On this date in:
1865: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, because of advancing Union forces.
1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, âThe world must be made safe for democracy.â (Congress declared war four days later.)
1932: Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, New York, where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindberghâs kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)
1968: â2001: A Space Odyssey,â the ground-breaking science-fiction film epic produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.