April 28

April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 247 days remaining.

Events

• 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
• 1788 – Maryland becomes the 7th state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
• 1789 – Mutiny on the HMAV Bounty. Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
• 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Admiral David Farragut captures New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1920 – Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
• 1930 – The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.
• 1932 – A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.
• 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by members of the Italian resistance movement.
• 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
• 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Commander of NATO in order to run for President of the United States.
• 1952  – Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends.
• 1965 – United States troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. citizens.
• 1967 – Expo 67 opens in Montréal, Québec, Canada
• 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
• 1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
• 1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
• 1977 – The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.
• 1978 – President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
• 1987 – U.S. engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by US-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua.
• 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, a flight attendant is sucked out of Aloha Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when an upper part of the plane's cabin area rips off in mid-flight. Metal fatigue is later found to be the cause of the failure.
• 1990 – After 6,237 performances, the Broadway musical A Chorus Line closes.
• 1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
• 1996 – Whitewater scandal: President Bill Clinton gives 4 1/2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
• 1996 – Port Arthur massacre: Martin Bryant kills 35 people and wounds another 18 in Tasmania, Australia.
• 1997 – The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention goes into effect. Russia, Iraq and North Korea were notable nations who had not ratified the treaty.
• 2001 – Millionnaire Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.
• 2003 – Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store launches, selling 1 million songs in its first week.
• 2005 – The Patent Law Treaty goes into effect.

Births

• 1442 – King Edward IV of England (d. 1483)
• 1758 – James Monroe, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
• 1810  – Daniel Ullmann, general (d. 1892)
• 1819 – Ezra Abbot, American bible scholar (d. 1884)
• 1874 – Karl Kraus, journalist and author (d. 1936)
• 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, actor (d. 1954)
• 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, poet (d. 1913)
• 1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, dictator of Portugal (d. 1970)
• 1896 – Charlie Rivel, clown (d. 1983)
• 1900 – Bruno Apitz, author (d. 1979)
• 1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer (d. 1992)
• 1906 – Kurt Gödel, mathematician (d. 1978)
• 1906 – Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo, gangster (d. 1992)
• 1908 – Oskar Schindler, businessman (d. 1974)
• 1912 – Odette Sansom, French spy (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (d. 1993)
• 1921 – Rowland Evans, American journalist, commentator (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, President of Zambia
• 1926 – Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird
• 1928 – Yves Klein, painter (d. 1962)
• 1928 – Eugene M. Shoemaker, planetary scientist (d. 1997)
• 1929 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
• 1930 – James Baker, politician
• 1937 – Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq
• 1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican actress (d. 1995)
• 1941 – Ann-Margret, actress
• 1941 – K. Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1948 – Terry Pratchett, author
• 1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress
• 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor
• 1950 – Jay Leno, comedian
• 1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
• 1953 – Kim Gordon, American musician (Sonic Youth)
• 1955 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
• 1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
• 1966 – John Daly, American golfer
• 1966 – Too $hort, American rapper
• 1974 – Penélope Cruz, actress
• 1981 – Jessica Alba, actress

Deaths

• 1772 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, royal physician of Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1737)
• 1813 – Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal, (b. 1745)
• 1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German writer (b. 1773)
• 1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, Confederate general
• 1926 – Zip the Pinhead, born William Henry Johnson (b. 1857)
• 1945 – Benito Mussolini Il Duce and Clara Petacci, shot, hanged upside down, mutilated
• 1978 – Sardar Mohammed Daoud, President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)
• 1970 – Ed Begley, American actor
• 1992 – Francis Bacon, artist (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Iceberg Slim, American writer
• 1993 – Jim Valvano, American basketball coach
• 1998 – B.W. Stevenson, American musician, songwriter
• 1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor
• 2000 – Penelope Fitzgerald, writer (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian General (b. 1950)
• 2002 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler
• 2005 – Chris Candido, professional wrestler

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire – first day of the Floralia in honor of Flora
• Bahá'í Faith – Feast of Jamál (Beauty) – First day of the third month of the Bahá'í Calendar
• World Day for Safety and Health at Work
• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Saints Theodora and Didymus
  • Arthemius
  • Saints Vitalis and Valeria
  • Patritius
  • Luchesius
  • Louis Marie Grignon of Montfort
  • Peter Chanel

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 27 – April 29 – March 28 – May 28 – listing of all days