1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. That same day convicted murderer Richard Wayne Snell, who had ties to bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh, was executed in Arkansas
0531 – Battle of Callinicum: Roman general Belisarius defeated by Sasanian army led by Azarethes, though heavy losses on both sides result in a stalemate in northern Syria
1012 – Aelfheah was murdered by Danes who had been ravaging the south of England. Aelfhear became the 29th Archbishop of Canterbury in 1005.
1451 – Alam Shah of Delhi resigns throne
1524 – Pope Clement VII fires Dutch Inquisitor-General Frans Van der Hulst
1539 – Emperor Charles V reached a truce with German Protestants at Frankfurt, Germany.
1587 – English admiral Sir Francis Drake entered Cadiz harbor and sank the Spanish fleet.
1689 – Residents of Boston ousted their governor, Edmond Andros.
1713 – With no living male heirs, Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa (not actually born until 1717)
1764 – The English Parliament banned the American colonies from printing paper money.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War begins – The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and 13 colonies of British North America. The war resulted in U.S. independence.
1782 – John Adams secures Dutch Republic’s recognition of the United States as an independent government, a house he purchased in The Hague becomes America’s first embassy
1794 – Tadeusz Kosciuszko forced the Russians out of Warsaw.
1802 – The Spanish reopened the New Orleans port to American merchants.
1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a Junta is installed
1839 – The Kingdom of Belgium was recognized by all the states of Europe when the Treaty of London was signed.
1861 – The Baltimore riots resulted in four Union soldiers and nine civilians killed.
1892 – The Duryea gasoline buggy was introduced in the U.S. by Charles and Frank Duryea.
1897 – The first annual Boston Marathon was held. It was the first of its type in the U.S.
1901 – In the Philippines, recently captured insurgent leader Emilio Aguinaldo issues a proclamation advising his countrymen to end their rebellion and use of peaceful means to work with the US toward independence.
1916 – Alderman Kelly reads the ‘Castle Order’ to a meeting of Dublin Corporation; this forged document supposedly from Dublin Castle, indicated that there was to be mass arrests of Irish Volunteers to prevent “trouble”
1923 – New Egyptian law allows suffrage for men, except soldiers
1927 – Actress Mae West found guilty of “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” in a New York stage play entitled “Sex”. She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $500, the resulting publicity launches her Hollywood career.
1932 – US President Herbert Hoover suggests five-day work week
1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation that removed the U.S. from the gold standard.
1936 – First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.
1938 – General Francisco Franco declared victory in the Spanish Civil War.
1939 – Connecticut approved the Bill of Rights for the U.S. Constitution after 148 years.
1943 – The Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule began. The Jews were able to fight off the Germans for 28 days.
1945 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Guatemala are established
1948 – Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China
1951 – General Douglas MacArthur gave his “Old Soldiers” speech before the U.S. Congress after being relieved by U.S. President Truman. In the address General MacArthur said that “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
1955 – The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network
1956 – Actress Grace Kelly became Princess Grace of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The civil ceremony took place on April 18.
1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against their president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign
1965 – At a cost of $20,000, the outer Astrodome ceiling is painted because of sun’s glare, this causes the grass to die
1967 – Surveyor 3 landed on the moon and began sending photos back to the U.S.
1971 – Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC
1979 – FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WFAT (Bkln NY)
1981 – In Davao, Philippines, thirteen people were killed when members of the New People’s Army threw hand grenades into the Roman Catholic cathedral during Easter services.
1982 – NASA named Sally Ride to be first woman astronaut and named Guion S. Bluford Jr. as the first African-American astronaut.
1987 – The last California condor known to be in the wild was captured and placed in a breeding program at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
1989 – A gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa. 47 sailors were killed.
1991 – Greyhound Bus posts $195 million loss for 1990
1993 – The Branch-Davidian’s compound in Waco, TX, burned to the ground. It was the end of a 51-day standoff between the cult and U.S. federal agents. 86 people were killed including 17 children. Nine of the Branch Davidians escaped the fire.
1995 – The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, was destroyed by a bomb. It was the worst bombing on U.S. territory. 168 people were killed including 19 children, and 500 were injured. Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing on June 2, 1997.
1998 – Wang Dan, a leader of 1989 Tienanmen Square pro democracy protests, was freed by the Chinese government.
2000 – The Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated on the fifth anniversary of the bombing in Oklahoma that killed 168 people.
2002 – The USS Cole was relaunched. In Yemen, 17 sailors were killed when the ship was attacked by terrorists on October 12, 2000. The attack was blamed on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.
2011 – In the Movie “Terminator” Skynet is activated and becomes self aware.
2013 – Boston bombing suspects killed and captured in Boston after 4 days
2017 – Fox News confirms they would be letting go of Bill O’Reilly after allegations of sexual harassment
2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland changes the name of Swaziland to Eswatini, which translates as the “Land of the Swati”
2020 – UK COVID-19 death toll reaches 16,060 (hospitals only), as “The Sunday Times” criticizes Boris Johnson’s government’s response, saying they “sleepwalked into disaster”
2021 – NASA successfully flies its drone helicopter Ingenuity on Mars, first powered aircraft to fly on another world
2022 – US Biden administration restores climate impacts and community say to the National Environmental Policy Act, previously removed by Donald Trump
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
