April 5

April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). There are 270 days remaining.

Events

• 1242 – During a battle on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
• 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
• 1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth on a return trip to Great Britain.
• 1654 – Signing of the Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1792 – U.S. President George Washington vetos a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This is the first time the presidential veto has been used in the United States.
• 1804 – The first recorded meteorite falls in Possil, Scotland (High Possil Meteorite).
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Yorktown – The battle begins when Union forces under General George McClellan close in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.
• 1923 – Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts production of balloon-tires.
• 1930 – In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.
• 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: A F5 tornado slams into the north side of Tupelo, Mississippi killing 233. It is the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
• 1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signs an agreement with the USSR allowing "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."
• 1949 – Fireside Theatre debuts on television.
• 1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois kills 77 people.
• 1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.
• 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
• 1957 – In India, Communists won the first elections in united Kerala and E. M. S. Namboodiripad sworn in as the first chief minister.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations are held in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the United States.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invade Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the Nguyen Hue Offensive.
• 1973 – Pierre Messmer becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1976 – In the People's Republic of China, the April Fifth Movement led to the Tiananmen incident.
• 1991 – ASA Embraer EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia killing all 23 aboard.
• 1992 – Several hundred-thousand abortion rights demonstrators march in Washington, D.C.
• 1993 – The Child Support Act 1991, administered by the Child Support Agency, comes into effect in the United Kingdom.
• 1998 – In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about US$3.8 billion, opens to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.
• 1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
• 1999 – In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson pleads guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.

Births

• 1472 – Bianca Maria Sforza, daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
• 1479 – Guru Amar Das, third Sikh Guru (d. 1574)
• 1588 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)
• 1692 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
• 1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French artist (d. 1806)
• 1784 – Louis Spohr, German violinist and composer (d. 1859)
• 1816 – Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1890)
• 1827 – Joseph Lister English surgeon (d. 1912)
• 1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet (d. 1909)
• 1856 – Booker T. Washington, American Educator (d. 1915)
• 1871 – Mirko Seljan, Croatian explorer
• 1875 – Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (d. 1956)
• 1900 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
• 1901 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1905 – Bill Raisch, American actor (d. 1984)
• 1908 – Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1908 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer (d. 1996)
• 1911 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
• 1912 – John Le Mesurier, British actor (d. 1983)
• 1916 – Gregory Peck, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)
• 1920 – Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Gale Storm, American singer and actress
• 1922 – Christopher Hewett, British actor (d. 2001)
• 1923 – Nguyen Van Thieu, South Vietnamese president (d. 2001)
• 1923 – Michael Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Roger Corman, American film director, producer, and writer
• 1929 – Nigel Hawthorne, British actor (d. 2001)
• 1931 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 1991)
• 1933 – Larry Felser, American sports columnist and writer
• 1934 – Frank Gorshin, American actor
• 1934 – Roman Herzog, German politician
• 1937 – Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State
• 1941 – Michael Moriarty, American actor and political activist
• 1942 – Peter Greenaway, Welsh film director
• 1943 – Max Gail, American actor
• 1946 – Jane Asher, British actress, writer
• 1947 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 14th President of the Philippines
• 1949 – Judith Resnik, astronaut (d. 1986)
• 1950 – Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer (ABBA)
• 1965 – Mike McCready, American musician (Pearl Jam)
• 1973 – Pharrell Williams, American musician and producer (The Neptunes)
• 1978 – Stephen Jackson, American basketball player

Deaths

• 1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)
• 1419 – Saint Vincent Ferrer (b. 1350)
• 1617 – Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer
• 1697 – King Charles XI of Sweden (b. 1655)
• 1794 – Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1759)
• 1964 – General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. general (b. 1880)
• 1967 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist (b. 1890)
• 1969 – Rómulo Gallegos, President of Venezuela (b. 1884)
• 1970 – Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)
• 1972 – Brian Donlevy, American actor
• 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese nationalist leader (b. 1887)
• 1976 – Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
• 1982 – Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Danny Rapp, American musician (Danny & the Juniors)
• 1991 – John Tower, U.S. Senator from Texas (b. 1925)
• 1991 – Sonny Carter, astronaut (b. 1947)
• 1991 – Davis Love, Sr., golfer
• 1992 – Molly Picon, French actress
• 1992 – Sam Walton, American retailer
• 1994 – Kurt Cobain, American rock musician (b. 1967)
• 1997 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
• 1998 – Cozy Powell, British musician
• 2000 – Lee Petty, race car driver (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Brother Theodore, German-American comedian
• 2002 – Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)
• 2005 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-born American novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Dale Messick, American comic strip artist (b. 1906)
• 2005 – Debralee Scott, American actress

Holidays and observances

• Mauritius: Ougadi
• Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar
• Arbor Day in South Korea

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 4 – April 6 – March 5 – May 5 — listing of all days