On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy." (Congress declared war four days later.) Also in 1917, Jeannette Rankin, a representative from Montana, took her seat as the first woman elected to Congress. [She voted no to that war, was the only representative to vote against WWII, & remains the only woman to be elected to Congress from Big Sky Country. Twice, in 1916 & 1940. Dirty commie. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in present-day Florida.
In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
In 1805, author Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.
In 1860, the first Italian Parliament met at Turin.
In 1863, rioting erupted in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., sparked by an angry crowd's demand for bread at a bakery.
In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces.
In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died at age 80.
In 1877, the first White House Easter Egg Roll was conducted.
In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindbergh's kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)
In 1974, French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a windfall profits tax on the oil industry. (The tax was repealed in 1988.)
In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.) Audio Fun: British Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington announces the invasion.
In 1986, four American passengers were killed when a bomb exploded aboard a TWA jetliner en route from Rome to Athens, Greece.
In 1987, the U.S. Senate overrode a Reagan veto by one vote to enact a highway bill that allowed states to raise speed limits to 65 mph in certain areas.
In 1991, Iraq crushed monthlong insurgencies by northern Kurds and southern Shiite Muslims.
In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering.
In 1995, an explosion in the city of Gaza killed eight people, including a leader of the military wing of Hamas.
In 1999, the Labor Department reported that the nation's unemployment rate fell to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent in March 1999.
In 2000, more than 600 people set out on a five-day, 120-mile protest march to Columbia, S.C. to urge state lawmakers to move the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome. Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a debilitating stroke (he died more than a month later). Connecticut won its second women's NCAA national championship with a 71-52 victory over Tennessee.
In 2002, Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, beginning a 39-day standoff.
In 2004, a judge in New York declared a mistrial in the grand-larceny case against two former Tyco executives after a juror apparently received an intimidating letter and phone call for supposedly siding with the defense. (Former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark H. Swartz were convicted in a retrial of looting Tyco of more than $600 million in corporate bonuses and loans; each was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.) Flags of seven new NATO members from former communist Europe rose at alliance headquarters in Brussels for the first time, marking the biggest expansion in NATO's 55-year history.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II, who left a deeply conservative stamp on the church that he'd led for 26 years, died in his Vatican apartment at the age of 84.
In 2006, U.S. journalist Jill Carroll returned to Boston after being held in Iraq for 82 days by kidnappers. Also in 2006, at least 50 people were killed in Iraq in violence that included a mortar attack, military firefights and roadside bombings.
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. And, in 2007 sports, the University of Florida repeated as NCAA Division I basketball champion, becoming the first school to win both the national collegiate basketball and football titles the same academic year.
In 2008, President George W. Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who'd helped broker peace in Northern Ireland but couldn't survive a scandal over his collection of cash from businessmen, announced he would resign. The opposition leader in the Zimbabwe presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, declared himself the winner over long-time leader Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, with a reported 50.3 percent of the vote. Mugabe refused to concede, official election results were postponed and widespread violence began.
In 2009, leaders of the world's rich and major developing countries met at an emergency G-20 economic summit in London; afterward, President Barack Obama hailed agreements they had reached as a "turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery," but cautioned, "there are no guarantees." The House and Senate passed companion budget plans, giving President Barack Obama and his allies on Capitol Hill a key victory. A 19-count federal racketeering indictment was returned against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who denied doing anything illegal. Penn State beat Baylor 69-63 to win the NIT title.
Today's Birthdays: Actress Rita Gam is 82. Actress Sharon Acker is 75. Singer Leon Russell is 68. Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 67. Actress Linda Hunt is 65. Singer Emmylou Harris is 63.
Not Celebrating: Charlemagne, founder of the Holy Roman Empire (742); Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova (1725); French novelist Emile Zola (1840); surrealist artist Max Ernst (1891); actors Buddy Ebsen (1908) Alec Guinness (1914) & Jack Webb (1920);
2 April In Entertainment
In 1956, the soap operas "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night" premiered on CBS.
In 1968, the science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey" had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.
In 1971, Ringo Starr's first solo single, "It Don't Come Easy," was released. It became a Top Five hit.
In 1974, "The Sting" won the best picture Academy Award. "The Way We Were" from the movie of the same name won the best original song and score awards.
In 1987, jazz drummer Buddy Rich died of a heart attack.
In 1992, country singer Wynonna Judd began her first solo tour in Midland, Texas.
In 1997, singer Joni Mitchell was reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she gave up for adoption 32 years earlier.
In 1998, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli died after consuming alcohol and pills in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany. He was 32.
In 2003, dozens of fans walked out of a Pearl Jam show in Denver after singer Eddie Vedder impaled a mask of President George W. Bush on a microphone stand.
Thought for Today: "The future starts today, not tomorrow." — Pope John Paul II (1920-2005).
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