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April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining.
Events
- 1559 - The Treaty of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed.
- 1860 - The first successful Pony Express run from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California is started (completed on April 13).
- 1865 - American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the break-away Confederate States of America.
- 1882 - American Old West outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed in Saint Joseph, Missouri by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward.
- 1885 - Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his engine design.
- 1895 - The libel trial instigated by Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensbury begins, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
- 1922 - Joseph Stalin succeeds Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.
- 1936 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the baby son of Anne and world-famous pilot Charles Lindbergh.
- 1941 - Hungarian and Nazi troops march into Yugoslavia.
- 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.
- 1946 - Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside Manila in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
- 1948 - President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
- 1953 - TV Guide debuts.
- 1955 - The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.
- 1968 - Elvis Presley sings Heartbreak Hotel on the Milton Berle Show with an estimated 25% of the United States population viewing.
- 1968 - Simon and Garfunkel release the critically acclaimed album Bookends.
- 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "mountaintop" speech.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.
- 1971 - In Dublin, Ireland, Séverine wins the sixteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Monaco singing "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (A bench, a tree, a street).
- 1973 - The first ever Mobile phone call is placed by Martin Cooper, in New York City
- 1974 - The Super Outbreak occurred. 148 tornadoes affected 13 states in 26 hours. It was the biggest tornado outbreak in the planet's recorded history.
- 1975 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
- 1976 - In The Hague, Netherlands, Brotherhood of Man wins the twenty-first Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Save Your Kisses For Me".
- 1986 - IBM unveils the PC Convertible, their first laptop computer.
- 1996 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is arrested at his Montana cabin.
- 1996 - An Air Force air transport carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashes in Croatia, killing all 35 on-board.
- 2000 - Microsoft antitrust case: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
- 2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves with explosives.
Births
- 1593 - George Herbert, English poet and orator († 1633)
- 1693 - George Edwards, naturalist (d. 1773)
- 1769 - Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (d. 1835)
- 1783 - Washington Irving, author (d. 1859)
- 1814 - Lorenzo Snow, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901)
- 1822 - Edward Everett Hale, writer, (d. 1909)
- 1823 - William Marcy Tweed, political boss (d. 1878)
- 1881 - Alcide De Gasperi, former Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954)
- 1885 - Allan Dwan, film director (d. 1981)
- 1893 - Leslie Howard, actor (d. 1943)
- 1898 - George Jessel, comedian (d. 1981)
- 1903 - Peter Huchel, lyricist and author of radio plays (d. 1981)
- 1907 - Iron Eyes Cody, actor (d. 1999)
- 1913 - Per Borten, former Premier of Norway (d. 2005)
- 1916 - Herb Caen, newspaper columnist (d. 1997)
- 1924 - Marlon Brando, actor (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Doris Day, actress
- 1925 - Tony Benn, British politician
- 1926 - Gus Grissom, astronaut (d. 1967)
- 1930 - Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida- 1977-1989, Florida Governor- 1991-1998
- 1930 - Helmut Kohl, politician, German Bundeskanzler from 1982 to 1998
- 1934 - Jane Goodall, zoologist
- 1941 - Eric Braeden, actor
- 1941 - Philippe Wynne, musician (d. 1984)
- 1942 - Marsha Mason, actress
- 1942 - Wayne Newton, singer
- 1943 - Jonathan Lynn, British actor and comedy writer
- 1944 - Tony Orlando, musician
- 1949 - Richard Thompson, musician, songwriter
- 1956 - Ray Combs, game show host, comedian (d. 1996)
- 1958 - Alec Baldwin, actor
- 1959 - David Hyde Pierce, actor
- 1961 - Eddie Murphy, actor and comedian
- 1962 - Mike Ness, musician ("Social Distortion")
- 1968 - Sebastian Bach, musician ("Skid Row")
- 1969 - Paul E.M. Phillips, scientist
- 1975 - Michael Olowokandi, NBA basketball player
- 1986 - Amanda Bynes, teen actress and show host
Deaths
- 963 - William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
- 1287 - Pope Honorius IV (b. c. 1210)
- 1868 - Franz Berwald, composer (b. 1796)
- 1882 - Jesse James, outlaw (b. 1847)
- 1897 - Johannes Brahms, composer (b. 1833)
- 1901 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, impresario (b. 1844)
- 1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, chemist (b. 1853)
- 1936 - Bruno Hauptmann, convicted of killing Charles Lindbergh Jr. (b. 1899)
- 1950 - Kurt Weill, composer (b. 1900)
- 1982 - Warren Oates, American Character actor (b. 1928)
- 1986 - Richard Manuel, musician ("The Band")
- 1986 - Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
- 1987 - Tom Sestak, American football player (b. 1936)
- 1988 - Milt Caniff, cartoonist
- 1990 - Sarah Vaughn, Jazz singer (b. 1924)
- 1991 - Graham Greene, writer (b. 1904)
- 1993 - Pinky Lee, children's television host
- 1996 - Ronald H. Brown, U.S. secretary of commerce
Holidays and observances
April 2 - April 4 - March 3 - May 3 -- listing of all days
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