http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Apr 2, 2005: Pope John Paul II Dies
On this day in 2005, John Paul II, history's most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to hold the position since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican. Six days later, two million people packed Vatican City for his funeral, said to be the biggest funeral in history.
John Paul II was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland, 35 miles southwest of Krakow, in 1920. After high school, the future pope enrolled at Krakow's Jagiellonian University, where he studied philosophy and literature and performed in a theater group. During World War II, Nazis occupied Krakow and closed the university, forcing Wojtyla to seek work in a quarry and, later, a chemical factory. By 1941, his mother, father, and only brother had all died, leaving him the sole surviving member of his family.
Although Wojtyla had been involved in the church his whole life, it was not until 1942 that he began seminary training. When the war ended, he returned to school at Jagiellonian to study theology, becoming an ordained priest in 1946. He went on to complete two doctorates and became a professor of moral theology and social ethics. On July 4, 1958, at the age of 38, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Krakow by Pope Pius XII. He later became the city s archbishop, where he spoke out for religious freedom while the church began the Second Vatican Council, which would revolutionize Catholicism. He was made a cardinal in 1967, taking on the challenges of living and working as a Catholic priest in communist Eastern Europe. Once asked if he feared retribution from communist leaders, he replied, "I m not afraid of them. They are afraid of me."
Wojtyla was quietly and slowly building a reputation as a powerful preacher and a man of both great intellect and charisma. Still, when Pope John Paul I died in 1978 after only a 34-day reign, few suspected Wojtyla would be chosen to replace him. But, after seven rounds of balloting, the Sacred College of Cardinals chose the 58-year-old, and he became the first-ever Slavic pope and the youngest to be chosen in 132 years.
A conservative pontiff, John Paul II s papacy was marked by his firm and unwavering opposition to communism and war, as well as abortion, contraception, capital punishment, and homosexual sex. He later came out against euthanasia, human cloning, and stem cell research. He traveled widely as pope, using the eight languages he spoke (Polish, Italian, French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin) and his well-known personal charm, to connect with the Catholic faithful, as well as many outside the fold.
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter s Square by a Turkish political extremist, Mehmet Ali Agca. After his release from the hospital, the pope famously visited his would-be assassin in prison, where he had begun serving a life sentence, and personally forgave him for his actions. The next year, another unsuccessful attempt was made on the pope s life, this time by a fanatical priest who opposed the reforms of Vatican II.
Although it was not confirmed by the Vatican until 2003, many believe Pope John Paul II began suffering from Parkinson s disease in the early 1990s. He began to develop slurred speech and had difficulty walking, though he continued to keep up a physically demanding travel schedule. In his final years, he was forced to delegate many of his official duties, but still found the strength to speak to the faithful from a window at the Vatican. In February 2005, the pope was hospitalized with complications from the flu. He died two months later.
Pope John Paul II is remembered for his successful efforts to end communism, as well as for building bridges with peoples of other faiths, and issuing the Catholic Church s first apology for its actions during World War II. He was succeeded by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict XVI began the process to beatify John Paul II in May 2005.
Apr 2, 1917: Wilson asks for declaration of war
On this day in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I. In his address to Congress that day, Wilson lamented it is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. Four days later, Congress obliged and declared war on Germany.
In February and March 1917, Germany, embroiled in war with Britain, France and Russia, increased its attacks on neutral shipping in the Atlantic and offered, in the form of the so-called Zimmermann Telegram, to help Mexico regain Texas, New Mexico and Arizona if it would join Germany in a war against the United States. The public outcry against Germany buoyed President Wilson in asking Congress to abandon America's neutrality to make the world safe for democracy.
Wilson went on to lead what was at the time the largest war-mobilization effort in the country's history. At first, Wilson asked only for volunteer soldiers, but soon realized voluntary enlistment would not raise a sufficient number of troops and signed the Selective Service Act in May 1917. The Selective Service Act required men between 21 and 35 years of age to register for the draft, increasing the size of the army from 200,000 troops to 4 million by the end of the war. One of the infantrymen who volunteered for active duty was future President Harry S. Truman.
In addition to raising troop strength, Wilson authorized a variety of programs in 1917 to mobilize the domestic war effort. He appointed an official propaganda group called the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to give speeches, publish pamphlets and create films that explained America's role in the war and drummed up support for Wilson's war-time policies. For example, the CPI's representatives, known as four-minute men, traveled throughout the U.S. urging Americans to buy war bonds and conserve food. Wilson appointed future President Herbert Hoover to lead the Food Administration, which cleverly changed German terms, like hamburger and sauerkraut, to more American-sounding monikers, like liberty sandwich or liberty cabbage.
Wilson hoped to convince Americans to voluntarily support the war effort, but was not averse to passing legislation to suppress dissent. After entering the war, Wilson ordered the federal government to take over the strike-plagued railroad industry to eliminate the possibility of work stoppages and passed the Espionage Act aimed at silencing anti-war protestors and union organizers. The influx of American troops, foodstuffs and financial support into the Great War contributed significantly to Germany's surrender in November 1918. President Wilson led the American delegation to Paris for the negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, a controversial treaty—which was never ratified by Congress--that some historians claim successfully dismantled Germany's war machine but contributed to the rise of German fascism and the outbreak of World War II. Wilson's most enduring wartime policy remains his plan for a League of Nations, which, though unsuccessful, laid the foundation for the United Nations.
Apr 2, 1982: Argentina invades Falklands
On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The 1,800 Falkland Islanders, mostly English-speaking sheep farmers, awaited a British response.
The Falkland Islands, located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by the British. British navigator John Davis may have sighted the islands in 1592, and in 1690 British Navy Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing on the islands. He named them after Viscount Falkland, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. In 1764, French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville founded the islands' first human settlement, on East Falkland, which was taken over by the Spanish in 1767. In 1765, the British settled West Falkland but left in 1774 for economic reasons. Spain abandoned its settlement in 1811.
In 1816 Argentina declared its independence from Spain and in 1820 proclaimed its sovereignty over the Falklands. The Argentines built a fort on East Falkland, but in 1832 it was destroyed by the USS Lexington in retaliation for the seizure of U.S. seal ships in the area. In 1833, a British force expelled the remaining Argentine officials and began a military occupation. In 1841, a British lieutenant governor was appointed, and by the 1880s a British community of some 1,800 people on the islands was self-supporting. In 1892, the wind-blown Falkland Islands were collectively granted colonial status.
For the next 90 years, life on the Falklands remained much unchanged, despite persistent diplomatic efforts by Argentina to regain control of the islands. In 1981, the Falkland Islanders voted in a referendum to remain British, and it seemed unlikely that the Falklands would ever revert to Argentine rule. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the military junta led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri was suffering criticism for its oppressive rule and economic management, and planned the Falklands invasion as a means of promoting patriotic feeling and propping up its regime.
In March 1982, Argentine salvage workers occupied South Georgia Island, and a full-scale invasion of the Falklands began on April 2. Under orders from their commanders, the Argentine troops inflicted no British casualties, despite suffering losses to their own units. Nevertheless, Britain was outraged, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher assembled a naval task force of 30 warships to retake the islands. As Britain is 8,000 miles from the Falklands, it took several weeks for the British warships to arrive. On April 25, South Georgia Island was retaken, and after several intensive naval battles fought around the Falklands, British troops landed on East Falkland on May 21. After several weeks of fighting, the large Argentine garrison at Stanley surrendered on June 14, effectively ending the conflict.
Britain lost five ships and 256 lives in the fight to regain the Falklands, and Argentina lost its only cruiser and 750 lives. Humiliated in the Falklands War, the Argentine military was swept from power in 1983, and civilian rule was restored. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher's popularity soared after the conflict, and her Conservative Party won a landslide victory in 1983 parliamentary elections.
Apr 2, 1941: "The Desert Fox" recaptures Libya
On this day in 1941, German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumes his advance into Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, signaling the beginning of what nine days later will become the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces.
Early Italian successes in East Africa, which included occupying parts of Sudan, Kenya, and British Somaliland, were soon reversed after British offensives, led by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in heavy Italian casualties and forced the Italians to retreat into Libya. But Axis control of the area was salvaged by the appearance of Rommel and the Afrika Korps, sent to East Africa by the German High Command to bail their Italian ally out.
On the verge of capturing Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Britain's forces were suddenly depleted when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill transferred British troops to Greece. Seizing the opportunity of a weakened British force, Rommel struck quickly, despite orders to remain still for two months. With 50 tanks and two fresh Italian divisions, Rommel forced the British to begin a retreat into Egypt.
Operation Battleaxe, the counteroffensive by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in little more than the loss of large numbers of British tanks to German 88mm anti-tank guns, as well as Wavell's ultimately being transferred from North Africa to India.
Rommel, known for his trademark goggles, which he pilfered from a British general's command vehicle, may have had some help in defeating his British counterpart. He was known to carry with him a book called Generals and Generalship, written by Archibald Wavell.
Rommel was portrayed by James Mason in the 1953 film The Desert Rats and by Christopher Plummer in 1967's Night of the Generals. Wavell was portrayed by Patrick Magee in the 1981 TV movie Churchill and the Generals.
Apr 2, 1972: Charlie Chaplin prepares for return to United States after two decades
On this day in 1972, the great silent film actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin prepares for his first voyage to the United States since 1952, when he was denied a re-entry visa amid questions about his leftist politics.
Born in Britain in 1889, Chaplin first became famous as the “Little Tramp” in Mack Sennett’s Keystone comedy films. Over the course of his four decades in Hollywood, Chaplin was one of the motion-picture industry’s most accomplished figures, writing, producing, directing and acting in such gems as The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1929), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). With Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith, Chaplin founded United Artists, the first major movie production company to be controlled by filmmakers instead of businessmen.
Led by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, anti-Communist hysteria had Hollywood in its grip by the end of the 1940s. Chaplin earned special scrutiny on account of his tumultuous private life (married several times to extremely young women, he was also the target of a paternity suit in 1943, which he lost) and his public support of leftist political causes. In September 1952, Chaplin and his fourth wife, Oona (the daughter of the playwright Eugene O’Neill) were en route to London for that city’s premiere of his latest film, Limelight, when they were informed by U.S. immigration services that Chaplin would be denied a re-entry visa upon his return. Bitter and angry, Chaplin vowed never to return to the United States. He moved with his family to Switzerland, and never made another American film.
Over the years, anti-Communist fervor died down in the United States, as did the animosity between Chaplin and the American government. In 1972, Chaplin planned a return visit to America to accept an honorary Academy Award. He traveled first to the British overseas territory of Bermuda, where he prepared on April 2 for his flight to the United States. The following day, according to a report in The New York Times, Chaplin arrived at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Eastern Airlines Flight 810, at three p.m. in the afternoon. As his wife guided him by the elbow to a waiting limousine, Chaplin blew kisses to the nearly 100 people (most of them members of the press) who had gathered on the airfield; some 200 other spectators watched from behind glass in the Eastern Airport Terminal.
Chaplin spent four days in New York, where the Film Society of Lincoln Center honored him in a tribute. He then flew to Los Angeles for the 44th annual Academy Awards ceremony. The 82-year-old Chaplin received a 12-minute-long standing ovation from the audience in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion that night, and was visibly moved as he accepted the award, which honored “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century."
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
999 - Gerbert of Aurillac elected as 1st French Pope
1416 - Alfonso V succeeds his father as king of Aragon
1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople
(İstanbul), which would fall on May 29.
1513 - Florida discovered, claimed for Spain by Ponce de
Leon
1550 - Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy
1559 - England/France signs 1st Treaty of Le
Cateau-Cambrésis
1559 - Genoa Italy, expels Jews
1590 - States-General appoints earl Mauritius, viceroy of
Utrecht
1595 - Cornelis de Houtman's ships depart to Asia through
Cape of Good Hope
1645 - Robert Devereux resigns as parliament supreme
commander
1745 - Austria & Bavaria sign peace
1755 - Commodore William James captures the pirate fortress
of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
1792 - US authorizes $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50
quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime &
half-dime
1792 - The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United
States Mint.
1800 - 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st
Symphony in C
1801 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen - The British
destroy the Danish fleet.
1804 - Forty merchantmen are wrecked when a convoy led by
HMS Apollo runs aground off Portugal.
1819 - 1st successful agricultural journal ("American
Farmer") begins
1827 - Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils
1845 - H L Fizeau & J Leon Foucault take 1st photo of
Sun
1860 - 1st Italian Parliament met at Turin
1863 - Bread revolt in Richmond Virginia
1864 - Skirmish at Crump's Hill (Piney Woods), Louisiana
1864 - Skirmish at Spoonville/Antoine, Arkansas
1865 - Battle of Petersburg, VA (Ft Gregg, Sutherland's
Station)
1865 - CSA President Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital
of Richmond, VA
1865 - Battle of Ft Blakely AL & Selma AL
1866 - US President Johnson ends civil war in Ala, Ark, Fla,
Ga, Miss, La, NC, SC, Tn & Va
1870 - Victoria Woodhull is 1st woman to be nominated for US
pres
1872 - George B Brayton patents gasoline powered engine
1876 - Philadelphia A's & Boston Red Caps play 1st NL
game, in Phila
1877 - 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1878 - 1st issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper
1883 - Battle at Bamako: French assault on Fabous arm forces
attack
1884 - London prison for debtors closed
1900 - 1st edition of The Volk published (Amsterdam)
1900 - The Foraker Act passes through Congress, giving
Puerto Ricans limited self-rule.
1902 - 1st motion picture theater opens (LA)
1902 - Soccer team MVV '02 forms in Maastricht
1902 - Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian
Empire, is assassinated by a terrorist in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time
movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1905 - Cairo-Capetown railway opens
1906 - South Africa complete a 4-1 series drubbing of
England
1908 - Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by
Abner Doubleday
1912 - Sun Yet Sen forms Guomindang-Party in China
1912 - Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power
1916 - German troops overtake Bois de Caillette
1st Woman Elected to Congress Jeannette Rankin1st Woman
Elected to Congress Jeannette Rankin 1917 - Jeannette Rankin (Rep-R-Mont)
begins her term as 1st woman member of US House of Reps
1917 - Pres Wilson asks Congress to declare war against
Germany
1921 - Prof Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his
new Theory of Relativity
1926 - Riots between Moslems & Hindus in Calcutta
1930 - 1st NY-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda
1931 - Teenage girl strikes out Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig
in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tennessee
1932 - Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for
kidnapped son
1935 - Mary Hirsch, becomes 1st woman licensed as a horse
trainer
1935 - Sir Watson-Watt patents RADAR
1939 - 6th Golf Masters Championship: Ralph Guldahl wins,
shooting a 279
1941 - German occupier disallows Dutch scouting association
1942 - USS Hornet with Jimmy Doolittles B-25 departs from SF
1944 - CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti returns to Italy
1944 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 8th Symphony, premieres in NY
1944 - Soviet Army marches into pro-German Romania
Aviator Charles LindberghAviator Charles Lindbergh 1945 -
1st US units reach east coast of Okinawa
1945 - Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and
Brazil are established.
1947 - Carlo Terron's "Il diamente del profeta,"
premieres in Rome
1950 - WTAR (now WTKR) TV channel 3 in Norfolk, VA (CBS)
begins broadcasting
1953 - Raab forms his 1st government in Austria
1954 - Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced [see Jan 26]
1955 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Tenley
Albright
1955 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A
Jenkins
1955 - Pancho Gonzales retains tennis title by winning a
tournament playing under table tennis rules
1956 - Peter Ustinovs' "Romanoff & Juliet,"
premieres in Manchester
1956 - Soap operas "As the World Turns" &
"Edge of Night" premieres on TV
1958 - Antillean Brewery (Amstel beer) opens
1958 - National Advisory Council on Aeronautics renamed NASA
1958 - Wind speed reaches 450 kph in tornado, Wichita Falls,
TX (record)
1960 - Cuba buys oil from USSR
1960 - KPEC TV channel 56 in Lakewood Center-Tacoma, WA
(PBS) 1st broadcast
1962 - The first official Panda crossing is opened outside
Waterloo station, London.
1963 - Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km)
1963 - USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km
1964 - Josef Klaus succeeds Alfons Gorbach as chancellor of
Austria
1964 - Military coup in Brazil by Gen Castello Branco, Pres
Goulart ousted
1964 - USSR launches Zond 1 to Venus; no data returned
1965 - Hochhuths play "Stellvertreter" banned in
Italy
1966 - Soviet Union's Luna 10 becomes 1st spacecraft to
orbit Moon
1966 - WJET TV channel 24 in Erie, PA (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1967 - Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Louise Suggs Golf
Invitational
1968 - Beatles form Python Music Ltd
1968 - Chad creates Union of Central African States
1968 - Senator E Mccarthy wins Democratic primaries in
Wisconsin
1969 - Milwaukee Bucks sign (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew
Alcindor)
1970 - Meghalaya becomes autonomous state within India's
Assam state
1970 - Qatar gains independence from Britain
1970 - 2 men begin ascent of south face of Annapurna I,
highest final stage in a wall climb in world
1971 - Sci-fi soap opera "Dark Shadows" concludes
an almost 5 year run
Actress Jane FondaActress Jane Fonda 1972 - 44th Academy
Awards - "French Connection," G Hackman & Jane Fonda win
1972 - Prime Minister Begin visits Cairo
1972 - Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings,"
premieres in NYC
1973 - CBS radio begins on hour news 24 hours a day
1973 - Ed Kemper stuffs mother's throat in disposal
1973 - ITT pleads guilty to asking CIA to affect Chilean
pres election
1973 - Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research
service.
1974 - 46th Academy Awards - "Stng," Glenda
Jackson & Jack Lemmon win
1974 - Arganat Comm publishes report concerning Yom Kippur War
1974 - Tony Greig takes 8-86 v WI Port-of-Spain (later 5-70
in 2nd inn)
1975 - Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from
the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1976 - Cambodia Khieu Sampan succeeds Prince Sihanouk as
Premier
1976 - Portuguese constitution assumed
1976 - A's trade prospective free agents Reggie Jackson
& Ken Holtzman, to Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez & Paul Mitchell
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors," album goes to #1
& stays #1 for 31 weeks
Playwright Tennessee WilliamsPlaywright Tennessee Williams
1977 - Mont Canadiens set NHL record of 34 straight home games without a lose
1978 - 7th Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by
Sandra Post
1978 - Basil Williams scores 100 on Test Cricket debut, v
Aust Georgetown
1978 - TV show "Dallas" premieres on CBS (as a 5
week mini-series)
1978 - Velcro was 1st put on the market
1979 - Israeli PM Menachem Begin visits Cairo Egypt/meets
pres Sadat
1980 - Wayne Gretzky becomes 1st teenager to score 50 goals
in a season
1981 - Belgium's 4th government of Martens resigns
1981 - Heavy battle between Christian militia & Syrian
army in East Lebanon
1982 - Several thousand Argentine troops seize the Falkland
(Malvina) Islands from Great Britain
1982 - In exhibition game A's pitcher Steve McCatty comes to
bat using a 15" toy bat (under Billy Martins orders), protesting
disallowing of DH
1984 - 46th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship: Georgetown
beats Houston 84-75
1985 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 - 4 US passengers killed by bomb at TWA counter Athens
Airport Greece
1986 - George Corley Wallace (Gov-D-Ala) announces
retirement plans
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem BeginIsraeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin 1986 - NCAA adopts 3-point basketball rule (19 feet 9 inch
distance)
1987 - "Mikado" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for
46 performances
1987 - Doc Gooden undergoes cocaine rehabilitation
1987 - IBM introduces PS/2 & OS/2
1988 - Simply Majestic sets horse racing's 1-1/8 mile record
at 1:45
1988 - Test Cricket debut of Curtly Ambrose, WI v Pakistan,
Georgetown
1989 - 18th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by
Juli Inkster
1989 - 8th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee
beats Auburn 76-60
1989 - Wrestlemania V at Trump Plaza, Hulk Hogan beats
"Macho Man" Savage
1989 - Yanks beat Mets 4-0, sweeping 1989 mayor's trophy
series in 2 games
1990 - 52nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Nevada-LV
beats Duke 103-73
1991 - Rotterdam Daily Newspaper begins publishing
1992 - "Hamlet" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for
45 performances
1992 - Edith Cresson, France's 1st female premier, resigns
1992 - John Gotti found guilty in death of Paul Castallanos
WWF Wrestler Hulk HoganWWF Wrestler Hulk Hogan 1992 - Space
Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) lands
1993 - 1st test flight of Fokker 70 (Amsterdam)
1993 - Venezuelan DC-10 crashes at Margarita, killing 10
1994 - 1st exhibition game played at Jacobs Field, Pirates
beat Indians, 6-4
1995 - 14th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: U of Ct
Huskies beats TN 70-64
1995 - 7th Seniors Golf Tradition: Jack Nicklaus
1995 - Baseball season opener delayed until April 26
1995 - NY Police Dept & NY Transit Police merge into one
organization
1995 - North & Western Colorado begins using new area
code 970
1995 - Owners accept baseball players proposal, agree to
start season 4/26
1995 - Sunday NY Times raises price from $2.00 to $2.50
1995 - Wrestlemania XI in Conn-Lawrence Taylor defeats Bam
Bam Bigelow
1996 - Tigers slugger Cecil Fielder steals 1st base in
1,097th career game
1996 - Sri Lanka 9-349 in 50 overs beat Pakistan 315 all
out, Singapore Jayasuriya hits ton in 48 balls, world ODI record at Singapore
1997 - "Doll's House," opens at Belasco Theater
NYC
1998 - World Mens Figure Skating Championship in Minn
2000 - 19th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: at Corel
State Spectrum
2001 - 63rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: at Metrodome
Minneapolis
2002 - Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated. A siege ensues.
2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004
Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid.
Their attack is thwarted.
2005 - James Stewart Jr. becomes first African American to
win a major motor sports event.
2006 - Over 60 tornadoes break out, hardest hit is Tennessee
with 29 people killed.
2012 - Oikos University, Oakland shooting kills seven people
and injures 3
2013 - 9 mutilated bodies are found in an SUV in Tamaulipas,
Mexico
2013 - 7 people are killed in an attack on a power plant in
Peshawar, Pakistan
2013 - Eurozone unemployment reaches a high of 12%
2013 - 13 children are killed in a fire in a mosque in
Yangon, Burma
2013 - 13 people are killed in a quarry accident, in Arusha,
Tanzania
2013 - 4 more critical cases of bird flu (H7N9) are reported
in China
2013 - The UN General Assembly approves the first Arms Trade
Treaty
2013 - Uruguay passes legislation to legalize same-sex marriage
1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida. The next day he went ashore. 1792 - The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act to regulate the coins of the United States. The act authorized $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime to be minted. 1801 - During the Napoleonic Wars, the Danish fleet was destroyed by the British at the Battle of Copenhagen. 1860 - The first Italian Parliament met in Turin. 1865 - Confederate President Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA. 1872 - G.B. Brayton received a patent for the gas-powered streetcar. 1877 - The first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the White House in Washington, DC. 1889 - Charles Hall patented aluminum. 1902 - The first motion picture theatre opened in Los Angeles with the name Electric Theatre. 1905 - The Simplon rail tunnel officially opened. The tunnel went under the Alps and linked Switzerland and Italy. 1910 - Karl Harris perfected the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber. 1914 - The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced plans to divide the country into 12 districts. 1917 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson presented a declaration of war against Germany to the U.S. Congress. 1932 - A $50,000 ransom was paid for the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh. He child was not returned and was found dead the next month. 1935 - Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for RADAR. 1944 - The Soviet Union announced that its troops had crossed the Prut River and entered Romania. 1947 - "The Big Story" debuted on NBC radio. It was on the air for eight years. 1947 - The U.N. Security Council voted to appoint the U.S. as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands. 1951 - U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower assumed command of all allied forces in the Western Mediterranean area and Europe. 1956 - "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns" debuted on CBS-TV. 1958 - The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics was renamed NASA. 1960 - France signed an agreement with Madagascar that proclaimed the country an independent state within the French community. 1963 - Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King began the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, AL. 1966 - South Vietnamese troops joined in demonstrations at Hue and Da Nang for an end to military rule. 1967 - In Peking, hundreds of thousands demonstrated against Mao foe Liu Shao-chi. 1972 - Burt Reynolds appeared nude in "Cosmopolitan" magazine. 1978 - The first episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS. 1981 - In Lebanon, thirty-seven people were reported killed during fighting in the cities of Beirut and Zahle. It was the worst violence since the 1976 cease fire. 1982 - Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands. The following June Britain took the islands back. 1983 - The New Jersey Transit strike that began on March 1 came to an end. 1984 - John Thompson became the first black coach to lead his team to the NCAA college basketball championship. 1984 - In Jerusalem, three Arab gunmen wounded 48 people when they opened fire into a crowd of shoppers. 1985 - The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the 45-second shot clock for men’s basketball to begin in the 1986 season. 1986 - On a TWA airliner flying from Rome to Athens a bomb exploded under a seat killing four Americans. 1987 - The speed limit on U.S. interstate highways was increased to 65 miles per hour in limited areas. 1988 - U.S. Special Prosecutor James McKay declined to indict Attorney General Edwin Meese for criminal wrongdoing. 1989 - An editorial in the "New York Times" declared that the Cold War was over. 1989 - General Prosper Avril, Haiti's military leader, survived a coup attempt. The attempt was apparently provoked by Avril's U.S.-backed efforts to fight drug trafficking. 1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq. 1992 - Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. He was later sentenced to life in prison. 1995 - The costliest strike in professional sports history ended when baseball owners agreed to let players play without a contract. 1996 - Russia and Belarus signed a treaty that created a political and economic alliance in an effort to reunite the two former Soviet republics. 1996 - Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland's first post-war democratic president. 2002 - Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity. More than 200 Palestinians had taken refuge at the church when Israel invaded Bethlehem.
1513 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. 1792 Congress authorized the first U.S. mint, in Philadelphia. 1865 Confederate president Jefferson Davis and most of his cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. 1870 Victoria Claflin Woodhull announced her candidacy for president of the United States. 1917 President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany. 1932 Charles Lindbergh paid a $50,000 ransom for the return of his kidnapped son. 1982 Argentina seized the Falkland Islands from Britain 2005 Pope John Paul II died.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr02.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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