2 April

Events

Pre-1600

*1513 – Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River.

1601–1900

*1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India.
*1792 – The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint.
*1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
*1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defeats a hastily assembled, smaller, mostly-volunteer Dano-Norwegian Navy at high cost, forcing Denmark out of the Second League of Armed Neutrality.
*1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
*1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
*1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.

1901–present

*1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Mariinsky Palace, Saint Petersburg.
* 1902 – "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
*1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.
*1912 – The ill-fated begins sea trials.
*1917 – American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
*1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
*1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
* 1954 – A 19-month-old infant is swept up in the ocean tides at Hermosa Beach, California. Local photographer John L. Gaunt photographs the incident; 1955 Pulitzer winner " Tragedy by the Sea".
*1956 – ''As the World Turns'' and ''The Edge of Night'' premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
*1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.
*1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
*1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
*1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
*1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
*1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
*1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
*1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
*1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
*1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
*1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
*1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
* 1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
*2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
* 2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
*2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
*2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
*2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
* 2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area in what has been called the "largest burglary in English legal history."
*2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.
*2021 – At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.
* 2021 – A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.

Births

Pre-1600

*747 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)
*1473 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
*1545 – Elisabeth of Valois (d. 1568)
* 1565 – Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
*1586 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveler (d. 1652)

1601–1900

*1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess (d. 1665)
*1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
*1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
*1653 – Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
*1696 – Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1778)
* 1719 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
*1725 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian explorer and author (d. 1798)
*1788 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet and author (d. 1862)
* 1788 – Wilhelmine Reichard, German balloonist (d. 1848)
*1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871)
*1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840)
*1798 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and academic (d. 1874)
*1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1875)
*1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875)
* 1814 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
*1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910)
*1835 – Jacob Nash Victor, American engineer (d. 1907)
*1838 – Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
*1840 – Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (d. 1902)
*1841 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (d. 1926)
*1842 – Dominic Savio, Italian Catholic saint, adolescent student of Saint John Bosco (d. 1857)
*1861 – Iván Persa, Slovenian priest and author (d. 1935)
*1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
*1869 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (d. 1928)
*1875 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (d. 1940)
* 1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942)
*1884 – J. C. Squire, English poet, author, and historian (d. 1958)
*1888 – Neville Cardus, English cricket and music writer (d. 1975)
*1891 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish entertainer (d. 1957)
* 1891 – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 1976)
* 1891 – Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (d. 1958)
*1896 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (d. 1936)
*1898 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
* 1898 – Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (d. 1940)
*1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1942)
* 1900 – Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1970)
* 1900 – Alfred Strange, English footballer (d. 1978)

1901–present

*1902 – Jan Tschichold, German-Swiss graphic designer and typographer (d. 1974)
* 1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe (d. 1994)
*1903 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1987)
*1906 – Alphonse-Marie Parent, Canadian priest and educator (d. 1970)
*1907 – Harald Andersson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
*1908 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
*1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980)
* 1910 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian spiritual medium (d. 2002)
*1914 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
*1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981)
*1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004)
* 1920 – Jack Stokes, English animator and director (d. 2013)
* 1920 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
*1922 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015)
*1923 – Gloria Henry, American actress (d. 2021)
* 1923 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
* 1923 – G. Spencer-Brown, English mathematician, psychologist, and author (d. 2016)
*1924 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican baseball player (d. 2004)
*1925 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
* 1925 – Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television host (d. 1987)
*1926 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)
* 1926 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (d. 2006)
*1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012)
* 1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014)
* 1927 – Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
* 1927 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
* 1927 – Kenneth Tynan, English author and critic (d. 1980)
*1928 – Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
* 1928 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (d. 1991)
* 1928 – Roy Masters, English-American radio host (d. 2021)
* 1928 – David Robinson, Northern Irish horticulturist and academic (d. 2004)
*1929 – Ed Dorn, American poet and educator (d. 1999)
*1930 – Roddy Maude-Roxby, English actor
*1931 – Keith Hitchins, American historian (d. 2020)
* 1931 – Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian javelin thrower (d. 1986)
* 1932 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015)
*1933 – György Konrád, Hungarian sociologist and author
*1934 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2007)
* 1934 – Brian Glover, English wrestler and actor (d. 1997)
* 1934 – Carl Kasell, American journalist and game show host (d. 2018)
* 1934 – Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
* 1934 – Dovid Shmidel, Austrian-born Israeli rabbi
*1936 – Shaul Ladany, Serbian-Israeli race walker and engineer
*1937 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (d. 2005)
* 1938 – John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of The Salvation Army
* 1938 – Booker Little

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