12 History Lessons + 6 Births & 4 Deaths for April 3, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England at Winchester Cathedral.
- 1860 – The Pony Express begins its first run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.
- 1882 – Outlaw Jesse James is shot and killed by Robert Ford in St. Joseph, Missouri.
- 1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1936 – Bruno Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby.
- 1948 – President Harry Truman signs the Marshall Plan, providing aid to postwar Europe.
- 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” in Memphis.
- 1973 – The first-ever handheld mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper of Motorola.
- 1996 – Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski is arrested in Montana.
- 2000 – Microsoft is ruled to have violated U.S. antitrust laws.
- 2007 – The Supreme Court rules that the EPA can regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
- 2016 – The Panama Papers, a massive leak of offshore financial documents, are released to the public.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer and Las Vegas entertainer (83)
- 1958 – Alec Baldwin, Emmy-winning actor (30 Rock, The Departed) (67)
- 1961 – Eddie Murphy, comedian and actor (Beverly Hills Cop, Shrek) (64)
- 1971 – Picabo Street, American Olympic gold medalist skier (54)
- 1986 – Amanda Bynes, actress known for The Amanda Show and What a Girl Wants (39)
- 1996 – Paris Jackson, actress and model, daughter of Michael Jackson (29)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1897 – Johannes Brahms, German composer and pianist (63)
- 1968 – Franz Vranitzky, Austrian chancellor (not deceased as of 2025; removed)
- 1991 – Graham Greene, English novelist (The Quiet American, The Power and the Glory) (86)
- 2010 – Chris Kanyon, professional wrestler known for his time in WCW and WWE (40)
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