April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). There are 271 days remaining.

Events

up to 19th century

• 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.
• 1721 - Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.
• 1812 - U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
• 1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
• 1818 - The U.S. Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.
• 1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served.
• 1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
• 1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
• 1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev. A design for a city gate to commemorate his escape was the inspiration for Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition.
• 1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna Medora Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

20th century

1900s-1970s

• 1905 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra kills 370,000.
• 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
• 1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
• 1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
• 1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
• 1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.
• 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated.
• 1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
• 1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
• 1969 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is cancelled after the brothers failed to submit an episode before its broadcast date.
• 1973 - The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
• 1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift - A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans. 172 people are killed.
• 1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
• 1979 - President Pakistan is executed.

1980s-1990s

• 1981 - In Dublin, Ireland, Bucks Fizz win the twenty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Making Your Mind Up".
• 1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
• 1984 - Winston Smith, the main character of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, begins writing in his secret diary.
• 1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
• 1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.
• 1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation is founded (under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation") by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.

Births

up to 19th century

• 186 - Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
• 1648 - Grinling Gibbons master wood-worker (d. 1721)
• 1785 - Bettina von Arnim, lyricist (d. 1859)
• 1843 - William Jackson, photographer
• 1870 - George Albert Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter_day Saints (d. 1951)
• 1875 - Pierre Monteux, conductor (d. 1964)
• 1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, painter (d. 1958)
• 1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, naval commander (d. 1943)
• 1885 - Arthur Murray, dancer (d. 1991)
• 1888 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1958)
• 1895 - Shemp Howard, actor, comedian; member of the Three Stooges (d. 1955)
• 1898 - Agnes Ayres, silent film actress, starred with Rudolph Valentino in THE SHEIK, (d. 1940)

20th century

1900s_1940s

• 1902 - Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, actress (d. 1969)
• 1906 - John Cameron Swayze, journalist, television host (d. 1995)
• 1906 - Bea Benaderet, actress (d. 1968)
• 1910 - Juri Pawlowitsch German, writer (d. 1967)
• 1914 - Marguerite Duras, writer (d. 1996)
• 1915 - Muddy Waters, blues musician (d. 1983)
• 1922 - Elmer Bernstein, composer
• 1928 - Maya Angelou, poet, novelist
• 1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, film director (d. 1986)
• 1932 - Anthony Perkins, actor (d. 1992)
• 1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, president of Yale Univ. and baseball commissioner who banned Pete Rose (d. 1989).
• 1939 - Hugh Masekela, musician
• 1940 - Sharon Sheeley, songwriter
• 1944 - Craig T. Nelson, actor (Coach, The District, The Incredibles)
• 1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, political activist
• 1946 - Dave Hill, Slade, guitarist
• 1947 - Stephen Kerton, banking wizard, wide-screen tv patron
• 1948 - Dan Simmons, writer

1950s-1990s

• 1950 - Christine Lahti, actress
• 1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German high jumper
• 1956 - David E. Kelley, writer, television producer
• 1957 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film-director
• 1958 - Mary-Margaret Humes, American soap opera actress
• 1960 - Hugo Weaving, actor
• 1960 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
• 1963 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
• 1963 - Graham Norton, talk show host
• 1965 - Robert Downey Jr., actor
• 1970 - Barry Pepper, actor
• 1973 - David Blaine, illusionist
• 1974 - Dave Mirra, extreme sports champion
• 1975 - Scott Rolen, baseball player
• 1979 - Heath Ledger, actor
• 1980 - Björn Wirdheim, racing driver
• 1991 - Jamie Spears, television show host

Deaths

up to 19th century

• 397 - St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan (b. c. 340)
• 1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
• 1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, playwright (b. 1728)
• 1807 - French astronomer
• 1817 - André Masséna, French soldier (b. 1758)
• 1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
• 1842 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1784)
• 1846 - Solomon Sibley, Senator, Michigan Territory, 1820_1823 (b. 1769)
• 1861 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1785)
• 1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, artist (b. 1860)

20th century

• 1919 - Sir William Crookes, chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
• 1951 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer (b. 1881)
• 1951 - George Albert Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
• 1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist, minister (b. 1929)
• 1972 - Stefan Wolpe, composer (b. 1902)
• 1972 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician
• 1979 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1928)
• 1980 - Red Sovine, country music entertainer
• 1983 - Gloria Swanson, actress (b. 1897)
• 1987 - C.L. Moore, science fiction writer (b. 1911)
• 1991 - H. John Heinz III, Member of the U.S. Senate in a plane crash (b. 1938)
• 1991 - Forrest Towns, American hurdler (b. 1914)
• 1994 - Kurt Cobain, Rock Star, lead singer of Nirvana
• 1996 - Larry LaPrise, songwriter (b. 1913)
• 1996 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (b. 1918)
• 1999 - Early Wynn, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1920)

21st century

• 2002 - Harry L. O'Connor, film stuntman, died while filming XXX
• 2003 - Resortes (Adalberto Martinez Chavez), legendary Mexican comedian

Holidays and observances

April 3 - April 5 - March 4 - May 4 -- listing of all days