April 4
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April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). There are 271 days remaining.
Events
- 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.
- 1660 - Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England.
- 1721 - Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.
- 1812 - U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
- 1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
- 1818 - The U.S. Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.
- 1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served.
- 1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
- 1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
- 1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
- 1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev. A design for a city gate to commemorate his escape was the inspiration for Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition.
- 1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
- 1905 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra kills 370,000.
- 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
- 1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
- 1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet Army liberates Hungary.
- 1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
- 1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.
- 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
- 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
- 1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
- 1973 - The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
- 1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift - A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans. 172 people are killed.
- 1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
- 1979 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
- 1981 - In Dublin, Ireland, Bucks Fizz win the twenty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Making Your Mind Up".
- 1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
- 1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
- 1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
- 1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.
- 1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation is founded (under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation") by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.
- 2001 - Hideo Nomo throws the only no-hitter in the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards as the Boston Red Sox shut out the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0.
Births
- 186 - Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
- 1492 - Ambrosius Blarer, German reformer (d. 1564)
- 1593 - Edward Nicholas, English statesman (d. 1669)
- 1646 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (d. 1715)
- 1648 - Grinling Gibbons Dutch-born woodcarver (d. 1721)
- 1688 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)
- 1718 - Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar (d. 1783)
- 1785 - Bettina von Arnim, German writer (d. 1859)
- 1802 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)
- 1819 - Queen Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
- 1826 - Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (d. 1901)
- 1846 - Comte de Lautréamont, French writer (d. 1870)
- 1875 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
- 1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)
- 1882 - Kurt von Schleicher, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
- 1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
- 1888 - Tris Speaker, American baseball player (d. 1958)
- 1895 - Arthur Murray, American dance teacher (d. 1991)
- 1896 - Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (d. 1955)
- 1898 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1902 - Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, French actress (d. 1969)
- 1906 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1906 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist and television host (d. 1995)
- 1911 - Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
- 1913 - Frances Langford, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1914 - Marguerite Duras, French writer (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Muddy Waters, American musician (d. 1983)
- 1920 - Éric Rohmer, French film director
- 1922 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1928 - Maya Angelou, American writer
- 1931 - Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence director
- 1932 - Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (d. 1986)
- 1932 - Richard Lugar, American politician
- 1934 - Clive Davis, American record producer
- 1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, American university president and baseball commissioner
- 1939 - Hugh Masekela, South African musician
- 1940 - Sharon Sheeley, American songwriter
- 1942 - Kitty Kelley, American writer
- 1944 - Craig T. Nelson, American actor
- 1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French political activist
- 1946 - Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade)
- 1946 - Katsuaki Sato, notable Japanese martial artist, Kyokushin practitioner, and founder of Satojuku karate
- 1947 - Luke Halpin, American actor
- 1947 - Wiranto, Indonesian general
- 1948 - Dan Simmons, American writer
- 1948 - Abdullah Öcalan, Kurdish leader
- 1948 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
- 1950 - Christine Lahti, American actress
- 1951 - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
- 1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
- 1952 - Gary Moore, Irish guitarist (Thin Lizzy)
- 1953 - Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
- 1956 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
- 1957 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
- 1957 - Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese television performer and musician (Rats & Star)
- 1957 - Kelso, American racehorse (d. 1983)
- 1957 - Graeme Kelling, Scottish musician (Deacon Blue) (d. 2004)
- 1958 - Mary-Margaret Humes, American actress
- 1960 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
- 1960 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
- 1963 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
- 1963 - Graham Norton, Irish talk show host
- 1963 - Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 - Robbie Rist, American actor
- 1965 - Robert Downey Jr., American actor
- 1966 - Nancy McKeon, American actor
- 1968 - Jennifer Lynch, American director
- 1970 - Barry Pepper, Canadian actor
- 1973 - David Blaine, American illusionist
- 1974 - Dave Mirra, American athlete
- 1975 - Scott Rolen, American baseball player
- 1975 - Delphine Arnault, French billionaire businesswoman
- 1979 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor
- 1979 - Natasha Lyonne, American actress
- 1980 - Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver
- 1991 - Jamie Lynn Spears, American child actress, singer, and television show host
- 1992 - Alexa Nikolas, American child actress
Deaths
- 397 - St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
- 636 - Saint Isidore of Seville, Church Father and the proposed patron of Internet
- 896 - Pope Formosus (b. 816)
- 1284 - King Alfonso X of Castile (b. 1221)
- 1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
- 1305 - Jeanne of Navarre, wife of Philip IV of France
- 1536 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
- 1588 - King Frederick II of Denmark (b. 1534
- 1609 - Charles de L'Ecluse, Flemish botanist (b. 1526)
- 1617 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (b. 1550)
- 1643 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (b. 1583)
- 1661 - Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier
- 1701 - Joseph Haines, entertainer and author
- 1743 - Daniel Neal, English historian (b. 1678)
- 1761 - Theodore Gardelle, Swiss painter and enameler (b. 1722)
- 1766 - John Taylor, English classical scholar (b. 1704)
- 1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, English writer (b. 1728)
- 1792 - James Sykes, American politician (b. 1725)
- 1807 - Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande, French astronomer (b. 1732)
- 1817 - André Masséna, French marshal (b. 1758)
- 1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
- 1842 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1784)
- 1846 - Solomon Sibley, Senator from Michigan Territory (b. 1769)
- 1861 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1785)
- 1870 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
- 1874 - Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaelogist and politician (b. 1826)
- 1879 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)
- 1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist and diarist (b. 1860)
- 1890 - Edmond Hébert, French geologist (b. 1812)
- 1919 - Sir William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
- 1923 - John Venn, British mathematician (b. 1834)
- 1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
- 1951 - Al Christie, Canadian film director and producer (b. 1881)
- 1951 - George Albert Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
- 1953 - King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
- 1967 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1898)
- 1968 - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
- 1972 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician (b. 1908)
- 1972 - Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Harry Nyquist, important contributor to information theory (b. 1889)
- 1979 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1928)
- 1979 - Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1983 - Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1984 - Oleg Antonov, Russian airplane engineer (b. 1906)
- 1987 - C.L. Moore, American writer (b. 1911)
- 1991 - Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
- 1991 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (plane crash) (b. 1938)
- 1991 - Forrest Towns, American hurdler (b. 1914)
- 1995 - Priscilla Lane, American singer, actress (b. 1915)
- 1995 - Kenny Everett, British radio DJ and television entertainer (b. 1944)
- 1996 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (b. 1918)
- 1996 - Larry LaPrise, American songwriter (b. 1913)
- 1999 - Early Wynn, baseball player (b. 1920)
- 1999 - Faith Domergue American actor (b. 1924)
- 2001 - Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, American custom car designer (b. 1932)
- 2002 - Harry L. O'Connor, Czech-born film stuntman
- 2003 - Resortes, Mexican comedian (b. 1916)
- 2004 - Casey Sheehan, American soldier, son of Cindy Sheehan (b. 1979)
- 2005 - Edward Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
- International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance
- Lesotho - Heroes' Day
- Taiwan and Hong Kong - Children's Day
- World Rat Day
Liturgical Feast days
- Saint Isidore of Seville, patron aaint of the internauts
- Saint Hildebert of Ghent (died 752)
- Blessed Alice (d. 1105)
External links
- BBC: On This Day
- The New York Times: On This Day
- On This Day in Canada
- Epic Idiot: On This Day
- Mine Action (land mines)
April 3 - April 5 - March 4 - May 4 -- listing of all days