238 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
1622 – The Capture of Ormuz by the East India Company ends Portuguese control of Hormuz Island.
1724 – Immanuel Kant, Konigsberg Germ, philosopher (Critique of Pure Reason) Born
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: the Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
1832 – Julius Sterling Morton, American journalist and politician, founded Arbor Day (d. 1902) was born.
1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that mandates that the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
1870 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian politician (d. 1924) was born.
1876 – The first ever National League baseball game is played in Philadelphia.
1889 – At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Run of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
1898 – Spanish-American War: The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
1904 – J[ulius] Robert Oppenheimer, NY, head of Manhattan (A-bomb) Project – Born
1906 – The 1906 Summer Olympics, not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, open in Athens.
1906 – Eddie Albert, [Heimberger], Rock Island Illinois, actor (Roman Holiday, Green Acres) Born
1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
1922 – Charles Mingus, Arizona, jazz bassist (Pithecanthropus Erectus) Born
1923 – Betty Page, Kingsport Tn, playmate (Jan, 1955)/model (Dark Angel) Born
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter was born.
1946 – John Waters, director (Hairspray) Born
1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR operations in the China-Burma-India theater.
1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. 520 are killed and 80 escape.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, a major port of Israel, is captured from Arab forces.
1950 – Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Herd and Humble Pie) was born.
1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings begins.
1961 – President Fidel Castro of Cuba will make his first public announcements since the insurgent forces invasion on the bay of Pigs last week on TV and Radio nationwide, also the Russian leader Khrushchev has denounced the invasion and has stated publicly that he holds the United States directly responsible for this gangsterism against Cuba.
1967 – Sheryl Lee, Boulder Colo, actress (Twin Peaks, Love Lies & Murder) Born
1971 – Haiti’s dictator, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, has died after 14 years in power.
1972 – Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
1974 – Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-American bass player, songwriter, and producer (System of a Down and Achozen) was born.
1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
1983 – The German magazine Der Stern claims that the “Hitler Diaries” had been found in wreckage in East Germany; the diaries are subsequently revealed to be forgeries.
1984 – Ansel Adams, US photographer, dies at 82
1986 – Marshawn Lynch (Beast-Mode), American Football player (Seahawks) Born
1989 – Huey Newton, US, Black Panther leader, shot dead at 47
1993 – Cesar Chavez, US farm worker (United Farm Workers), dies at 66
1994 – Richard Nixon, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913) died.
1996 – Erma Bombeck, humorist (Grass is Greener), dies at 69
2000 – In a pre-dawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives’ home in Miami, Florida.
2002 – Linda Lovelace, American porn actress (b. 1949) died.
2003 – James H. Critchfield, American CIA officer (b. 1917) died.
2004 – Pat Tillman, American football player and soldier (b. 1976) died.
2005 – Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan’s war record.
2008 – The United States Air Force retires the remaining F-117 Nighthawk aircraft in service.
2010 – The Vatican has defended its decision not to defrock the Wisconsin priest that was accused of sexually assaulting as many as two hundred deaf boys from the 1950′s to the 1970′s. Wisconsin advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse have suggested that the Vatican’s handling of the case, involving Father Lawrence Murphy, provide evidence of an institutional coverup that spanned decades. Murphy is believed to have molested the boys in his twenty-five years at St. John’s School for the Deaf, and had lured many of his victims through the confessional. Police and Milwaukee bishops have known of the allegations since the mid-1970′s, and the newspapers have been reporting on them for years. Criminal charges were never filed, and the Archdiocese did not attempt to defrock Murphy until 1996. He died in 1998.
2010 – The Transocean oil platform Deepwater Horizon sinks into the Gulf of Mexico 2 days after the explosion and fire on the April 20th, early estimates indicate leaking 8,000 barrels of crude oil per day ( 300,000 gallons per day )
2013 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, dies from a heart attack at 72