April 4th

April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). There are 271 days remaining.

Events

• 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.
• 1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
• 1818 - The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.
• 1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served.
• 1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
• 1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna Medora Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• 1905 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra, kills 370,000.
• 1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
• 1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
• 1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
• 1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top 5 positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.
• 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.
• 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
• 1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
• 1975 - A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transportnig orphans. 172 people are killed.
• 1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
• 1979 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
• 1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
• 1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
• 1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collided with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.

Births

• 186 - Caracalla, Roman emperor († 217)
• 1648 - Grinling Gibbons master wood-worker
• 1785 - Bettina von Arnim, lyricist († 1859)
• 1843 - William Jackson, photographer
• 1875 - Pierre Monteux, conductor († 1964)
• 1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, painter († 1958)
• 1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, naval commander († 1943)
• 1885 - Arthur Murray, dancer
• 1888 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer († 1958)
• 1902 - Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, actress († 1969)
• 1906 - John Cameron Swayze, journalist, television host († 1995)
• 1906 - Bea Benaderet, actress († 1968)
• 1910 - Juri Pawlowitsch German, writer († 1967)
• 1914 - Marguerite Duras, writer († 1996)
• 1915 - Muddy Waters, blues musician († 1983)
• 1922 - Elmer Bernstein, composer
• 1928 - Maya Angelou, poet, novelist
• 1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, film director († 1986)
• 1932 - Anthony Perkins, actor († 1992)
• 1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, president of Yale Univ. and baseball commissioner who banned Pete Rose. († 1989).
• 1939 - Hugh Masakela, musician
• 1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, political activist
• 1945 - Craig T. Nelson, actor "Coach" "The District"
• 1948 - Dan Simmons, writer
• 1950 - Christine Lahti, actress
• 1956 - David E. Kelley, writer, television producer
• 1957 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film-director
• 1960 - Hugo Weaving, actor
• 1963 - Graham Norton, talk show host
• 1965 - Robert Downey Jr., actor
• 1970 - Barry Pepper, actor
• 1973 - David Blaine, illusionist
• 1974 - Dave Mirra, extreme sports champion
• 1979 - Heath Ledger, actor
• 1991 - Jamie Spears, television show host

Deaths

• 397 - St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan
• 1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, playwright
• 1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States
• 1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, artist
• 1919 - Sir William Crookes, chemist and physicist
• 1951 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer
• 1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist, minister
• 1972 - Stefan Wolpe, composer
• 1972 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician
• 1979 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1980 - Red Sovine, country music entertainer
• 1983 - Gloria Swanson, actress
• 1987 - C.L. Moore, science fiction writer
• 1991 - H. John Heinz III, Member of the U.S. Senate in a plane crash
• 1991 - Forrest Towns, American hurdler
• 1999 - Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Famer

Holidays and observances

April 3 - April 5 - March 4 - May 4 -- listing of all days

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