DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Sunday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2023. There are 273 days left in the year. On this date in:
1792: Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.
1865: Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, because of advancing Union forces.
1912: The just-completed RMS Titanic left Belfast to begin its sea trials eight days before the start of its ill-fated maiden voyage.
1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)
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.)
1986: Four American passengers, including an 8-month-old girl, her mother and her grandmother, were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a TWA jetliner en route from Rome to Athens, Greece.
1992: Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life, and died in prison.
1995: After a work stoppage lasting nearly eight months, baseball owners accepted the players’ union offer to play without a contract.
2002: 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.
2003: During the Iraq War, American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline.
2007: In its first case on climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
2013: North Korea said it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material in what outsiders saw as its latest attempt to extract U.S. concessions by raising fears of war.
2020: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide passed the 1 million mark, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Actor Linda Hunt is 78. Actor Sam Anderson (“Lost,” “ER,” “Perfect Strangers”) is 76. Singer Emmylou Harris is 76. Actor Pamela Reed is 74. Drummer Dave Robinson of The Cars is 74. Country singer Buddy Jewell is 62. Actor Christopher Meloni (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) is 62. Singer Keren Woodward of Bananarama is 62. Country singer Billy Dean is 61. Actor Clark Gregg (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “The New Adventures of Old Christine”) is 61. Actor Jana Marie Hupp (“Ed”) is 59. Guitarist Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 56. Guitarist Tony Fredianelli (Third Eye Blind) is 54. Actor Roselyn Sanchez is 50. Actor Pedro Pascal is 48.