Today is Monday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2007. There are 273 days left in the year. The Jewish holiday Passover begins at sunset.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.”
On this date:
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida.
In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
In 1805, storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark.
In 1865, Confederate President 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 in New York.
In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in New York City’s Bronx borough, where Condon turned over $50,000 to an unidentified man in exchange for Lindbergh’s kidnapped son. (The child, however, was not returned, and was found dead the following month.)
In 1974, French president Georges Pompidou died in Paris.
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.)
In 1986, four American passengers were killed when a bomb exploded aboard a TWA jetliner en route from Rome to Athens, Greece.
In 2005, Pope John Paul II, who’d led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84.
Ten years ago: The White House released documents showing how eager it had been to exploit the money-drawing powers of President Clinton and Vice President Gore during the 1996 campaign while coordinating with the Democratic Party’s fundraising machine.
Five years ago: Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where they began a 39-day standoff.
One year ago: Journalist Jill Carroll arrived in Boston, tearfully embracing her parents and twin sister after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made a surprise trip to Iraq to urge its leaders to form a unified government. Tornadoes killed 23 people in Tennessee and four others in the South and Midwest.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dabbs Greer is 90. Actress Rita Gam is 79. Actress Sharon Acker is 72. Singer Leon Russell is 65. Jazz musician Larry Coryell is 64. Actress Linda Hunt is 62. Singer Emmylou Harris is 60. Actress Pamela Reed is 58. Rock musician Dave Robinson (The Cars) is 54. Country singer Buddy Jewell is 46. Actor Christopher Meloni is 46. Singer Keren Woodward (Bananarama) is 46. Country singer Billy Dean is 45. Actress Jana Marie Hupp is 43. Rock musician Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 40. Rock musician Tony Fredianelli (Third Eye Blind) is 38. Actress Roselyn Sanchez is 34. Country singer Jill King is 32. Actor Adam Rodriguez is 32. Actor Jeremy Garrett is 31. Rock musician Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5) is 28. Actress Bethany Joy Lenz (“One Tree Hill”) is 26. Actor Jesse Plemons is 19.
Thought for Today: “Most of us love from our need to love, not because we find someone deserving.” — Nikki Giovanni, American poet.