April 9 in history — What Happened Today in History

Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.

The Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement is signed for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 mi2) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.

An Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia collides in mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Gadsden, Alabama, killing both of the Cessna's occupants.

Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it and killing two Japanese sailors.

The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.

The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford with Brian Trubshaw as the test pilot.

The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.

Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.

Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".

The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.

Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines

Japan Air Lines Flight 301 crashes into Mount Mihara, Izu Ōshima, Japan, killing 37.

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.

Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist terror groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 Palestinians.

The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.

About 500 postal workers in Tel Aviv and Jaffa went on strike.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident, is executed by the Nazi regime.

World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.

World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.

The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.

World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends and the Bataan Death March begins.

World War II: An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.

World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.

Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player

Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer

Demi Vermeulen, Dutch Paralympic equestrian

Bladee, Swedish rapper and singer

Joey Pollari, American actor

Alexandra Hunt, American politician

Raheem Mostert, American football player

Gai Assulin, Israeli footballer

Ryan Kelly, American basketball player

Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer

Kristen Stewart, American actress

Ryan Williams, American football player

Bianca Belair, American wrestler

Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1931)

Margaret Rule, British marine archaeologist (born 1928)

Nina Companeez, French director and screenwriter (born 1937)

Alexander Dalgarno, English physicist and academic (born 1928)

Ivan Doig, American journalist and author (born 1939)

Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Chinese-American academic (born 1909)

Gil Askey, American trumpet player, composer, and producer (born 1925)

Chris Banks, American football player (born 1973)

Rory Ellinger, American lawyer and politician (born 1941)

Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, academic, and politician (born 1941)

Aelay Narendra, Indian politician (born 1946)

A. N. R. Robinson, Trinbagonian politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (born 1926)

Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Serbian author (born 1933)