April 3
April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining.
*
1077 - Creation of the first
Parliament of
Friuli.
*
1559 - The
Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the
Italian Wars.
*
1860 - The first successful
Pony Express run from
Saint Joseph, Missouri to
Sacramento, California begins, and is completed on
April 13.
*
1865 -
American Civil War:
Union forces capture
Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the
Confederate States of America.
*
1882 -
American Old West outlaw
Jesse James is shot in the back and killed in
Saint Joseph, Missouri by
Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward.
*
1885 -
Gottlieb Daimler is granted a
German patent for his
engine design.
*
1895 - The
libel trial instigated by
Oscar Wilde against the
Marquess of Queensbury begins, eventually resulting in
Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of
homosexuality.
*
1896 - The first publication of
La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper in
Italy.
*
1917 -
Vladimir Lenin arrives at
Finland Railway Station in
Russia from exile, marking the beginning of
Bolshevik leadership in the
Russian Revolution.
*
1922 -
Joseph Stalin became the first
General Secretary of the
Communist Party of the
Soviet Union.
*
1929 -
RMS Queen Mary is ordered from
John Brown & Company Shipbuilding and Engineering by
Cunard Line.
*
1936 -
Richard Bruno Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of
Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the baby son of
Anne and world-famous pilot
Charles Lindbergh.
*
1941 -
Hungarian and
German troops march into
Yugoslavia.
*
1942 -
World War II:
Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the
United States and
Filipino troops on the
Bataan Peninsula.
Bataan falls on
April 9 and the
Bataan Death March began.
*
1946 -
Japanese
Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside
Manila in the
Philippines for leading the
Bataan Death March.
*
1948 -
President Harry Truman signs the
Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
* 1948 - In
Jeju,
South Korea, locals simultaneously raid the island's police stations, marking the start of a civil-war-like period of violence and
human rights abuses known as the
Jeju massacre.
*
1953 -
TV Guide debuts.
*
1955 - The
American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend
Allen Ginsberg's book
Howl against
obscenity charges.
*
1956 -
Elvis Presley sings "
Heartbreak Hotel" on the
Milton Berle Show, with an estimated 25% of the
United States population viewing.
* 1956 - The western part of the
Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado (known as the Standale Tornado).
*
1968 -
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "
mountaintop" speech.
*
1969 -
Vietnam War:
Vietnamization -
U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the
United States will start to "
Vietnamize" the war effort.
*
1973 - The first portable
cell phone call is placed in
New York City.
*
1974 -
The Super Outbreak occurs, with 148 tornadoes affecting 13
U.S. states and 1
Canadian province in 18 hours, the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history. The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
*
1975 -
Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a
chess match against
Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
*
1996 - Suspected "
Unabomber"
Theodore Kaczynski is arrested at his
Montana cabin.
* 1996 - An
United States Air Force 737 carrying
United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashes in
Croatia, killing all 35 on-board.
*
1997 -
Thalit massacre begins in
Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of
Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
*
2000 -
United States v. Microsoft:
Microsoft is ruled to have violated
United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
*
2004 -
Islamist terrorists involved in the
11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves with explosives.
*
1151 -
Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d.
1202)
*
1245 - King
Philip III of France (d.
1285)
*
1367 - King
Henry IV of England (d.
1413)
*
1529 -
Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d.
1581)
*
1593 -
George Herbert, English poet and orator (d.
1633)
*
1639 -
Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d.
1682)
*
1643 -
Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, general of the Holy Roman Empire (d.
1690)
*
1683 -
Mark Catesby, English naturalist (d.
1749)
*
1693 -
George Edwards, English naturalist (d.
1773)
*
1715 -
John Hanson, American delegate to the Continental Congress (d.
1783)
* 1715 -
William Watson, English physician and scientist (d.
1787)
*
1764 -
John Abernathy, English surgeon (d.
1831)
*
1769 -
Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (d.
1835)
*
1781 -
Bhagwan Swaminarayan*
1783 -
Washington Irving, American author (d.
1859)
*
1814 -
Lorenzo Snow, 5th president of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d.
1901)
*
1821 -
T. Pelham Dale,
Anglican clergyman prosecuted for
Ritualist practices in the
1870s (d.
1892)
*
1822 -
Edward Everett Hale, American writer (d.
1909)
*
1823 -
William Marcy Tweed, American political boss (d.
1878)
*
1880 -
Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (d.
1903)
*
1881 -
Alcide De Gasperi,
Prime Minister of Italy (d.
1954)
*
1885 -
Allan Dwan, Canadian-born American film director (d.
1981)
*
1889 -
Grigoraş Dinicu, Romanian composer and violinist (d.
1949)
*
1893 -
Leslie Howard, English actor (d.
1943)
*
1895 -
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (d.
1968)
*
1898 -
George Jessel, American comedian (d.
1981)
* 1898 -
Henry Luce, American publisher (d.
1967)
*
1904 -
Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (d.
1999)
*
1905 -
Robert Frederick Sink, United States Army Officer (d.
1965)
*
1913 -
Per Borten, Premier of Norway (d.
2005)
*
1916 -
Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (d.
1997)
*
1921 -
Jan Sterling, American actress (d.
2004)
*
1924 -
Marlon Brando, American actor (d.
2004)
* 1924 -
Doris Day, American actress
*
1925 -
Tony Benn, British politician
*
1926 -
Gus Grissom, astronaut (d.
1967)
* 1926 -
Alex Grammas, baseball player
*
1928 -
Don Gibson, American country musician (d.
2003)
* 1928 -
Kevin Hagen, American actor (d.
2005)
*
1929 -
Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress
*
1930 -
Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (d.
1998)
* 1930 -
Helmut Kohl,
Chancellor of Germany* 1930 -
Wally Moon, baseball player
*
1934 -
Jane Goodall, English zoologist
*
1936 -
Scott LaFaro, American musician (d.
1961)
*
1938 -
Jeff Barry, American songwriter and record producer
*
1941 -
Eric Braeden, German-born actor
* 1941 -
Philippe Wynne, American musician (d.
1984)
* 1941 -
Jan Berry, American musician (
Jan and Dean) (d.
2004)
*
1942 -
Marek Perepeczko, Polish actor (d.
2005)
* 1942 -
Marsha Mason, American actress
* 1942 -
Wayne Newton, American singer
* 1942 -
Billy Joe Royal, American singer
*
1943 -
Jonathan Lynn, British actor and comedy writer
* 1943 -
Richard Manuel, Canadian musician and songwriter (d.
1986)
*
1944 -
Tony Orlando, American musician
*
1948 -
Carlos Salinas,
President of Mexico*
1949 -
Richard Thompson, British musician and songwriter
* 1949 -
Lyle Alzado, American football player
*
1954 -
Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer
*
1956 -
Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (d.
1996)
*
1958 -
Alec Baldwin, American actor
*
1959 -
David Hyde Pierce, American actor
*
1960 -
Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch musician (
Ayreon)
*
1961 -
Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
*
1962 -
Mike Ness, American musician (
Social Distortion)
*
1964 -
Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist
*
1966 -
Miina Tominaga, Japanese
seiyu (voice actress)
*
1968 -
Sebastian Bach, Canadian musician (
Skid Row)
* 1968 -
Charlotte Coleman, British television actress (d.
2001)
* 1968 -
Jamie Hewlett, British illustrator (
Tank Girl and
Gorillaz)
*
1969 -
Lance Storm, Wrestler
*
1972 -
Jennie Garth, American actress
*
1973 -
Matthew Ferguson, Canadian actor
*
1975 -
Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian basketball player
*
1975 -
Mickey Beyer-Clausen, Danish entrepreneur and philanthropist
*
1976 -
Drew Shirley, American musician (
Switchfoot)
* 1976 -
Will Mellor, British actor
*
1979 -
Daniel Lane, British music journalist
*
1982 -
Fler, German rapper
*
1986 -
Amanda Bynes, American actress and show host
*
33 -
Jesus, central figure of Christianity (traditional dating) (b.
1 BC, traditionally)
*
963 -
William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b.
915)
*
1287 -
Pope Honorius IV*
1350 -
Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy (b.
1295)
*
1606 -
Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devon, English politician (b.
1563)
*
1680 -
Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire (b.
1630)
*
1682 -
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, Spanish painter (b.
1618)
*
1691 -
Jean Petitot, Swiss enamel painter (b.
1608)
*
1695 -
Melchior d'Hondecoeter, Dutch painter
*
1717 -
Jacques Ozanam, French mathematician (b.
1640)
*
1728 -
James Anderson, Scottish lawyer (b.
1662)
*
1792 -
George Pocock, British admiral (b.
1706)
* 1792 -
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English statesman (b.
1718)
*
1827 -
Ernst Chladni, German physicist (b.
1856)
*
1849 -
Juliusz Słowacki, Polish poet (b.
1809)
*
1868 -
Franz Berwald, Swedish composer and inventor (b.
1796)
*
1882 -
Jesse James, American outlaw (b.
1847)
*
1897 -
Johannes Brahms, German composer (b.
1833)
*
1901 -
Richard D'Oyly Carte, British impresario (b.
1844)
*
1931 -
Andre Michelin, French tire manufacturer (b.
1853)
*
1932 -
Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1853)
*
1936 -
Bruno Hauptmann, German killer of Charles Lindbergh III (b.
1899)
*
1950 -
Kurt Weill, German composer (b.
1900)
*
1952 -
Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician, first female Finnish minister (b.
1866)
*
1965 -
Ernst Kirchweger, Austrian communist and resistance fighter
*
1971 -
Joseph Valachi, American gangster (b.
1904)
*
1972 -
Ferde Grofé, American composer (b.
1882)
*
1982 -
Warren Oates, American character actor (b.
1928)
*
1986 -
Peter Pears, English tenor (b.
1910)
*
1987 -
Tom Sestak, American football player (b.
1936)
*
1990 -
Sarah Vaughan, American singer (b.
1924)
*
1991 -
Graham Greene, English writer (b.
1904)
* 1991 -
Charles Goren, American bridge player, writer, and columnist (b.
1901)
*
1993 -
Pinky Lee, American children's television host (b.
1907)
*
1996 -
Ron Brown, U.S. Secretary of Commerce (b.
1941)
* 1996 -
Carl Stokes, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (b.
1927)
*
1998 -
Rob Pilatus, American entertainer and criminal (
Milli Vanilli) (b.
1965)
*
2000 -
Terence McKenna, American writer and philosopher (b.
1946)
*
2002 -
Frank Tovey (aka
Fad Gadget), British singer and musician (b.
1956)
*
2005 -
Tony Croatto, Italian-born singer (b.
1940)
In
Iran, people play jokes on each other on
April 3, the thirteenth day of the
Persian calendar new year (
Norooz). This day is called "
Sizdah bedar" (Outdoor thirteen). It is believed that people should go out on this date in order to escape the
bad luck of number 13.
Liturgical feasts
*
Saint Agape (died 304)
*
Saint Richard (d.1253)
*
Saint Sixtus I*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: April 3*
Epic Idiot: On This DayApril 2 -
April 4 -
March 3 -
May 3 --
listing of all days
