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Events

752 - Stephen is elected Pope. He died three days later, before being ordained bishop, and is not considered a legitimate pope.

1568 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. Again Catherine de Medici and Charles IX of France make substantial concessions to the Huguenots.

1708 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech -"give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.

1801 - Tsar Paul I of Russia is struck with a sword, then strangled, and finally trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael Palace.

1806 - After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocean, explorers Lewis and Clark and their "Corps of Discovery" begin their arduous journey home.

1821 - Battle and fall of city of Kalamata, Greek War of Independence.

1839 - First recorded use of "OK" as an abbreviation for "oll korrect" in the Boston Morning Post.

1848 - The ship John Wickliffe arrives at Port Chalmers carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand. Otago province is founded.

1857 - Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway, New York City.

1857 - Death of Emile L'Angelier in Glasgow, Scotland -- possibly by the hand of Madeleine Smith.

1868 - The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.

1889 - Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.

 
 

1889 - The free Woolwich Ferry officially opens in east London.

1889 - The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian India.

1903 - The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes after much hard work.

1909 - Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

1919 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.

1931 - Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev embrace the gallows during the Indian struggle for independence. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.

1933 - The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.

1935 - Signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

1940 - The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League.

1942 - World War II: In the Indian Ocean, Japanese forces capture the Andaman Islands.

1956 - Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world.

1962 - NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, was launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace initiative.

1963 - In London, United Kingdom, Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann win the eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Dansevise" (Dancing tune).

 
 

1965 - NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

1978 - The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.

1983 - Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.

1989 - Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce cold fusion at the University of Utah.

1989 - A 1,000-foot diameter Near-Earth asteroid misses the Earth by 400,000 miles.

1994 - At an election rally in Tijuana, Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio is assassinated by Mario Aburto Martínez.

1996 - Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.

1999 - Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.

2001 - The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

2003 - In Nasiriyah, Iraq, 11 soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company as well as 18 U.S. Marines are killed during the first major conflict of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

2004 - Andhra Pradesh Federation of Trade Unions holds its first conference in Hyderabad, India.

2005 - The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

2006 - Federal Reserve discontinues publishing M3 money supply see Petroeuro.

 

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