TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – APRIL 3
628 In Persia, Kavadh sues for peace with the Byzantines.
1559 Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France sign the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending a long series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.
1645 English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army
1829 James Carrington patented the coffee mill.
1860 The Pony Express connects St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.
1862 Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C
1882 The American outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed by his cousin, Bob Ford.
1933 First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt informed newspaper reporters that beer would be served at the White House. This followed the March 22 legislation that legalized “3.2” beer.
1936 Bruno Hauptmann, killer of the Lindbergh baby, is executed.
1944 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that black citizens are eligible to vote in all elections, including primaries.
1948 President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan. It will revive war-torn Europe.
1967 The U.S. State Department said that Hanoi might be brainwashing American prisoners.
1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., less than 24 hours before he was assassinated
1973 The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, United States.
1974 Following the start of the investigation into the Watergate scandal, President Nixon was also facing serious questions about his taxes and agreed to pay $432,787.13 plus interest in back taxes for the years 1969 through 1972
1985 The U.S. charged that Israel violated the Geneva Convention by deporting Shiite prisoners.
1996 Theodore John Kaczynski is arrested by the FBI accused of being the Unabomber, the elusive terrorist blamed for 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 during an 18-year period.
2000 A U.S. federal judge ruled that Microsoft had violated U.S. antitrust laws by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on its competitors. Microsoft said that they would appeal the ruling.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
