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April 2: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – April 2 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 2nd April 1513: Florida was today sighted by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He went ashore the next day.
2. 2nd April 1550: Jews were today expelled from Genoa Italy.
3. 2nd April 1559: England and France today signed the first Treaty of LeChateau-Cambersis.
4. 2nd April 1595: Cornelis de Houtman’s ships set sail to Asia through the Cape of Good Hope.
18th Century – What Happened on April 2 – The 1700s
5. 2nd April 1745: Austria and Bavaria signed peace today.
6. 2nd April 1783: After William Petty was forced to resign by the opposition coalition of Henry Fox and Fredrick North, William Cavendish-Bentinck became the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
7. 2nd April 1792: The Coinage Act, to regulate the coins of the United States was today passed by the U.S. Congress. The act authorized the minting of $10 Eagles, $5 Half Eagle, $2.5 Quarter Eagle gold coins, Silver dollars, dollars, quarts, dimes, and half dimes.
19th Century – April 2 This Day That Year – The 1800s
8. 2nd April 1801: The British destroyed the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen during the Napoleonic Wars.
9. 2nd April 1804: A convoy led by HMS Apollo ran aground off Portugal causing a wreak of forty merchantmen.
10. 2nd April 1819: This day marks the beginning of the first agricultural journal “American Farmer”.
11. 2nd April 1927: Today Joseph Dixon began manufacturing lead pencils.
12. 2nd April 1860: The first Italian parliament met today in Turin.
13. 2nd April 1865: Today Confederate President Davis along with most of his cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond in Virginia.
14. 2nd April 1872: The patent for gas-powered streetcars was today received by G.B. Brayton.
15. 2nd April 1877: Today the first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the White House in Washington D.C.
16. 2nd April 1878: The first issue of Rotterdam’s Newspaper was published today.
17. 2nd April 1884: The London prison for debtors was closed.
18. 2nd April 1889: Aluminum was today patented by Charles Hall.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day April 2nd – The 1900s
19. 2nd April 1990: The first issue of Volk was published in Amsterdam today.
20. 2nd April 1902: The first motion picture theater was today opened in Los Angeles. It had the name Electric Theater.
21. 2nd April 1905: The Simplon rail tunnel which went under the Alps to link Switzerland and Italy was opened today.
22. 2nd April 1905: Cairo-Capetown railway opened on this day.
23. 2nd April 1910: The process of artificial synthesis of rubber was perfected today by Karl Harris.
24. 2nd April 1912: Titanic today underwent sea trial under its power.
25. 2nd April 1912: In China, the Guomindang Party was formed today by Sun Yet Sen.
26. 2nd April 1914: The United States Federal Reserve Board announced its plan to divide the country into twelve districts.
27. 2nd April 1917: The first woman elected to the Congress Jeannette Rankin, began her term as the first woman member of the US House of Representatives today.
28. 2nd April 1917: U.S. President Woodrow Williams today presented the declaration of war against Germany to the U.S. Congress.
29. 2nd April 1921: Physicist Albert Einstein delivered his lecture on the “Theory of Relativity” in New York City today.
30. 2nd April 1925: There were racial riots between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian city of Calcutta.
31. 2nd April 1930: The airplane flight between New York and Bermuda, landed in Bermuda today.
32. 2nd April 1932: A ransom of $ 50,000 was paid for the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindberg. The child was not returned but was found dead the next month.
33. 2nd April 1935: The patent for the RADAR was today granted to Sir Watson-Watt.
34. 2nd April 1935: Mary Hirsch today became the first woman to become a licensed horse trainer.
35. 2nd April 1941: The Dutch Scouting Association was disallowed by the German occupier.
36. 2nd April 1942: USS Harnett today departed from San Francisco with aviation pioneer Jimmy Doolittle’s B-25 on board.
37. 2nd April 1944: The Soviet Union today declared that its troops had crossed the river Prut and entered Rumania.
38. 2nd April 1944: CPI-leader Palmiro Togliatti today returned to Italy.
39. 2nd April 1945: Diplomatic relations were today established between the Soviet Union and Brazil.
40. 2nd April 1945: The first U.S. units reach the east coast of Okinawa.
41. 2nd April 1947: The United Nations Security Council today appointed the United States as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands.
42. 2nd April 1951: General Dwight Eisenhower of the U.S. today assumed command of all the allied forces in the Western Mediterranean area of Europe.
43. 2nd April 1953: Raab forms his first government in Austria.
44. 2nd April 1954: Plans to build Disney land was announced today.
45. 2nd April 1958: This day marks the opening of Antillean Brewery, makers of Amstel Beer.
46. 2nd April 1958: Today the National Advisory Council of Aeronautics was renamed NASA.
47. 2nd April 1958: Wind speeds reached a record 450 kph in a tornado, in Wichita Falls, Texas.
48. 2nd April 1960: France today signed an agreement with Madagascar that proclaimed the country an independent state within the French Community.
49. 2nd April 1960: Cuba buys oil from the USSR.
50. 2nd April 1962: Today the first official Panda crossing was opened outside the Waterloo station in London.
51. 2nd April 1963: U.S.S.R. today launched Luna IV which missed the moon by 8,500 km.
52. 2nd April 1963: This day marks the beginning of the non-violent campaign by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama.
53. 2nd April 1963: Explorer 17 reaches the earth’s orbit today.
54. 2nd April 1964: In Brazil, President Goulart was ousted today in a military coup by General Castillo Branco.
55. 2nd April 1964: In Austria Josef Claus today succeeded Alfons Gorbach as Chancellor.
56. 2nd April 1964: U.S.S.R. launched Zond I to Venus but did not receive any data from the spacecraft.
57. 2nd April 1966: The South Vietnamese troops today joined the demonstration for the end of military rule at Hue and Da Nang.
58. 2nd April 1966: Soviet Union’s Luna 10 orbits the moon. It became the first spacecraft to orbit the moon.
59. 2nd April 1967: Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against Mao foe Liu Shao-Chi in Peaking today.
60. 2nd April 1968: Senator E Mccarthy today won the Democratic preliminaries from Wisconsin.
61. 2nd April 1968: The Union of Central African States was today created by Chad.
62. 2nd April 1970: In India, Meghalaya became an autonomous state within the state of Assam.
63. 2nd April 1971: Libya today concluded a five-week negation with the Western oil companies in Tripoli.
64. 2nd April 1972: Burt Reynolds appeared nude in “Cosmopolitan” magazine today.
65. 2nd April 1972: Menachem Begin, the Prime Minister of Israel visited Cairo today.
66. 2nd April 1975: During the Vietnam War thousands of civilian refugees fled from Quang Ngai province in front of the advancing North Vietnamese troops.
67. 2nd April 1976: Portuguese constitution takes effect.
68. 2nd April 1978: Velcro was first introduced in the market.
69. 2nd April 1979: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin met Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Cairo today.
70. 2nd April 1981: Thirty-seven people were reported killed during fighting in the cities of Beirut and Zahle in Lebanon, in the worst violence since the 1976 cease-fire.
71. 2nd April 1981: A heavy battle broke out between the Christian militia and the Syrian army in East Lebanon.
72. 2nd April 1982: British-owned Falkland Islands were today invaded by Argentina. The British however took the Island back in the following June.
73. 2nd April 1983: This day marks the end of the New Jersey transit strike which had begun on 1st March.
74. 2nd April 1984: Three Arab gunmen today opened fire into a crowd of shoppers in Jerusalem. 48 people were wounded in the firing.
75. 2nd April 1984: John Thomson became the first black coach, who led his team to the NCAA college basketball championship.
76. 2nd April 1985: The U.S. today performed a nuclear test at its test site in Nevada.
77. 2nd April 1985: The NCCA rules committee today adopted the 45-second shot clock for men’s basketball. The new rule is to take effect beginning the 1986 season.
78. 2nd April 1987: On some limited areas of the U.S. Interstate highway, the speed limit was today increased to 65 miles per hour.
79. 2nd April 1987: A bomb planted under a seat of the TWA flight flying from Rome to Athens exploded killing four Americans who were on the flight.
80. 2nd April 1988: U.S. Special Prosecutor James McKay today declined to indict Attorney General Edwin Meese of criminal wrongdoing.
81. 2nd April 1989: A New York Times editorial today stated that the Cold War was over.
82. 2nd April 1989: Haiti Military Leader General Prosper Avril today survived a coup attempt that was triggered by his U.S.-backed effort to fight drug trafficking.
83. 2nd April 1990: President Saddam Hussein of Iraq today issued a threat that he would incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq.
84. 2nd April 1991: Rotterdam Daily Newspaper begins publication today.
85. 2nd April 1992: The female Prime Minister of France, Edith Cresson, resigns.
86. 2nd April 1992: Mob Boss John Gotti was today convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. He was later sentenced to life.
87. 2nd April 1992: Space shuttle Atlantis 11 (STS-45) lands today.
88. 2nd April 1993: A DC 10 belonging to Venezuela crashed at Margarita, killing 10 people.
89. 2nd April 1995: The costliest strike in the history of professional sports ended today with the baseball owners agreeing to let players play without contract.
90. 2nd April 1995: The New York Police Department and the New York Transit Police merged today to form one organization.
91. 2nd April 1995: Sunday New York Times today raised its price from $2.00 to $2.50.
92. 2nd April 1996: Russia and Belarus today signed a treaty creating a political and economic alliance that would help to reunite the former Soviet Republics.
93. 2nd April 1996: Lech Walesa, a former solidarity leader who became the first post-war democratic president of Poland, resumed his old job as an electrician in the Gdansk shipyard.
21st Century – April 2 This Day In History – The 2000s
94. 2nd April 2002: Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity. Over 200 Palestinians had taken shelter in the Church when Israel invaded Bethlehem.
95. 2nd April 2004: An attempted bomb attack on the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid by Islamist terrorists involved in the 11th March 2004 Madrid attacks was thwarted today.
96. 2nd April 2013: A fire in a mosque in Yangon in Burma killed 13 children.
97. 2nd April 2013: The Arms Trade Treaty was today adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, to regulate the international trade on conventional weapons.
98. 2nd April 2013: Legislation to legalize same-sex marriage was today passed by Uruguay.
99. 2nd April 2014: The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that limits on the total amounts of money individuals can give to political candidates and political action committees were unconstitutional.
100. 2nd April 2015: A gunman attacked Garissa University College in Kenya killing at least 140 people.
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