more events on April 2
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1982
Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands.
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1963
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King begins the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama.
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1958
The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics is renamed NASA.
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1948
Emmylou Harris, American singer.
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1944
Soviet forces enter Romania, one of Germany’s allied countries.
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1932
Charles Lindbergh pays over $50,000 ransom for his kidnapped son.
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1931
Virne “Jackie” Mitchell becomes the first woman to play for an all-male pro baseball team. In an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, she strikes out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
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1917
Jeannette Pickering Rankin is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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President Woodrow Wilson presents a declaration of war against Germany to Congress.
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1914
Alec Guinness, British actor.
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The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces plans to divide the country into 12 districts.
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1910
Karl Harris perfects the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.
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1905
Serge Lifar, dancer and opera director.
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Kurt Adler, American conductor.
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1891
Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor and founder of surrealism.
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1875
Walter P. Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Automobile Company.
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1865
Confederate President Jefferson Davis flees Richmond, Virginia as Grant breaks Lee’s line at Petersburg.
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1840
Emile Zola, French novelist and activist.
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1834
Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor.
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1805
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author of fairy tales.
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1801
The British navy defeats the Danish at the Battle of Copenhagen.
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1796
Haitian revolt leader Toussaint L’Ouverture takes command of French forces at Santo Domingo.
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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.
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1725
Giovanni Casanova, Italian adventurer.
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742
Charlemagne, first Holy Roman Emperor.