April 2 in History

Historical Events on April 2

1865 American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.

1917 World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

1975 Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.

1982 Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

1986 Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.

1989 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

1992 In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

2002 Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.

2004 Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.

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Famous Birthdays on April 2

742 Charlemagne

1926 Jack Brabham

1939 Marvin Gaye

1942 Leon Russell

All Births

Famous Deaths on April 2

1933 Ranjitsinhji

1953 Hugo Sperrle

2005 Pope John Paul II

2013 Jesús Franco

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