1865, Union forces captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Georgia.
1899, Fred Astaire was born today. He died in 1987.
1902, David O. Selznick was born today. He died in 1965.
1924, the FBI appointed J. Edgar Hoover as director, a post he held until his death in 1972.
1930, In Chicago, the first U.S. planetarium opened.
1940, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned, and Winston Churchill formed a new government.
1954, Bill Haley recorded the rock-and-roll classic “Rock Around The Clock.”
1969, the National and American Football Leagues announced plans to merge for the 1970-71 season. The merger formed two conferences of 13 teams each.
1978, Britain’s Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II‘s sister, and the Earl Of Snowdon announced they were divorcing after 18 years of marriage.
1979, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious is born today, he dies in 1979 at age 21.
1994, former political prisoner Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa.
1994, country singer Willie Nelson was arrested on drug possession charges in Texas after a police officer found him asleep in his car with a marijuana cigarette in the ashtray. The case was later thrown out of court and the police officer was fired.
1994, The state of Illinois executed convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murders of 33 young men and boys.
2002, spy Robert Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. Hanssen, an FBI agent, had sold U.S. secrets to Moscow over many years for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.