April 2
1791 Samuel Morse, artist and inventor of the telegraph and Morse code, was born in
Charlestown, Massachusetts.
1805 Hans Christian Anderson, author of children's stories, was born
in Odense, Denmark.
1834 Frederic Bartholdi, the sculptor who created the statue Liberty
Enlightening the World, was born in Colman, France.
1840 Novelist Emile Zola was born in Paris.
1902 The Electric Theater, the first movie house in Los Angeles, opened for
business.
1914 Actor Alec Guiness was born in London.
1939 Singer Marvin Gaye was born.
1978 Dallas premiered on CBS.
April 3
1783 Author Washington Irving was born in New York City.
1823 The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company was chartered.
1837 Naturalist John Burroughs was born in Roxbury, New York.
1924 Singer and actress Doris Day (Doris Von Kappelhoff)
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1924 Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1934 Ape expert Jane Goodall
(Baroness Van Lawick-Goodall) was born in London, England.
1961 Comedian Eddie Murphy was born in Brooklyn.
April 4
1648 John Lilburne published "The Prisoner's Plea for Habeas Corpus."
1687 King James granted liberty of conscience to
Englishmen, including dissenters.
1821 Linus Yale, portrait painter and lock inventor,
was born in Salisbury, New York.
1846 Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay the Mexican War tax.
1888 Baseball great Tris Speaker was born in Texas.
1908 Journalist Edward R. Murrow was born in bluesboro, North
Carolina.
1922 Author William Manchester was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
1915 blues guitarist and singer Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi.
1965 Actor Robert Downey Jr. was born in New York City.
1980 Jennifer (Emmel) Halliday was born in Geneva, New York.
April 5
1724 Latin lover Giovani Jacopo Casanova was born in Venice.
1775 Marquis of Grandby spoke in the House of Commons disclaiming the
authority to tax America.
1827 Dr. Joseph Lister, advocate for antiseptic surgery, was born in
Upton, England.
1856 Booker T. Washington, champion of education and self-reliance,
was born on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia.
1908 Actress Bette Davis (Ruth Elizabeth Davis)
was born in Lowell, Massachusetts.
1916 Actor Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla, California.
1922 Actress Gale Storm was born in Bloomington, Texas.
1941 Singer and song writer Eric Burdon was born
at Walker-on-Tyne, England
April 6
1483 Painter and architect Raphael (Raffaello Santi)
was born in Urbino, Italy.
1776 The Continental Congress prohibited the importation of slaves.
1897 Slavery was abolished in Zanzibar.
1928 Geneticist James Watson was born in Chicago.
April 7
1648 John Lilburne published "The Oppressed Man's Importunate
and Mournful Crys to Be Brought to the Bar of Justice."
1770 Poet William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland, England.
1780 Abolitionist William Ellery Channing was born
in Newport, Rhode Island.
1927 The TV was demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1928 Actor James Garner (James Baumgardner)
was born in Norman, Oklahoma.
1933 Beer and wine became legal beverages in the US after 13 years
of prohibition.
1954 Football star Tony Dorsett was born
in Rochester, Pennsylvania.
1964 Actor Russell Crowe was born in
Aukland, New Zealand.
April 8
1732 Mathematician David Rittenhouse was born.
1805 Hugo von Mohl, originator of the cell theory, was born.
1895 The US Supreme Court declared the 1894 income tax unconstitutional.
The money was returned.
1940 Basketball star John Havlicek was born in Lansing, Ohio.
1946 Hall of Fame pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter was born in
Hertford, North Carolina.
1947 The first session of the Mt. Pelerin Society was held.
1954 Decca Records signed Bill Haley and His Comets.
1954 Baseball star Gary Carter
was born in Culver City, California.
1974 Hank Aaron hit his 714th home run, which broke
Babe Ruth's record.
April 9
1533 Author Francois Rabelais was born in France.
1776 Congress passed a resolution calling for an end to importation of
slaves.
1799 Sir Humphry Davey first suggested using laughing gas
(nitrous oxide) as an anesthetic.
1879 Comedian, actor, and juggler W. C. Fields
(Claude William Dukenfield) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1928 Tom Lehrer, songwriter, comic, and mathematician, was born
in New York City.
1933 Movie star Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
1954 Actor Dennis Quaid was born in Houston, Texas.
April 10
1583 Natural law philosopher Hugo Grotius
was born in Delft, Holland.
1841 The New York Tribune was founded
by Horace Greeley.
1866 The ASPCA was established.
1878 William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was born
in Nottingham, England.
1921 Professional baseball player, basketball player, and actor Kevin
Chuck Connors was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1929 Actor Max Von Sydow was born in Lund, Sweden.
1932 Actor Omar Sharif (Michael Shalhoub) was born
in Alexandria, Egypt.
1936 John Madden, football player, coach, and sportscaster,
was born in Austin, Minnesota.
1945 Prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald
were liberated by Allied troops.
1957 Songwriter and singer Kenneth Babyface Edmondswas born
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
April 11
1763 Lord Bute was driven from office by the revolt in Parliament
against the tax on cider.
1784 A religious equality law was passed in New York State.
1939 Actress Louise Lasser was born in New York City.
1899 Percy Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama.
He invented synthetic progesterone,
a cheaper method of producing cortisone, a drug to treat glaucoma,
and a chemical foam to fight petroleum fires.
1945 Prisoners at the Buchenwald concentration camp were liberated.
1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black player
in major league baseball.
April 12
1770 The Townshend Revenue Act was repealed.
1776 Halifax Independence day in North Carolina. North Carolina delegates
to the Continental Congress were instructed to obtain independence
from England.
1914 The first movie "palace" in New York City, the Strand, opened
for business.
1945 President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), whose policies
prolonged the economic depression and brought the USA
into World War II, died in Warm Springs, Georgia.
1954 Atlantic Records releases Shake, Rattle and Roll by
Big Joe Turner.
1954 Bill Haley and His Comets record Rock Around the Clock
with producer Milt Gabler for Decca Records in New York.
April 13
1598 The Edict of Nantes granted religious liberty to
French Protestants.
1742 Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time.
1743 Thomas Jefferson, revolutionist and author of the
Declaration of Independence, was born in Albermarle County, Virginia.
1852 Businessman F. W. Woolworth was born.
1870 The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.
1902 The first J. C. Penny store opened (in Wyoming).
1946 Singer Al Green was born in Forrest City, Arizona.
April 14
1629 Scientist and inventor Christiaan Huygens
was born in The Hague, Netherlands.
1775 The first abolition society in America was organized in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1828 The first edition of Noah Webster's
American Dictionary of the English Language was published.
1865 Tyrant Abraham Lincoln was shot by
John Wilkes Booth.
1904 Actor Sir John Gielgud was born in
London, England.
1940 Actress Julie Christie was born in Chukua, India.
1966 Baseball pitcher Greg Maddox was born in San Angelo, Texas.
April 15
1452 Inventor and painter Leonardo da Vinci was born.
1741 Portrait painter Charles Wilson Peale
was born in Queen Anne County, Maryland.
1865 Anti-secessionist dictator Abraham Lincoln died.
1889 Painter Thomas Hart Benton was born in Neosho, Missouri.
1894 Blues singer Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1920 Thomas Szasz, psychologist and libertarian opponent
of involuntary commitment, was born in Budapest, Hungary.
1937 The House of Representatives passed an anti-lynching bill.
1938 Actress Claudia Cardinale was born in Tunis, Tunisia.
1953 Men Against the State, by James Martin,
was published.
1955 Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's restaurant
(in a Chicago suburb).
1965 The Rampart Journal of Individualistic Thought was
published.
April 16
1660 Hans Sloane, physician and naturalist whose personal
collections of books, manuscripts, and antiquities became the nucleus of
the British Museum, was born at County Down, Ireland.
1862 Slavery was abolished in Washington DC.
1867 Aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright
was born in Millville, Indiana.
1889 Comedian Charlie Chaplin was born in London.
1921 Actor, director, and author Peter Ustinov was born in London.
1924 Composer Henry Mancini was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
1931 Singer and actress Edie Adams
(Elizabeth Edith Enke), was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
April 17
1524 Giovanni da Verrazano discovered the Narrows
and New York Harbor.
1854 Anarchist writer and publisher Benjamin Tucker was born.
1861 Virginia seceded from the Union.
1905 In Lochner vs NY the Supreme Court ruled that limits on bakers
working hours violates the right to freedom of contract.
1918 Actor William Holden was born in O'Fallon, Illinois.
April 18
1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes
rode to warn the patriots that the
British were coming to Concord to destroy their weapons.
1850 Joseph Labadie, anarchist and benefactor of
the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan, was born.
1923 Yankee Stadium opened with 74,000 fans in attendance.
1946 Actress Haley Mills was born in London.
1946 Hall of Fame pitcher Catfish Hunter was born
in Hertford, North Carolina.
1960 The first heart pacemaker was implanted successfully.
April 19
1775 Americans defeated British at the Battle of Lexington and Concord
("the shot heard round the world"). The British gun-control effort
failed, and the American Revolution began.
1893 The first automobile demonstration took place.
1933 Hollywood sex symbol Jayne Mansfield was born.
1935 Comedian and pianist Dudley Moore
was born in Dagenham, England.
April 20
121 Moral philosopher Marcus Aurelius was born.
1676 Bacon's rebellion began.
1851 The first electric railway opened.
1893 Comedian Harold Lloyd was born in Bruchard, Nebraska.
1939 The NY World's Fair opened.
1949 Actress Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota.
1951 Singer and songwriter Luther Vandross
was born in New York City.
1961 Yankee great Don Mattingly was born in Evansville, Illinois.
April 21
1816 Novelist Charlotte Bronte was born in Harthead, England.
1818 Henry Wheeler Shaw, the humorist known as Josh Billings,
was born.
1904 The Polo Grounds opened in New York City.
1915 Actor Anthony Quinn was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.
1932 Writer, comedienne, actress, and director Elaine May
was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1935 Actor and TV talk show host Charles Grodin
was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1937 Pitcher Gary Peters was born in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
1958 Model and actress Andie MacDowell
was born in Gaffney, South Carolina.
April 22
1724 Philosopher Immanuel Kant was born in Konigsberg, Germany.
1774 The New York Tea Party to protest the tea tax took place.
1914 Babe Ruth made his professional pitching debut
for the Baltimore Orioles.
He shut out the Buffalo Bisons 6-0 on six hits.
1935 Singer and musician Glen Campbell
was born in Billstown, Arizona.
1936 Actor Jack Nicholson was born in Neptune, New Jersey.
1964 The New York World's fair opened for the first season.
1972 The Free Libertarian Party of New York was founded.
April 23
1564 Playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare was born at
Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
1803 Christian anarchist Adin Ballou was born.
1856 Granville Woods, inventor of the induction telegraph,
was born in Columbus, Ohio.
1858 Physicist Max Planck was born in Kiel, Germany.
1921 Pitching great Warren Spahn was born in Buffalo, New York.
1928 Movie star Shirley Temple was born in Santa Monica, California.
1936 Singer Roy Orbison was born.
April 24
1704 The first American newspaper, The Boston Newsletter,
was published.
1743 Edmund Cartwright, inventor of the power loom, was born
in Nottinghamshire, England.
1766 Robert Bailey Thomas, founder of the Farmer's Almanac,
was born in Grafton, Massachusetts.
1913 The Woolworth Building opened in New York City. It was the tallest building in the
world (791 feet).
1962 The first transmission of TV by satellite took place.
April 25
1719 The first edition of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe
was published.
1874 Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of radio, was born at Bologna, Italy.
1932 Basaketball star Meadow (Meadowlark) Lemon III
was born in Lexington, South Carolina.
1976 Basketball star Tim Duncan
was born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
April 26
1785 Ornithologist and painter James J. Audubon
was born in Haiti.
1831 The New York State Legislature abolished imprisonment for debt.
1834 Humorist Artemus Ward was born in Waterford, Maine.
1936 Comedienne Carol Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas.
1942 Pop singer Bobby Rydell was born in Philadelphia.
1969 The first California libertarian conference was held, with
Ludwig von Mises as the guest of honor.
April 27
1737 Historian Edward Gibbon was born in Putney, Surrey, England.
1759 Mary Wollstonecraft, champion of women's rights,
was born in London, England.
1791 Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph, was born in
Charlestown, Massachusetts.
1820 Libertarian philosopher Herbert Spencer
was born in Derby, Ireland.
1896 Baseball great Rogers Hornsby was born in Texas.
1932 Disc jockey Casey Kasem was born in Detroit, Michigan.
1938 Bowling great Earl Anthony was born.
April 28
1789 Christian Fletcher led a successful mutiny against
Captain William Bligh of the H.M.S. Bounty.
1926 Novelist Nelle Harper (Harper Lee) was born
in Monroeville, Alabama.
1937 Pan Am airline made the first commercial flight across the Pacific Ocean.
1941 Actress Ann-Margret (Ann-Margaret Olsson) was born
in Valsobyn, Sweden.
1945 Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator and leader of the
Fascist Party, was executed.
1947 The Kon-Tiki sailed from Peru.
1950 Comedian Jay Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York.
1967 The "Expo" World's Fair opened in Montreal.
1974 Actress Penelope Cruz was born in Madrid, Spain.
April 29
1792 Matthew Vassar, benefactor of Vassar College, was born.
1899 Jazz composer Duke Ellington was born in Washington DC.
1902 Humorist Corey Ford was born.
1945 Prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, Germany were liberated by
America soldiers.
1954 Comedian Jerry Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1957 Actor Daniel Day-Lewis was born in London, England.
1958 Actress Michelle Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California.
1970 Actress Uma Thurman was born in Boston.
1970 Tennis star Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.
April 30
1912 Actress Eve Arden was born.
1930 Actress Cloris Leachman was born in Des Moines, Iowa.
1933 Singer and songwriter Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas.
1939 Public television broadcasts in the US began.
1945 Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler killed himself in Berlin.
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