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What happened in history on this day: April 2?
On April 2 in ...
- 1792 - US President George Washington signs the Coinage Act, establishing the US Mint, and authorizes $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle and $2.50 quarter-Eagle gold (24.75 grains) coins and dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, dime and half-dime silver (371.25 grains) coins. Coins of gold and silver are legal tender, but copper metal coins are not.
- 1802 - A bill is introduced in Congress to repeal the Act Establishing a Mint, and directing the President to liquidate the assets of the Mint.
- 1819 - First successful agricultural journal (The American Farmer) begins.
- 1863 - Bread revolt in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1864 - Skirmish at Crump's Hill (Piney Woods), Louisiana.
- 1864 - Skirmish at Spoonville/Antoine, Arkansas.
- 1865 - Ambrose Powell Hill, Confederate General, killed in action at age 39.
- 1865 - Battle of Fort Blakely and Selma, Alabama.
- 1865 - Battle of Petersburg, Virginia (Fort Gregg, Sutherland's Station).
- 1865 - CSA President Jefferson Davis flees Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
- 1865 - General A P Hill is killed by a Federal Picket.
- 1865 - Confederate General Robert Lee's line is broken at Petersberg.
- 1866 - US President Andrew Johnson ends war in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
- 1867 - US Senate confirms Henry R. Linderman as US Mint Director.
- 1902 - First motion picture theater opens (Los Angeles, California, USA).
- 1917 - Jeanette Rankin becomes (first woman) member of US House of Representatives, for Montana.
- 1917 - US President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany.
- 1921 - Professor Albert Einstein lectures in New York City on his new theory of relativity.
- 1930 - First New York-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda.
- 1932 - Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son.
- 1940 - Walt Disney Productions first offers shares in the company to the public. 155,000 shares of preferred stock are offered at US$25 per share, and 600,000 of common stock for US$5 per share. US$3.5 million is raised from the stock offering.
- 1941 - Aircraft carrier USS Hornet with Jimmy Doolittle's B-25 planes departs from San Francisco, California, for surprise raid on Japan.
- 1945 - First US units reach east coast of Okinawa, Japan.
- 1958 - American National Advisory Council on Aeronautics renamed NASA.
- 1963 - Explorer 17 attains Earth orbit (254/914 km).
- 1968 - Senator Eugene McCarthy wins Democratic primary in Wisconsin.
- 1970 - The 52nd Annual New York Automobile Show is held in New York, USA. Chevrolet unveils the experimental transverse mid-engined XP-882 Corvette prototype. Ford shows its Pantera, and American Motors shows its AMX/3, both mid-engine prototypes.
- 1972 - 44th Academy Awards - French Connection, Gene Hackman and Jane Fonda win.
- 1973 - CBS radio begins on-hour news 24 hours a day.
- 1973 - International Telephone And Telegraph pleads guilty to asking US Central Intelligence Agency to affect Chilean presidential election.
- 1974 - 46th Academy Awards - The Sting, Glenda Jackson and Jack Lemmon win.
- 1985 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1986 - Four US passengers killed by bomb at Trans World Airlines counter in Athens Airport, Greece.
- 1986 - George Corley Wallace (Governor-Democrat-Alabama) announces retirement plans.
- 1987 - IBM announces its new Personal System/2 computers, with VGA 256-color graphics, Micro Channel Architecture, Operating System/2, and 1.44 MB 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.
- 1992 - In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of the murder of mob boss Paul Castellano and racketeering, and is later sentenced to life in prison.
- 1995 - New York Police Department and New York Transit Police merge into one organization.
- 1995 - North and Western Colorado begin using new area code 970.
- 1996 - U.S. Mafioso John Gotti is found guilty of murdering Paul Castellano.
- 2003 - A US B-52 bomber drops two new CBU-105 bombs over Iraq, which each release 10 submunitions, each ejecting four discs, which then use laser and heat-detecting infrared sensors to locate Iraqi armored vehicles. Slugs of copper the size of a tangerine then strike and destroy about 30 vehicles in a column of about 100.
- 2007 - New Century, a large American mortgage lender, files for bankruptcy protection.
- 2009 - The U.S. House of Representatives passes a federal budget for fiscal 2010 starting October 1, voting 233-196 to pass the US$3.45 trillion budget.
Births on April 2
- 1875 - Birth of Walter Percy Chrysler in Witchita, Kansas, USA; founder of Chrysler Corp (1925).
- 1908 - Birth of Buddy Ebsen AKA Christian Rudolph Ebsen in Belleville, Illinois, USA; dancer (with Shirley Temple, 1930s films), actor (Jed Clampett - Northwest Passage TV show, Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones).
- 1912 - Birth of Herbert Mills in Piqua, Ohio, USA; singer (Mills Brothers - "Paper Doll", "You Always Hurt the One You Love", "Glow-Worm", "Cab Driver").
- 1917 - Birth of Dabbs Greer in Fairview, Missouri, USA; actor (Gunsmoke, Little House on the Prairie).
- 1917 - Birth of Lou Monte in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, USA; singer ("Peppino the Italian Mouse").
- 1920 - Birth of Jack Webb in Santa Monica, California, USA; actor (Pat Novak for Hire radio show, Johnny Madero Pier 23, Joe Friday - Dragnet radio and TV show, Pete Kelly's Blues radio and TV show), producer (Emergency TV show (1972-77)).
- 1926 - Birth of Elena Verdugo in Hollywood, California, USA; actress (Consuelo - Marcus Welby M.D.).
- 1928 - Birth of Rita Gam in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; actress (Distortions, Hannibal, Sierra Baron, Mohawk, Edge of Night, Love of Life, Hidden Faces).
- 1939 - Birth of Marvin P Gaye Junior in Washington, DC, USA; singer ("Sexual Healing", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (1969)).
- 1941 - Birth of Leon Russell in Lawton, Kansas, USA; pianist/singer ("Carny").
- 1943 - Birth of Larry Coryell in Galveston, Texas, USA; jazz guitarist (11th House).
- 1945 - Birth of Linda Hunt in Morristown, New Jersey, USA; actress (Bostonians, Eleni, Silverado, The Practice, Carnivale).
- 1947 - Birth of Camille Paglia in Endicott, New York, USA; actress (Female Misbehavior, It's Pat).
- 1947 - Birth of Emmylou Harris in Birmingham, Alabama, USA; country singer (Together Again).
- 1949 - Birth of Pamela Reed in Tacoma, Washington, USA; actress (Grand, Kindergarten Cop, Home Court, Jericho, Family Album).
- 1952 - Birth of Joseph Kent Massey in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; soling yachter (Olympics-bronze-1996).
- 1953 - Birth of Debralee Scott in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA; actress (Angie, Welcome Home Kotter, Sons and Daughters, Cathy - Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman).
- 1954 - Birth of Ron Palillo in Cheshire, Connecticut, USA; actor (Arnold Horshack - Welcome Back Kotter).
- 1958 - Wind speed reaches 450 kph in tornado in Wichita Falls, Texas, USA (record).
- 1959 - Birth of Carmen Ayala-Troncoso in New York City, New York, USA; 5000m runner.
- 1959 - Birth of Dean Townson in Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA; singer (Pirates of the Mississippi - "Fred Jake").
- 1961 - Birth of Cindy Mackey in Athens, Georgia, USA; LPGA golfer (1986 MasterCard International Pro-Am).
- 1962 - Birth of Billy Dean in Quincy, Florida, USA; country singer (Billy the Kid).
- 1964 - Birth of Pete Incaviglia in Pebble Beach, California, USA; outfielder (Philadelphia Phillies).
- 1970 - Birth of Jon Lieber in Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA; pitcher (Pittsburgh Pirates).
- 1971 - Birth of Jenny Craig; Miss Georgia-USA (1996).
Deaths on April 2
- 1865 - Ambrose Powell Hill, Confederate General, killed in action at age 39.
- 1865 - General A P Hill is killed by a Federal Picket.
- 1872 - Death of Samuel Finley Breese Morse in New York City, New York, USA at age 80; painter, founder and president of the National Academy of Design, inventor of the telegraph.
- 1928 - Theodore Richards, US chemist (atomic weight, Nobel Prize 1914), dies.
- 1961 - Wallingford Riegger, US composer (Bacchangle), dies at age 75.
- 1972 - Gil Hodges, manager (New York Mets), dies of heart attack at age 57.
- 1987 - Death of Buddy Rich at age 69 of a heart attack after surgery for a brain tumor; jazz drummer (with Bunny Berrigan, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, solo in 1945, solo again 1966 - "Away We Go").
- 1994 - Death of Betty Furness at age 78 of stomach cancer; American actress, author, news consumer reporter (WNBC), TV spokesperson (Westinghouse) (born 1916).
- 1995 - Harvey Penick, American premier golf instructor/author, dies at age 90 (born 1904).
- 2022 - Death of Estelle Harris at age 93 in Palm Desert, California, USA; actor (Estelle Costanza - Seinfeld TV show, Mrs. Potato Head - Toy Story film, Night Court TV show, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody TV show).
- 2023 - Death of Seymour Stein at age 80 of cancer in Los Angeles, California, USA; record producer (Sire label, Madonna, the Ramones, Talking Heads).
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