TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2017. There are 273 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On April 2, 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.)

On this date

1792 — Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.

1800 — Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21, in Vienna.

1865 — Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, because of advancing Union forces.

1932 — Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon went to a cemetery in The Bronx, New York, where Condon turned over $50,000 to a man in exchange for Lindbergh’s kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.)

1942 — Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded “American Patrol” at the RCA Victor studios in Hollywood.

1956 — The soap operas “As the World Turns” and “The Edge of Night” premiered on CBSTV. 1968 — The science-fiction film “

2001: A Space Odyssey,” produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.

1974 — French President Georges Pompidou, 62, died in Paris.

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 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.

Ten years ago

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.

Five years ago

A gunman killed seven people at Oikos University, a Christian school in Oakland, California. (Suspected gunman One Goh, a former student, was found not mentally fit to stand trial.)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that jailers may perform invasive strip searches on people arrested even for minor offenses.

One year ago

Mormon leaders meeting in Salt Lake City called on church members to practice tolerance despite political differences, providing guidance at a conference amid a presidential campaign marked by harsh rhetoric and bickering.