On This Day April 2

1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida. The next day he went ashore.

1792 - The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act to regulate the coins of the United States. The act authorized $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime to be minted.

1801 - During the Napoleonic Wars, the Danish fleet was destroyed by the British at the Battle of Copenhagen.

1860 - The first Italian Parliament met in Turin.

1865 - Confederate President Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA.

1872 - G.B. Brayton received a patent for the gas-powered streetcar.

1877 - The first Egg Roll was held on the grounds of the White House in Washington, DC.

1889 - Charles Hall patented aluminum.

1902 - The first motion picture theatre opened in Los Angeles with the name Electric Theatre.

1905 - The Simplon rail tunnel officially opened. The tunnel went under the Alps and linked Switzerland and Italy.

1910 - Karl Harris perfected the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.

1914 - The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced plans to divide the country into 12 districts.

1917 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson presented a declaration of war against Germany to the U.S. Congress.

1932 - A $50,000 ransom was paid for the infant son of Charles and Anna Lindbergh. He child was not returned and was found dead the next month.

1935 - Sir Watson-Watt was granted a patent for RADAR.

1944 - The Soviet Union announced that its troops had crossed the Prut River and entered Romania.

1947 - "The Big Story" debuted on NBC radio. It was on the air for eight years.

1947 - The U.N. Security Council voted to appoint the U.S. as trustee for former Japanese-held Pacific Islands.

1951 - U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower assumed command of all allied forces in the Western Mediterranean area and Europe.

1956 - "The Edge of Night" and "As the World Turns" debuted on CBS-TV.

1958 - The National Advisory Council on Aeronautics was renamed NASA.

1960 - France signed an agreement with Madagascar that proclaimed the country an independent state within the French community.

1963 - Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King began the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, AL.

1966 - South Vietnamese troops joined in demonstrations at Hue and Da Nang for an end to military rule.

1967 - In Peking, hundreds of thousands demonstrated against Mao foe Liu Shao-chi.

1972 - Burt Reynolds appeared nude in "Cosmopolitan" magazine.

1978 - The first episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.

1981 - In Lebanon, thirty-seven people were reported killed during fighting in the cities of Beirut and Zahle. It was the worst violence since the 1976 cease fire.

1982 - Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands. The following June Britain took the islands back.

1983 - The New Jersey Transit strike that began on March 1 came to an end.

1984 - John Thompson became the first black coach to lead his team to the NCAA college basketball championship.

1984 - In Jerusalem, three Arab gunmen wounded 48 people when they opened fire into a crowd of shoppers.

1985 - The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the 45-second shot clock for men’s basketball to begin in the 1986 season.

1986 - On a TWA airliner flying from Rome to Athens a bomb exploded under a seat killing four Americans.

1987 - The speed limit on U.S. interstate highways was increased to 65 miles per hour in limited areas.

1988 - U.S. Special Prosecutor James McKay declined to indict Attorney General Edwin Meese for criminal wrongdoing.

1989 - An editorial in the "New York Times" declared that the Cold War was over.

1989 - General Prosper Avril, Haiti's military leader, survived a coup attempt. The attempt was apparently provoked by Avril's U.S.-backed efforts to fight drug trafficking.

1990 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to incinerate half of Israel with chemical weapons if Israel joined a conspiracy against Iraq.

1992 - Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. He was later sentenced to life in prison.

1995 - The costliest strike in professional sports history ended when baseball owners agreed to let players play without a contract.

1996 - Russia and Belarus signed a treaty that created a political and economic alliance in an effort to reunite the two former Soviet republics.

1996 - Lech Walesa resumed his old job as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard. He was the former Solidarity union leader who became Poland's first post-war democratic president.

2002 - Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity. More than 200 Palestinians had taken refuge at the church when Israel invaded Bethlehem.

Birthdays

Giovanni Casanova 1725 - Writer, philanderer

Hans Christian Andersen 1805 - Author ("The Ugly Duckling")

Frederic Bartholdi 1834

Emile Zola 1840 - Novelist

Walter Chrysler 1875 - Auto manufacturer (Chrysler Corporation)

Max Ernst 1891 - Sculptor and painter

Buddy Ebsen 1908 - Actor ("The Beverly Hillbillies", "Barnaby Jones")

Herbert Mills 1912 - Singer (The Mills Brothers)

Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness de Cuffe) 1914 - Actor ("Bridge Over River Kwai", "A Passage to India", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Wars")

Lou Monte 1917 - Singer

Dabbs Greer 1917

Charles White 1918 - Artist

Jack Webb (John Randolf) 1920 - Director, actor

Sir Jack Brabham - Auto racer

Bobby (Roberto Francisco Gonzales) Avila 1924 - Baseball player

Carmen Basilio 1927 - Boxer

Rita Gam 1928 - Actress ("The Thief", "Midnight")

Sharon Acker 1935

Warner Mack 1938 - Country singer

Marvin Gaye, Jr. 1939 - Singer ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine")

Leon Russel 1942 - Singer, songwriter

Larry Coryell 1943

Glen Dale 1943 - Musician (The Fortunes)

Marlene Floyd 1944 - Golfer, golf commentator

Linda Hunt 1945 - Actress ("Kindergarten Cop")

Reggie (Carl Reginald) Smith 1945 - Baseball player

Don Sutton 1945 - Baseball pitcher

Emmylou Harris 1947 - Singer

Leon Wilkerson 1952 - Musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Lynyrd Skynyrd Official Store

Pamela Reed 1953 - Actress

Debralee Scott 1953 - Actress ("Police Academy")

Ron "Horshack" Palillo 1954

Christopher Meloni 1961 - Actor ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit")

Keren Woodward 1961 - Singer (Bananarama)

Clark Gregg 1962 - Actor

Billy Dean 1962

Bill ROmanowski 1966 - Football player

Roselyn Sanchez 1973 - Actress ("Without a Trace")

Jeremy Garrett 1976

Jesse Plemons 1988 - Actor ("Friday Night Lights")

Music History for

April 2

1739 - Handel's "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" was performed for the first time.

1800 - Beethoven's "Opus 21: Symphony No. 1 in C major" was first performed for Baron von Swieten.

1803 - Composer Franz Lachner was born.

1942 - Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded "American Patrol."

1963 - "Best Foot Forward" with Liza Minnelli opened in New York City.

1964 - The Beach Boys recorded "I Get Around."

1965 - Freddie & the Dreamers recorded "Do The Freddie."

1967 - Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic.

1967 - The Beatles finished recording the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
John Lennon Merchandise - Today in Beatles History - Beatles apparel and gear

1972 - John Lennon and Yoko Ono held a news conference in New York to discuss their appeal of the Immigration Department's decision to deport John.

1974 - The British pirate radio station Piccadilly Radio went on the air.

1977 - Stevie Wonder’s tribute to Duke Ellington, "Sir Duke," was released.

1987 - The Prince album "Sign O' The Times" was released worldwide.

1993 - Roberta Flack appeared on the ABC-TV soap opera "Loving."

1997 - Joni Mitchell was reunited with Kilauren Gibb. Gibb was the daughter that Mitchell had given up for adoption 32 years before.

1998 - Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli) died in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany.

1998 - A new wing opened at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cleveland, OH.

1999 - The Black Crowes performed in Knoxvilled, TN. One of the concergoers later sued the band for $385,000 in a claim that he had suffered significant hearing loss at the show.

2002 - Lee Anderson Minnelli sued her stepdaughter Liza Minnelli for elder abuse and breach of contract. The claim was filed based on the will of Vincente Minnelli.