April 4th in History

Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated, April 4, 1968

Today in History

  • Francis Drake receives a knighthood for circumnavigating the world (1581)
  • The first modern circus is staged in London by Philip Astley (1768)
  • Napoléon Bonaparte abdicates for the first time (1814)
  • The US Congress adopts a flag with 13 red and white stripes and a star for each of the 20 states (1818)
  • The first home telephone is installed (1877)
  • The airship USS Akron is wrecked off the coast of New Jersey due to severe weather (1933)
  • NATO is established (1949)
  • The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 (1964)
  • Apollo 6 is launched (1968)
  • The first temporary artificial heart is implanted (1969)
  • New York’s World Trade Center is officially dedicated (1973)
  • Microsoft is founded (1975)
  • Space Shuttle Challenger makes its first space voyage (1983)
  • Netscape is founded (1994)

Birthdays

  • William Strachey, author, source for The Tempest (1572)
  • Edward Hicks, Quaker folk painter (1780)
  • Bettina von Arnim, author (1785)
  • Thaddeus Stevens, anti-slavery Congressman (1792)
  • Dorothea Dix, mental health advocate (1802)
  • Linus Yale, Jr., lock inventor (1821)
  • Tad Lincoln, presidential son (1853)
  • 山本 五十六 (Isoroku Yamamoto), Japanese admiral (1884)
  • Tris Speaker, baseball player and manager (1888)
  • Arthur Murray, dance instructor (1895)
  • Stanley G. Weinbaum, science fiction writer (1902)
  • Bea Benaderet, actress and voice artist (1906)
  • John Cameron Swayze, journalist and watch salesman (1906)
  • Frances Langford, actress and singer (1913)
  • Muddy Waters, singer-songwriter and guitarist (1913)
  • Richard Coogan, actor (1914)
  • Mickey Owen, baseball player (1916)
  • David White, actor (1916)
  • Elizabeth Wilson, actress (1921)
  • Elmer Bernstein, composer and conductor (1922)
  • Gil Hodges, baseball player and manager (1924)
  • Gene Reynolds, actor, director, producer, screenwriter (1925)
  • Joe Orlando, comic book author and illustrator (1927)
  • Maya Angelou, poet (1928)
  • Estelle Harris, actress (1928)
  • Monty Norman, composed the “James Bond” theme (1928)
  • Bobby Ray Inman, US Navy admiral (1931)
  • Clive Davis, record producer (1932)
  • Richard Lugar, politician (1932)
  • Anthony Perkins, actor (1932)
  • A. Bartlett Giamatti, baseball commissioner (1938)
  • JoAnne Carter, golfer (1939)
  • Hugh Masekela, singer-songwriter (1939)
  • Kitty Kelley, celebrity journalist (1942)
  • Craig T. Nelson, actor (1944)
  • Luke Halpin, actor (1947)
  • Dan Simmons, author (1948)
  • Christine Lahti, actress (1950)
  • David E. Kelley, screenwriter and producer (1956)
  • Kelso, racehorse (1957)
  • Robert Downey, Jr., actor (1965)
  • Nancy McKeon, actress (1966)
  • Jill Scott, singer-songwriter (1972)
  • David Blaine, magician (1973)
  • James Roday, actor and director (1976)
  • Heath Ledger, actor (1979)
  • Grumpy Cat, internet meme (2012)

Deaths

  • John Napier, inventor of logarithms (1617)
  • Oliver Goldsmith, author (1774)
  • William Henry Harrison, 9th US President (1841)
  • Peter Cooper, founder of Cooper Union (1883)
  • Isaac K. Funk, Wagnalls partner (1912)
  • Karl Benz, automobile engineer (1929)
  • André Michelin, tire manufacturer (1931)
  • Wilhelm Ostwald, Nobel Prize winning chemist (1932)
  • Elizabeth Bacon Custer, general’s spouse and author (1933)
  • Johnny Stompanato, stabbed to death by the daughter of Lana Turner (1958)
  • Al Lewis, songwriter (1967)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and activist (assassinated, 1968)
  • Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., minister and politician (1972)
  • ذوالفقار علی بھٹو (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto), Pakistani statesman (1979)
  • Edgar Buchanan, actor (1979)
  • Gloria Swanson, actress (1983)
  • C. L. Moore, author (1987)
  • Graham Ingels, comic book illustrator (1991)
  • Alfred Mosher Butts, game designer, inventor of Scrabble (1993)
  • Priscilla Lane, actress (1995)
  • Early Wynn, baseball player (1999)
  • Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, cartoonist (2001)
  • Roger Ebert, critic (2013)
  • Carmine Infantino, comic book artist (2013)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Children’s Day (Republic of China/Taiwan, Hong Kong)
  • Independence Day (Senegal)
  • International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance (International)
  • National Cordon Bleu Day (US food holidays)
  • Peace Day (Angola)
Informal and made-up holidays include Hospital Admitting Clerks Day (first Friday), Hug a Newsman Day, National D.A.R.E. Day, National Walk to Work Day (first Friday), Victims of Violence Wholly Day, Vitamin C Day, Walk Around Things Day, and World Rat Day.

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