheriff and hanged.
-1869
Hudson's Bay Company cedes its territories to Canada.
-1940
German warships occupied Norwegian ports like Narvik and Oslo, and Copenhagen and other Danish cities were also captured.
-1942
Major General Edward P. King Jr. surrenders at Bataan, Philippines, against General Douglas MacArthur's orders, and the Japanese capture 78,000 troops (66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 Americans).
-1945
Anti-Nazi theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged at Flossenburg just days before the Americans liberated the camp.
-1959
NASA introduces America's first astronauts, selected from 32 candidates for Project Mercury, the first manned space program.
-1976
"All the President's Men", based on the non-fiction book by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, was released.
-2003
Baghdad falls to US forces, ending the invasion of Iraq, and causing widespread looting.
📸 Snapshot
Lee Harvey Oswald's possessions were collected by the police following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1963
🗨️ Last Words
“This is the end—for me, the beginning of life.”