Saturday, April 2

This Day In History

• 1513   Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida.
• 1792   Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the first U.S. mint, in Philadelphia.
• 1805   Storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.
• 1860   The first Italian Parliament met at Turin.
• 1865   Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
• 1872   Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, died in New York.
• 1917   President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany.
• 1932   Aviator Charles Lindbergh paid $50,000 ransom in a New York cemetery to a man who promised to return his kidnapped son. The child was found dead the following month.
• 1974   French President Georges Pompidou died in Paris.
• 1982   Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands from Britain.
• 1985   The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the 45-second shot clock for men’s basketball, to begin in the 1986 season. It was an effort to thwart the end-of-game stalls that kept opposing teams from scoring in close contests.
• 1992   Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering.
• 1995   Baseball owners accepted the players' union offer to play without a contract, ending the longest and costliest strike in professional sports history.
• 2000   Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi suffered a debilitating stroke.
• 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.

Happy Birthday To

• 1725   Giovanni Casanova (writer: History of My Life; philanderer: his name became synonymous for philanderer, rogue in the English language even though he was Italian; died June 4, 1798)
• 1805   Hans Christian Andersen (author of fairy tales: The Tinder Box, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes; died Aug 4, 1875)
• 1875   Walter Chrysler (auto manufacturer: Chrysler Corporation; died Aug 18, 1940)
• 1908   Buddy Ebsen (Christian Rudolph Ebsen) (actor: The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones, The President’s Plane is Missing, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Red Garters, Stone Fox, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; died July 6, 2003)
• 1914   Sir Alec Guinness (Alec Guinness de Cuffe) (Academy Award-winning actor: The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957]; The Empire Strikes Back, The Lavender Hill Mob, Star Wars, A Passage to India, The Quiller Memorandum; died Aug 5, 2000)
• 1920   Jack (John Randolph) Webb (director, actor: Dragnet, Pete Kelly’s Blues; actor: Sunset Boulevard, The Halls of Montezuma; died Dec 23, 1982)
• 1945   Reggie (Carl Reginald) Smith (baseball: Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1967/all-star: 1969, 1972], SL Cardinals [all-star: 1974, 1975], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1977, 1978, 1981/all-star: 1977, 1978, 1980], SF Giants)