Today In History: April

April 1st

1621: The Pilgrims And Wampanoag Make Peace
1700: April Fools' Tradition Begins
1945: The Battle Of Okinawa Begins
1984: Marvin Gaye Is Murdered
2006: Brian Shaffer Goes Missing
2007: The Japan Times Reports That The Hachikō Statue Has Been Stolen

April 2nd

1502: Arthur Prince Of Wales Dies
1513: Juan Ponce de León Claims Florida For Spain
1805: Hans Christian Andersen Is Born
1917: Woodrow Wilson Asks Congress To Declare War On Germany
1932: Famed Cowboy Bill Pickett Dies
1982: Argentina Invades The Falkland Islands

April 3rd

33 C.E.: Jesus Christ Is Crucified
1860: The Pony Express Begins
1882: Jesse James Is Murdered
1968: Martin Luther King Delivers 'I've Been To The Mountaintop' Speech
1973: The First Cell Phone Call Is Made
1996: The 'Unabomber' Is Arrested

April 4th

1841: William Henry Harrison Dies
1928: Maya Angelou Is Born
1958: Cheryl Crane Stabs Johnny Stompanato To Death
1968: Martin Luther King Jr. Is Assassinated
1973: The World Trade Center Opens In New York
2017: "Evil Genius" Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong Dies In Prison

April 5th

1614: Pocahontas Weds John Rolfe
1764: Britain Passes The Sugar Act In The American Colonies
1859: Charles Darwin Sends His Publishers The First Chapters Of On the Origin of Species
1933: FDR Establishes Civilian Conservation Corps
1955: Winston Churchill Steps Down
1994: Kurt Cobain Dies

April 6th

1453: The Siege Of Constantinople Begins
1830: Joseph Smith Founds The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints
1896: The First Modern Olympic Games Begin
1917: The United States Enters World War I
1931: Ram Dass Is Born
1941: The Battle Of Metaxas Line And Dimitrios Itsios' Execution
1955: Keith Hunter Jesperson Is Born
1994: The Rwandan Genocide Begins
2002: Con Artist Elaine Parent Dies In Panama City

April 7th

1803: Toussaint L'Ouverture Dies
1915: Billie Holiday Is Born
1963: Josip Broz Tito Declared President Of Yugoslavia For Life
1972: Joe Gallo Is Murdered
1987: The Chippendales Murders Begin
1994: The Rwandan Genocide Begins

April 8th

563 B.C.E.: Gautama Buddha Is Born
1730: The First Synagogue Is Dedicated In New York
1820: French Navy Officer Witnesses The Discovery Of The Venus de Milo in Melos
1989: Felix Gallardo Is Arrested
1990: Ryan White Dies Of AIDS
1994: Kurt Cobain Is Found Dead
2009: Somali Pirates Attack Maersk Alabama
2010: Halden Prison Officially Opens

April 9th

1835: King Leopold II Of Belgium Is Born
1865: Robert E. Lee Surrenders To Ulysses S. Grant
1881: Billy The Kid Is Found Guilty Of Murder
1942: Bataan Death March Begins
1950: The Weather Station in Alert, Canada Begins Operations
2003: Baghdad Falls To U.S. Forces

April 10th

837 C.E.: Halley's Comet Makes Closest Ever Pass By Earth
1815: Mount Tambora Erupts
1834: LaLaurie Mansion Catches On Fire
1845: The Great Fire Of Pittsburgh
1866: ASPCA Is Founded
1912: The RMS Titanic Sets Sail
1919: Emiliano Zapata Is Assassinated
1955: Ruth Ellis Murders Davidi Blakely
1960: Stuart Sutcliffe, The Fifth Beatle, Dies
1970: The Beatles Break Up
1981: The Brixton Riots Begin

April 11th

1814: Napoleon Bonaparte Is Exiled To Elba
1865: Abraham Lincoln Gives His Final Speech
1890: Joseph Merrick Dies
1912: The RMS Carpathia Departs From New York
1921: The First Live Sporting Event Is Broadcast Over Radio
1945: Buchenwald Is Liberated
1968: The 1968 FBI Miami Shootout
1974: Wayne Nance Kills His First Victim
1979: Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin Is Overthrown
1981: Keddie Cabin Murders Are Committed

April 12th

1633: Galileo Galilei Is Accused Of Heresy
1861: The American Civil War Begins At Fort Sumter
1862: The Great Locomotive Chase Takes Place
1927: The Shanghai Massacre Begins
1945: Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies
1961: Yuri Gagarin Becomes The First Man In Space

April 13th

1612: Miyamoto Musashi Defeats Sasaki Kojiro
1743: Thomas Jefferson Is Born
1866: Butch Cassidy Is Born
1870: The Metropolitan Museum Of Art Is Established
1919: The Amritsar Massacre Takes Place
1970: An Oxygen Tank Explodes On Apollo 13
1986: Stephen Stucker Dies
1997: Tiger Woods Wins His First Masters Tournament

April 14th

1818: Webster's American Dictionary Is First Printed
1865: Abraham Lincoln Is Shot By John Wilkes Booth
1910: William Howard Taft Throws Out The Ceremonial First Pitch
1912: The RMS Titanic Hits An Iceberg
1935: The 'Black Sunday' Dust Bowl Storm Takes Place
2014: Boko Haram Kidnaps 275 Girls From A Boarding School

April 15th

1848: Seventy-Seven Slaves Attempt To Escape In The 'Pearl Incident'
1865: Abraham Lincoln Dies
1865: Andrew Johnson Is Sworn In
1892: Corrie ten Boom Is Born
1912: The RMS Titanic Sinks
1912: The Titanic Iceberg Is Photographed
1919: The Precursor To The Gulag Is Approved
1945: Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Is Liberated
1998: Pol Pot Dies
2019: Notre Dame Cathedral Catches On Fire

April 16th

1828: Francisco Goya Dies
1853: The First Passenger Railway In India Opens
1874: Alfred Packer, The Colorado Cannibal, Returns From His Ill-Fated Journey
1889: Charlie Chaplin Is Born
1917: Vladimir Lenin Returns To Russia From Exile
1943: Albert Hofman Accidentally Discovers LSD
1995: Cheyenne Brando Dies/h2>
Cheyenne Brando, the last child of actor Marlon Brando, dies from suicide at her mother's home in Tahiti.

2007: The Virginia Tech Shooting Takes Place

A mass shooting takes place on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. The deadliest school shooting in American history, the massacre was perpetrated by 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, a student from South Korea with mental health issues. Thirty-three people died during the shooting, including Cho, who died by suicide.
2007: The Virginia Tech Shooting Takes Place

April 17th

1790: Benjamin Franklin Dies
1865: Mary Surratt Is Arrested
1895: The First Sino-Japanese War Ends
1917: Constantin Von Economo Describes Encephalitis Lethargica For The First Time
1961: The Bay Of Pigs Invasion Is Launched
1975: Cambodia Falls To The Khmer Rouge
2013: Elvis Impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis Is Arrested For Sending A Ricin-Laced Letter To President Obama

April 18th

1775: Paul Revere Embarks On His 'Midnight Ride'
1894: Leonarda Cianciulli Is Born
1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake Takes Place
1912: Survivors From The Titanic Arrive In NYC
1955: Albert Einstein Dies
1965: Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier

April 19th

1775: The American Revolution Begins
1824: Lord Byron Dies
1943: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Begins
1943: Dr. Albert Hofmann Creates Bicycle Day
1993: The Waco Siege Ends
1995: The Oklahoma City Bombing Takes Place

April 20th

1689: The Siege Of Derry Begins
1889: Adolf Hitler Is Born In Austria
1902: Marie And Pierre Curie Isolate Radium
1999: The Columbine School Shooting
2010: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Takes Place

April 21st

753 B.C.E.: Rome Is Founded
1836: General Santa Anna Is Captured
1898: USS Maine Blows Up, Sparking The Spanish-American War
1910: Mark Twain Dies
1918: The "Red Baron" Is Killed
1934: "Proof" Of The Loch Ness Monster Is Published
2016: Prince Dies
2016: Michelle McNamara Dies

April 22nd

1519: Hernán Cortés Establishes Veracruz
1889: The Oklahoma Land Rush Begins
1915: German Forces Use Chlorine Gas For The First Time
1923: Bettie Page Is Born
1970: The Inaugural Earth Day Is Observed
1994: Richard Nixon Dies

April 23rd

1016: King Aethelred II Dies
1564: William Shakespeare Is Born
1661: Charles II Of England Is Crowned
1907: Lee Miller Is Born
1920: Frederick William "Fritz" Niland Is Born
1956: Elvis Presley Makes His Debut In Vegas
1968: Timothy McVeigh Is Born
1969: Sirhan Sirhan Receives The Death Penalty
2006: Jasmine Richardson Murders Her Parents

April 24th

1800: The Library Of Congress Is Established
1915: The Armenian Genocide Begins
1916: The Easter Rebellion Begins
1967: Vladimir Komarov Becomes First Man To Die In Space
2018: The 'Golden State Killer' Is Arrested

April 25th

1719: Robinson Crusoe Is Published
1792: The Guillotine Is Used For The First Time
1917: Ella Fitzgerald Is Born
1990: The Hubble Space Telescope Goes Into Orbit
2015: Kathmandu Earthquake Strikes

April 26th

1777: The 'Female Paul Revere' Rides From New York To Connecticut
1865: John Wilkes Booth Is Killed
1886: Ma Rainey Is Born
1933: Hermann Göring Creates The Gestapo
1952: The 'Grauballe Man' Is Discovered
1977: Studio 54 Opens In New York City
1986: The Chernobyl Disaster Takes Place
1989: The World's Deadliest Known Tornado Hits Bangladesh
2008: Josef Fritzl Is Arrested

April 27th

1521: Ferdinand Magellan Is Killed
1667: John Milton Sells Paradise Lost
1865: The Sultana Explodes
1997: Andrew Cunanan Begins Killing Spree
2007: The Tomb Of Herod The Great Is Discovered

April 28th

357 C.E. Emperor Constantius II Arrives In Rome
1945: Benito Mussolini Is Executed
1978: Afghan President Daoud Is Overthrown
1996: The Port Arthur Massacre Begins
1996: Bill McGuire, Husband Of The "Suitcase Killer," Goes Missing/h2>
Bill McGuire goes missing from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. A month later, suitcases containing human body parts appeared in the Chesapeake Bay, prompting police to launch a criminal investigation. Police determined that the remains belonged to Bill McGuire, and they went to interview his wife, Melanie. His wife stated that they had fought the night he went missing, and that he decided to walk out and never return. Forensic evidence would eventually show that Melanie drugged her husband, shot him, and then dismembered his body.