Updated April 2, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries.
On April 3, 1898, Henry R. Luce, the American magazine publisher who created Time, Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated, was born. Following his death on Feb. 28, 1967, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1783 Author Washington Irving was born in New York City. 1860 The Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif. 1865 Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. 1882 Outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of his gang. 1924 Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Neb. 1936 Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby. 1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “mountaintop” speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., less than 24 hours before he was assassinated. 1996 Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested. 1998 The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time. 2000 A federal judge ruled that Microsoft Corp. had violated U.S. antitrust laws. 2004 Surrounded by police, five suspects in the Madrid railway bombings blew themselves up in a building outside the Spanish capital, also killing a special forces agent. 2006 Former Liberian President Charles Taylor pleaded not guilty before an international war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. 2009 A Vietnamese immigrant opened fire in an immigrant community center in Binghamton, N.Y., killing 13 people before taking his own life. 2009 Iowa’s Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Alec Baldwin (“30 Rock”) turns 54 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actor-comedian Eddie Murphy turns 51 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer
1923 Doris Day, Actress, singer, turns 89 1930 Helmut Kohl, Former German chancellor, turns 82 1934 Jane Goodall, Primatologist, turns 78 1942 Marsha Mason, Actress, turns 70 1942 Wayne Newton, Singer, turns 70 1944 Tony Orlando, Singer, turns 68 1949 Richard Thompson, Rock musician, turns 63 1956 Mick Mars, Rock musician (Motley Crue), turns 56 1959 David Hyde Pierce, Actor (“Frasier”), turns 53 1968 Sebastian Bach, Rock singer (Skid Row), turns 44 1972 Jennie Garth, Actress (“Beverly Hills, 90210”), turns 40 1973 Adam Scott, Actor (“Parks and Recreation”), turns 39 1985 Leona Lewis, Rock singer, turns 27 1986 Amanda Bynes, Actress, turns 26
Historic Birthdays
Henry R. Luce 4/3/1898 – 2/28/1967 American publisher of Time, Fortune and Life magazines.Go to obituary »
83 Pierre-Fidele Bretonneau 4/3/1778 – 2/18/1862
French epidemiologist; performed the first successful tracheotomy76 Washington Irving 4/3/1783 – 11/28/1859
American author; wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”70 Mary Carpenter 4/3/1807 – 6/14/1877
American philanthropist and social reformer87 Edward Everett Hale 4/3/1822 – 6/10/1909
American clergyman and author55 William Marcy Tweed 4/3/1823 – 4/12/1878
American politician; leader of corrupt Tammany Hall organization in New York City73 Alcide De Gasperi 4/3/1881 – 8/19/1954
Italian prime minister (1945-53)69 Bud Fisher 4/3/1885 – 9/7/1954
American cartoonist; created “Mutt and Jeff”75 H. St. John Philby 4/3/1885 – 9/30/1960
English explorer of Arabian peninsula50 Leslie Howard 4/3/1893 – 6/1/1943
English actor, producer and film director69 Stanislawa Walasiewicz 4/3/1911 – 12/4/1980
Polish-American Olympic gold medalist in track and field40 Virgil I. Grissom 4/3/1926 – 1/27/1967
American astronaut; one of three who died in Apollo I fire
