SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci
were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the
country.

Muhammad Ali (center) refused induction into the U.S. Army on this
day in 1967 and was stripped of his boxing title. He cited religious
grounds for his refusal.

A recruiting sergeant talks to Ali at the induction center in Houston. 

A Russian rocket launched from Central Asia with the first space
tourist aboard on this day in 2001. The crew consisted of California businessman Dennis Tito (61) and two cosmonauts. The destination
was the international space station.

Dennis Tito Returns From Space Voyage.

Young Jay Leno High School Photo.

James Douglas Muir Leno is 68 years old today. He was born in New Rochelle, New York.

Stand-up comedian Jay Leno hosted The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2014 and
had gained additional fame for his exquisite car collection (below). He was
inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2014.

Fidel Castro looks up at the Jefferson Memorial on April 16, 1959
during his visit to the United States.

Four months after leading a successful revolution in Cuba, Fidel Castro
visits the United States. The visit was marked by tensions between both 
Castro and the American government.

DAVID MELENDY

In Blacksburg, VA, on this day in 2007, a student killed 33 people at Virginia Tech before killing himself.

The 23-year-old student gunman Seung-Hui Cho.

In Texas City, TX. on this day in 1947, the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up, leaving
576 people dead.

    
   

On this day in 1917, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution after years of exile.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (April 16, 1889 – December 25, 1977)

Comedic silent film icon Charlie Chaplin gained world fame for portraying
his character, The Tramp (1915) and starred in The Great Dictator (1940)
and Modern Times. He had a career that lasted over 75 years, and became
one of the most important people in film history.

On this day in 1996, Britain’s Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced that they were in the process of getting
a divorce.

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 
The Rolling Stones released their debut album on this day in 1964.

   

Michael Jordan played his last NBA game on this day in 2003.

Michael Jordan, who was on the bench and unlikely to enter the game,
was re-inserted into the line-up by Washington Wizards coach Doug
Collins with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter after the crowd of 20,000+
chanted Michael’s name.

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1951, President Harry S.Truman (above) addressed the 
Nation to announce the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur as 
head of United Nations forces in Korea.

From left: President Harry S.Truman shakes hands with General
Douglas MacArthur at the Wake Island Conference in 1950.

Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne on this day in 1814. The allied European nations had marched into Paris on March 30,

During World War II on this day in 1945, American soldiers liberated
the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in Germany.

A group of survivors in Buchenwald at liberation.

Free Inmates of the concentration camp Buchenwald near Weimar, Germany, march to receive treatment at an American hospital after
the camp was liberated.

On this day in 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda
as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon
that was disrupted when an explosion crippled the spacecraft. The astronauts did return safely.

From left to right are mission commander Jim Lovell, command
module pilot John Swigert and lunar module pilot Fred W. Haise.

The crewmembers of Apollo 13 step aboard the USS Iwo Jima
following splashdown and recovery operations in the south
Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970.

SANDY KOZEL

At Appomattox Court House, Virginia on this day in 1865, General Robert E.
Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant
in the parlor of Wilmer McClean’s home. Grant allowed Rebel officers to keep
their side arms and permitted soldiers to keep their horses and mules. Though there were still Confederate armies in the field, the war was officially over. The
four years of fighting had killed 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops.

On this day in 2003, Saddam Hussein’s statue is toppled in Baghdad.

NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts
on this day in 1959.

On this day in 1939, Marian Anderson sang a landmark 1939
concert at the Lincoln Memorial, and blazed a trail for other
black classical singers.

More than 75,000 people come to the Lincoln Memorial on that
Easter Sunday to hear Anderson. She had been scheduled to
sing at Washington’s Constitution Hall, but the Daughters of
the American Revolution, a political organization that helped
manage the concert hall, denied her the right to perform
because of her race. Instead, and at the urging of Eleanor
Roosevelt who had resigned the DAR in protest of their
decision, Marian performed a free open air-concert at the
Lincoln Memorial.

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993)

Britain’s Prince Charles with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall acknowledges the crowd at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in England following their wedding on this day in 2005.

The Official Wedding photograph of Prince Charles and Camilla
with Prince Harry, Prince William, Laura and Tom Parker Bowles.