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minutes later with the loss of 1,514 lives.)
• In 1931, King Alfonso XIII of Spain went into exile, and the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed.
• In 1939, the John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" was first published by Viking Press.
• In 1949, the "Wilhelmstrasse Trial" in Nuremberg ended with 19 former Nazi Foreign Office officials sentenced by an American tribunal to prison terms ranging from four to 25 years.
• In 1956, Ampex Corp. demonstrated its videotape recorder at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters Convention in Chicago.
• In 1960, the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" opened on Broadway.
• In 1981, the first test flight of America's first operational space shuttle, the Columbia, ended successfully with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
• In 1986, Americans got word of a U.S. air raid on Libya (because of the time difference, it was the early morning of April 15 where the attack occurred.) French feminist author Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris at age 78.
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• Ten years ago: Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit fell with unexpectedly light resistance, the last Iraqi city to succumb to overpowering U.S.-led ground and air forces. U.S. commandos in Baghdad captured Abul Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro in 1985. (Abbas died in March 2004 while in U.S. custody.) Four Islamic militants were convicted in a deadly bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Pakistan. Assailants armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a handgun opened fire at John McDonogh High School in New Orleans, killing one youth and wounding three others. (Six people later received prison sentences in connection with the shooting.)
• Five years ago: Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. announced they were combining. Kidnapped British journalist Richard Butler was rescued by Iraqi troops from a house in Basra after two months in captivity. Media billionaire Silvio Berlusconi won a decisive victory in Italy's parliamentary election. Carme Chacon was sworn into office as Spain's first woman defense minister. Taylor Swift won video of the year and female video for her smash "Our Song" while newcomer Kellie Pickler took home three awards during the Country Music Television awards.
• One year ago: In Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the Titanic was built, thousands attended a choral requiem at the Anglican St. Anne's Cathedral or a nationally televised concert at the city's Waterfront Hall to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking. Eleven Secret Service agents were placed on leave as a deepening

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