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April 2April 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 aired for the first time.
- 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 and The Edge of Night first aired on the 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: Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands starting the war.
- 1982 - John Chancellor helms the news desk at the NBC Nightly News for the final time, after eleven-and-a-half years.
- 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 Brgovoy becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1993 - Doom alpha version 0.4 is finished.
- 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 - 742 - Charlemagne, King of the Franks (d. 814)
- 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 - Lon Gambetta, French statesman (d. 1882)
- 1840 - mile 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)
- 1920 - Jack Webb, actor, director, producer (d. 1982)
- 1923 - G. Spencer-Brown, mathematician
- 1925 - George MacDonald Fraser, author
- 1925 - Hans Rosenthal, showmaster (d. 1987)
- 1926 - Jack Brabham, Grand Prix racer
- 1927 - Carmen Basilio, boxer
- 1927 - Ferenc Pusks, Hungarian footballer
- 1928 - Serge Gainsbourg, singer (d. 1991)
- 1934 - Paul Joseph Cohen, mathematician
- 1934 - Brian Glover, British actor, wrestler (d. 1997)
- 1939 - Marvin Gaye, singer (d. 1984)
- 1940 - Penelope Keith, actress
- 1945 - Linda Hunt, actress
- 1947 - Emmylou Harris, singer
- 1947 - Camille Paglia, feminist writer
- 1951 - Moriteru Ueshiba, Aikido doshu
- 1953 - David Robinson, musician
- 1955 - Dana Carvey, actor and comedian
- 1959 - Juha Kankkunen, Finnish World Rally Champion
- 1960 - Linford Christie, British athlete
- 1961 - Christopher Meloni, American actor
- 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)
- 1974 - Georges Pompidou, President of France (b. 1911)
- 1987 - Buddy Rich, drummer (b. 1917)
- 1994 - Betty Furness, American actress
- 2000 - Tommaso Buscetta, Italian mafioso
- 2001 - Charles Daudelin, Canadian artist
- 2003 - Terenci Moix, author
- 2003 - Edwin Starr, singer (b. 1942)
- 2005 - Pope John Paul II (b. 1920, Karol Wojtyla)
External links
April 1 - April 3 - March 2 - May 2 -- listing of all days
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