TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 2
1453 Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29
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.
1801 Napoleonic Wars: The British led by Horatio Nelson destroy the Danish fleet in the naval Battle of Copenhagen
1827 Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils
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.
1877 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1910 Karl Harris perfects the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.
1917 Jeannette Pickering Rankin is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
1917 President Woodrow Wilson presents a declaration of war against Germany to Congress.
1932 Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son
1958 The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics is renamed NASA.
1970 Qatar gains independence from Britain
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 Heavy battle between Christian militia & Syrian army in East Lebanon
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 Wrestlemania V at Trump Plaza, Hulk Hogan beats “Macho Man” Savage
2002 Israeli forces besiege the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
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.
2013 North Korean officials announced plans to restart activities at the Yongbyon nuclear facility. The reactor at Yongbyon had been shut down in 2007 as part of an aid agreement.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
