Pope John Paul II dies

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]