On April 2nd...

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742 Charlemagne, King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, was born.

1416 Alfonso V became King of Aragon.

1453 Mehmed II began his siege of Constantinople.

1513 Juan Ponce de León claimed Florida for Spain.

1787 British General Thomas Gage died.

1792 The first U.S. Mint was established, in Philadelphia.

1793 President George Washington officially named William Thornton as the winner of the design competition for the U.S. Capitol.

1800 Ludwig van Beethoven's Ist Symphony in C was performed for the first time.

1801 A British fleet commanded by Horatio Nelson destroyed a Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen (Denmark).

1805 Hans Christian Andersen, writer of fairy tales, was born.

1810 Napoleon Bonaparte married Marie Louise of Austria.

1819 The first successful agricultural journal, The American Farmer, began publication.

1827 Joseph Dixon began manufacturing lead pencils in Salem, Massachusetts.

1840 Novelist Émile Zola was born.

1860 The first Italian Parliament met at Turin.

1866 President Andrew Johnson officially ended the Civil War in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

1872 George Brayton patented an internal combustion engine.
1872 Inventor Samuel F.B. Morse died.

1875 Walter Percy Chrysler, founder of the Chrysler Corporation, was born.

1877 The first Easter egg roll was held on the White House lawn.

1884 London's prison for debtors closed.

1902 Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, was assassinated in the Marie Palace, St. Petersburg.

1908 Buddy Ebsen was born.

1914 Actor Alec Guinness was born.

1917 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.

1920 Actor Jack Webb was born.

1935 Mary Hirsch became the first woman to be licensed as a horse trainer.
1935 Robert Watson-Watt received a British patent for RADAR.

1939 Singer Marvin Gaye was born.

1941 Barret Eugene Hansen, aka radio personality Dr. Demento, was born.

1942 Musician Leon Russell was born.

1945 Baseball player Don Sutton was born.

1947 An explosion and fire at a fireworks manufacturing plant in Clinton, Misouri, killed 12 persons and injured 3 others.
1947 The United Nations Security Council made the Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana Islands trusteeships of the United States.
1947 Singer Emmylou Harris was born.

1948 The U.S. Congress approved the Marshall Plan.

1949 Actor Ron Palillo was born.

1953 Actress Debralee Scott was born.

1957 The Golden Spike National Historic Site was established in Utah.
1957 A U.S. Navy bomber crashed into a field shortly after taking off from Chincoteague Naval Air Station in Virginia, killing all 11 persons aboard.
1957 A tornado that struck Dallas, Texas, killed 10 persons.

1959 Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was found guilty of abusing his powers while dictator of Colombia.

1961 Actor Christopher Meloni was born.

1966 Author C. S. Forester died.

1972 Baseball player Gil Hodges died.

1974 French President Georges Pompidou died.

1975 Actor Adam Rodriguez was born.

1977 The Montreal Canadiens set an NHL record of 34 straight home games without a loss.

1978 "Dallas" premiered on CBS-TV.
1978 Velcro was first put on the market.

1980 Stanley Reed, former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, died.

1982 Argentinian troops seized the Falkland Islands.

1986 New York City, New York, Mayor Ed Koch signed the Gay Rights Bill.
1986 The NCAA adopted the 3-point basketball rule.

1987 IBM introduced PS/2 and OS/2.
1987 Drummer Buddy Rich died.

1989 Yasser Arafat was elected President of the provisional State of Palestine.

1992 John Gotti was found guilty of 5 murders, conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery, and tax evasion.

1994 Betty Furness, actress-turned consumer advocate, died.

2003 Musician Edwin Starr died.

2005 Pope John Paul II died.

2013 Seven persons were killed in an attack on a power plant in Peshawar, Pakistan.
2013 Thirteen children were killed in a fire in a Yangon, Burma, mosque.
2013 A quarry accident in Arusha, Tanzania, killed 13 persons.
2013 Uruguay passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage.

2015 Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya and killed 140 persons.

2017 An attack on visitors to a Muslim shrine in Sargodha, Pakistan, left 20 persons dead.

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This page was last updated on January 11, 2018.