April 2nd
Today in America's Present Past
1513 | Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida.
1788 | Federalist No. 77 published.
1814 | Entrepreneur Erastus Brigham Bigelow was born.
1827 | Entrepreneur Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils
1833 | General Thomas Howard Ruger was born.
1862 | Philosopher Nicholas Murray Butler was born.
1863 | Civil War: “Bread riots” start throughout the South.
1865 | Civil War: Battle of Fort Blakely, Alabama.
1865 | Civil War: Battle of Selma, Alabama.
1872 | Entrepreneur, painter, and inventor Samuel Morse died.
1875 Entrepreneur Walter Chrysler was born.
1902 | The first movie theatre opens in Los Angeles, California
1902 | Activist Esther Morris died.
1917 | Congress: Jeannette Rankin begins her term as the first woman member of the House Of Representatives.
1917 | WWI: Democrat President Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany.
1928 | Chemist Theodore W. Richards died.
1932 | Charles Lindbergh pays $50,000 as ransom for his kidnapped son.
1939 | Musician Marvin Gaye was born.
1945 | Poet Anne Waldman was born.
1957 | Entrepreneur Hank Steinbrenner was born.
1965 | Police victim Rodney King was born.
1978 | TV: “Dallas” the TV show premiered.
1980 | SCOTUS: Justice Stanley Forman Reed died.
1986 | War on Terror: Four Americans were killed at the TWA counter at the Athens, Greece airport by a bomb.
2012 | Sculptor Elizabeth Catlett died.
2015 | Cleric Robert Schuller died.