>On April 7, 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

On April 7, 1915, Billie Holiday, who is considered to have been one of the great American jazz singers, was born. Following her death on July 17, 1959, her obituary appeared in The Times.

1927 ~ An audience in New York saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television.

1939 ~ Italy invaded Albania.

1947 ~ Auto pioneer Henry Ford died at age 83.

1948 ~ The World Health Organization was founded.

1949 ~ The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” opened on Broadway.

1953 ~ The U.N. General Assembly elected Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden to be secretary-general.

1957 ~ New York City’s last electric trolley completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan.

1969 ~ The Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.

1976 ~ China’s leadership deposed Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping.

1990 ~ Former national security adviser John M. Poindexter was convicted of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. (A federal appeals court later reversed the convictions.)

1990 ~ A display of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs opened at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center; the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges.

1994 ~ Civil war erupted in Rwanda, a day after a plane crash claimed the lives of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.

~ ON THIS DAY ~