April 3

April 3 is the 93th day of the year (94st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining.

Events

• 1860 - The first successful Pony Express run from St. 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 - Old West outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward.
• 1936 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann[?] is executed for the kidnapping and death of the baby son of Anne and Charles Lindbergh.
• 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.
• 1968 - Simon and Garfunkel release the critically acclaimed album Bookends.
• 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "mountaintop" speech.
• 1975 - Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.
• 1986 - IBM unveils the PC Convertible, the first laptop computer[?].
• 1996 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is arrested at his Montana cabin.
• 1996 - An Air Force air transport carrying United States Commerce Secretary[?] 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.

Births

• 1783 - Washington Irving, author (+ 1859)
• 1822 - Edward Everett Hale[?], writer, (+ 1909)
• 1823 - William Marcy Tweed, political boss (+ 1878)
• 1885 - Allan Dwan, film director ( + 1981)
• 1893 - Leslie Howard, actor (+ 1943)
• 1898 - George Jessel[?], comedian (+ 1981)
• 1903 - Peter Huchel[?], lyricist and author of radio plays (+ 1981)
• 1904 - Sally Rand[?], dancer (+ 1979)
• 1907 - Iron Eyes Cody[?], actor (+ 1999)
• 1916 - Herb Caen[?], newspaper columnist (+ 1997)
• 1924 - Doris Day, actress
• 1924 - Marlon Brando, actor
• 1925 - Tony Benn, British politician
• 1926 - Gus Grissom, astronaut (+ 1967)
• 1930 - Helmut Kohl, politician, German Bundeskanzler from 1982 to 1998
• 1934 - Jane Goodall, zoologist
• 1942 - Marsha Mason, actress
• 1942 - Wayne Newton[?], singer
• 1944 - Tony Orlando[?], musician
• 1949 - Richard Thompson, musician, songwriter
• 1958 - Alec Baldwin, actor
• 1959 - David Hyde Pierce[?], actor
• 1961 - Eddie Murphy, actor and comedian
• 1968 - Sebastian Bach[?], musician ("Skid Row")
• 1986 - Amanda Bynes, teen actress and show host

Deaths

• 1882 - Jesse James, outlaw
• 1897 - Johannes Brahms, composer
• 1901 - Richard D'Oyly Carte, impresario
• 1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, chemist
• 1936 - Bruno Hauptmann[?], convicted of killing Charles Lindbergh Jr.
• 1950 - Kurt Weill, composer
• 1986 - Richard Manuel[?], musician ("The Band")
• 1988 - Milt Caniff[?], cartoonist
• 1990 - Sarah Vaughn[?], singer
• 1991 - Graham Greene, writer
• 1993 - Pinky Lee[?], children's television host

Holidays and observances

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December