April 21513 - 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 Eagles, $5 Half Eagles, $2.50 Quarter Eagle gold coins, silver dollars, dollars, quarters, dimes and half-dimes 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. 2013 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Arms Trade Treaty to regulate the international trade of conventional weapons. 2014 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limits on the total amount of money individuals can give political candidates and political action committees were unconstitutional. |