Skip to main content

Pope John Paul II dies

Born on This Day

Marvin Gaye

1939 - 1984

Soulful singer-songwriter who shaped the 1960s Motown sound. Hits include "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "What's Going On."

Pedro Pascal

1975 -

Actor who broke out in "Game of Thrones," then starred in acclaimed series "The Mandalorian" and "Last of Us."

Emmylou Harris

1947 -

Singer, songwriter and musician who led the 1970s country rock revolution with hits like "Sweet Dreams" and "Two More Bottles of Wine."

Marvin GayeNBCUniversal via Getty Images

Pedro PascalGareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Emmylou HarrisGetty Images

1956

APR2

The soap opera "As the World Turns" makes its TV debut. It will run for the next 54 years and introduce such future stars as Julianne Moore and Marisa Tomei.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on April 2nd

The U.S. Mint is founded

Before an official source of metal currency was established, Americans used foreign coinage—or barter.

Hans Christian Andersen is born

Hans Christian Andersen, one of the world’s greatest storytellers, is born in Odense, near Copenhagen. During Andersen’s boyhood, his father died, and the child went to work in a factory briefly. However, he showed great talent for languages and entered the University of Copenhagen in 1828. The following year, he published his literary spoof “A Journey on […]

President Wilson asks for declaration of war

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I. In his address to Congress that day, Wilson lamented it is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. Four days later, Congress obliged and declared war on Germany. In February […]

Jeannette Rankin, first woman elected to U.S. Congress, assumes office

Jeannette Pickering Rankin, the first woman ever elected to Congress, takes her seat in the U.S. Capitol as a representative from Montana. Born on a ranch near Missoula, Montana Territory, in 1880, Rankin was a social worker in the states of Montana and Washington before joining the women’s suffrage movement in 1910. Working with various […]

“2001: A Space Odyssey” has its world premiere

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has its world theatrical premiere on April 2, 1968. Kubrick, whose 1964 Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove had been popular with audiences and critics alike, was intrigued by science fiction but felt the genre rarely produced interesting films. He became determined to make one, using the sci-fi story The […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Deadly anthrax poison released from Soviet bio-weapons plant

The world’s first anthrax outbreak begins in Sverdlovsk, Russia (now Ekaterinburg), on April 2, 1979. By the time it ends six weeks later, according to official records, 66 people had died and some 30 more had survived serious illness. Ekaterinburg, as the town was known in Soviet times, also suffered livestock losses from the epidemic. […]

Argentina invades Falklands

On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The […]

Mob boss John Gotti convicted of murder

A jury in New York finds mobster John Gotti, nicknamed the Teflon Don for his ability to elude conviction, guilty on 13 counts, including murder and racketeering. In the wake of the conviction, the assistant director of the FBI’s New York office, James Fox, was quoted as saying, “The don is covered in Velcro, and […]

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement