TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 2
1792 The United States authorizes the minting of the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins as well as the silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime.
1865 Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Richmond, Virginia as Grant breaks Lee’s line at Petersburg.
1870 Victoria Claflin Woodhull announced her candidacy for president of the United States.
1910 Karl Harris perfects the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.
1917 President Woodrow Wilson tells Congress “The world must be made safe for democracy.” asking Congress for a declaration of war and to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I .
1917 Jeannette Pickering Rankin is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1932 Charles Lindbergh pays over $50,000 ransom for his kidnapped son.
1935 Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for RADAR.
1947 The U.N. Security Council voted to appoint the U.S. as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands.
1958 The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics is renamed NASA.
1963 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King begins the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama.
1979 The world’s first anthrax epidemic begins in Ekaterinburg, Russia by the time it was finished 62 people were dead. The town did contain a biological weapons plant, and in 1992 the cause was confirmed as starting at that plant
1980 Following the increases of petrol in the mid to late 70’s President Carter urged Congress to create legislation that would take advantage of the oil industry’s high profits . And the “Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act” did by collecting roughly $227 billion dollars over the next 10 years .
1981 In Lebanon, thirty-seven people were reported killed during fighting in the cities of Beirut and Zahle. It was the worst violence since the 1976 cease fire.
1982 Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands.
1987 Congress passed laws which allowed each state to increase the speed limit on rural roads from 55mph to 65mph. observed on our country’s roads
1989 An editorial in the “New York Times” declared that the Cold War was over.
1990 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq.
1992 Mob boss John Gotti often referred to as “The Teflon Don” because of the number of times he was charged but not convicted is finally convicted in New York of racketeering, murder, obstruction of justice, hijacking, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion and loan sharking l
1996 Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland’s first post-war democratic president.
2002 Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem The Israel Defense Force had occupied Bethlehem to capture wanted Palestinians. The 39-day siege ensued after some militants fled into the church, which is believed to stand on the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.
2006 Having been held hostage in Iraq for nearly three months, Jill Caroll arrives home in Boston. Carroll works for the Christian Science Monitor that is based there, and was abducted in Baghdad on January 7th.
2014 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limits on the total amount of money individuals can give political candidates and political action committees were unconstitutional.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
