On April 10, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was incorporated.
In 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.
In 1932, German President Paul Von Hindenburg was reelected in a runoff, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.
In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals.
In 1963, the fast-attack nuclear submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank during deep-diving tests east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in a disaster that claimed 129 lives.
In 1971, a table tennis team from the United States arrived in China at the invitation of the communist government for a goodwill visit that came to be known as “ping-pong diplomacy.”
In 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union joined some 70 nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.
In 1974, Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel.
In 1998, the Northern Ireland peace talks concluded as negotiators reached a landmark settlement to end 30 years of bitter rivalries and bloody attacks.
In 2005, Tiger Woods won his fourth Masters with a spectacular finish of birdies and bogeys.
In 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczynski (lehk kah-CHIN’-skee), 60, was killed in a plane crash in western Russia that also claimed the lives of his wife and top Polish political, military and church officials.
In 2019, scientists released the first image ever made of a black hole, revealing a fiery, doughnut-shaped object in a galaxy 53 million light-years from earth.
In 2020, on Good Friday, Pope Francis presided over a torch-lit procession in St. Peter’s Square, which was otherwise empty because of the coronavirus; nurses and doctors were among those holding a cross.