April 2
(Redirected from
2 April )
April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar , with 273 days remaining.
Events
1453 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul ), which would fall on May 29
1513 - Juan Ponce de Leon sets foot on Florida becoming the first known European to do so.
1755 - Commodore William James captures pirate fortress of Severndroog on west coast of India .
1792 - The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint .
1800 - Manhattan Well Mystery : In New York City , the trial of Levi Weeks ends with an acquittal. Weeks was defended by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr .
1801 - Napoleonic Wars : Battle of Copenhagen - The British destroy the Danish fleet.
1863 - Richmond Bread Riots : Food shortages incite hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand the Confederate government to release emergency supplies.
1865 - American Civil War : Siege of Petersburg broken - Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia , forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
1865 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia .
1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first movie theater in the United States , opens in Los Angeles, California .
1917 - World War I : U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany .
1917 - The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin , takes her seat as a representative from Montana .
1930 - Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia .
1941 - The radio program Life of Riley 1956 - General Motors board member Alfred P. Sloan steps down after 19 years as chairman with Albert Bradley as his successor.
1956 - As the World Turns The Edge of Night CBS network in the United States , as the first half-hour serial dramas.
1964 - The Saab board started Project Gudmund to develop a new and larger car , later released as Saab 99 .
1972 - Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist in the early 1950s during the Red Scare .
1972 - Vietnam War : Easter Offensive begins - North Vietnamese soldiers of the 304th Division take the northern half of Quang Tri Province .
1975 - Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in an effort to help the U.S. economy rebound.
1982 - Falklands War : Invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina . The disputed islands are later retaken by the United Kingdom .
1982 - John Chancellor helms the news desk at the NBC Nightly News 1989 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana , Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1992 - In New York , Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
1992 - Pierre Bérégovoy becomes Prime Minister of France
2002 - Israeli forces surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem which has around 200 Palestinians inside. A siege ensues.
2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt a thwarted bombing of the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid .
Births
1335 - Henry of Carinthia
1510 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu , Ashikaga shogun (d. 1550 )
1545 - Elizabeth of Valois , Queen of Philip II of Spain (d. 1568 )
1565 - Cornelis de Houtman , Dutch explorer (d. 1599 )
1618 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi , Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663 )
1725 - Casanova , adventurer and writer (d. 1798 )
1798 - August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben , German lyricist (d. 1874 )
1805 - Hans Christian Andersen , Danish writer (d. 1875 )
1827 - William Holman Hunt , English painter (d. 1910 )
1838 - Léon Gambetta , French statesman (d. 1882 )
1840 - Émile Zola , French novelist and critic (d. 1902 )
1862 - Nicholas Murray Butler , pedagogue and Nobel Peace Prize winner (d. 1947 )
1867 - Eugen Sandow , body builder, circus performer (d. 1925 )
1869 - Hughie Jennings , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1928 )
1875 - Walter Chrysler , automobile pioneer (d. 1940 )
1891 - Max Ernst , painter (d. 1976 )
1908 - Buddy Ebsen , actor, dancer (d. 2003 )
1914 - Sir Alec Guinness , actor (d. 2000 )
1917 - Dabbs Greer , American actor
1917 - Lou Monte , Italian-American singer (d. 1989 )
1920 - Jack Webb , actor, director, producer (d. 1982 )
1923 - G. Spencer-Brown , mathematician
1923 - Gloria Henry , American actress
1925 - George MacDonald Fraser , author
1925 - Hans Rosenthal , showmaster (d. 1987 )
1926 - Sir Jack Brabham , Grand Prix racer
1927 - Carmen Basilio , boxer
1927 - Ferenc Puskás , Hungarian footballer
1928 - Serge Gainsbourg , singer (d. 1991 )
1928 - Joseph Cardinal Bernardin , American Cardinal (d. 1996 )
1934 - Paul Joseph Cohen , mathematician
1934 - Brian Glover , British actor, wrestler (d. 1997 )
1939 - Marvin Gaye 1984 )
1940 - Penelope Keith , actress
1941 - Dr. Demento , American radio personality
1945 - Linda Hunt , actress
1945 - Don Sutton , American baseball pitcher
1947 - Emmylou Harris , singer
1947 - Camille Paglia , feminist writer
1949 - Pamela Reed , American actress
1951 - Moriteru Ueshiba , Aikido doshu
1953 - David Robinson , musician
1953 - Debralee Scott , American actress (d. 2005 )
1954 - Ron Palillo , American actor
1955 - Dana Carvey , actor and comedian
1959 - Juha Kankkunen , Finnish World Rally Champion
1960 - Linford Christie , British athlete
1961 - Christopher Meloni , American actor
1961 - Keren Woodward , British singer (Bananarama )
1962 - Mark Shulman , children's author
1962 - Pierre Carles , French documentarist
1972 - Stephen Saux , American Actor
1986 - Chris Walberg , voice actor (Hey Arnold! Deaths
1335 - Henry , Duke of Carinthia and Carniola , Count of Tyrol
1502 - Prince Arthur Tudor , elder brother of Henry VIII of England
1657 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
1747 - Johann Jacob Dillenius , botanist (b. 1684 )
1801 - Thomas Dadford Junior , British canal engineer
1827 - Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus , German physician and naturalist.
1865 - General A.P. Hill , Confederate commander (b. 1825 )
1872 - Samuel Morse , inventor of Morse code (b. 1791 )
1902 - Esther Morris , suffragist and the first woman judge in U.S. history
1914 - Paul von Heyse , German writer, Nobel Prize in Literature winner in 1910
1922 - Hermann Rorschach , psychologist (b. 1884 )
1928 - Theodore William Richards , Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner
1930 - Empress Zauditu of Ethiopia (b. 1876 )
1966 - C.S. Forester , author (b. 1899 )
1972 - Gil Hodges , American baseball player
1974 - Georges Pompidou , President of France (b. 1911 )
1987 - Buddy Rich , drummer (b. 1917 )
1994 - Betty Furness , American actress
1995 - Harvey Penick , American golfer
2000 - Tommaso Buscetta , Italian mafioso
2001 - Charles Daudelin , Canadian artist
2003 - Edwin Starr , singer (b. 1942 )
2005 - Pope John Paul II (b. 1920 , Karol Wojtyła)
External links
April 1 - April 3 - March 2 - May 2 -- listing of all days
