Updated April 1, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.”
On April 2, 1891, Max Ernst, the German painter and sculptor influential in the Surrealist movement, was born. Following his death on April 1, 1976, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1513 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. 1805 Author Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark. 1860 The first Italian Parliament met at Turin. 1865 Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. 1917 President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” 1968 The science-fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its world premiere in Washington, D.C. 1982 Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands from Britain. 1992 Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering. 2002 Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, beginning a 39-day standoff. 2007 The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. 2009 A 19-count federal racketeering indictment was returned against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who denied doing anything illegal. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Chris Meloni (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) turns 51 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Country singer Emmylou Harris turns 65 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1942 Leon Russell, Singer, turns 70 1945 Don Sutton, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 67 1949 Ron Palillo, Actor (“Welcome Back Kotter”), turns 63 1962 Clark Gregg, Actor, turns 50 1966 Bill Romanowski, Football player, turns 46 1973 Roselyn Sanchez, Actress (“Without a Trace”), turns 39 1977 Michael Fassbender, Actor, turns 35 1986 Lee Dewyze, Singer (“American Idol”), turns 26 1988 Jesse Plemons, Actor (“Friday Night Lights”), turns 24
Historic Birthdays
Max Ernst 4/2/1891 – 4/1/1976 German painter and sculptor.Go to obituary »
71 Charlemagne 4/2/742 – 1/28/814
King of the Franks, King of the Lombards and Charles I of the Holy Roman Empire73 Giovanni Casanova 4/2/1725 – 6/4/1798
Italian writer, soldier and adventurer60 Catharine Macaulay 4/2/1731 – 6/22/1791
English historian and radical political writer75 August Hoffmann von Fallersleben 4/2/1798 – 1/19/1874
German patriotic poet, philologist and literary historian65 Erastus B. Bigelow 4/2/1814 – 12/6/1879
American industrialist; founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology70 Frederic Auguste Bartholdi 4/2/1834 – 10/4/1904
French sculptor of Statue of Liberty85 Nicholas Butler 4/2/1862 – 12/7/1947
American educator and reformer; won Nobel Prize for Peace in 193165 Walter Chrysler 4/2/1875 – 8/18/1940
American businessman; founder of Chrysler Corporation82 Kurt Adler 4/2/1905 – 2/9/1988
Austrian-born American conductor and administrator of the San Francisco Opera
