April 2

Birthdays:

1965 ~ Rodney Glen King (d. June 17, 2012), American victim and symbol of police violence in Los Angeles.  He died at age 47 of an accidental drowning and drug overdose.

1961 ~ Christopher Peter Meloni, American actor.  He is best known for his role as Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU.

1947 ~ Camille Anne Paglia, American social critic.

1945 ~ Linda Hunt (née Lydia Susanna Hunter), American actress best known for her role as Billy in the movie, The Year of Living Dangerously.  She was born in Morristown, New Jersey.

1942 ~ Larry Selman (d. Jan. 20, 2013), American street philanthropist of Greenwich Village.  He weighed 3 pounds at birth and was not expected to live.  He went on to overcome a mental disability and became a skilled charity fundraiser.  He died at age 70.

1942 ~ Leon Russell (né Claude Russell Bridges, d. Nov. 13, 2016), American singer-songwriter.  He died at age 74.

1941 ~ Dr. Demento (né Barrett Eugene Hansen), American radio host.

1939 ~ Marvin Gaye (né Marvin Pentz, Gay, Jr., d. Apr. 1, 1984), American singer.  He was shot and killed by his father 1 day before his 45^th birthday.

1939 ~ Anthony Lake (né William Anthony Kirsopp Lake), 18^th National Security Advisor.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until March 1997.

1934 ~ Paul Joseph Cohen (d. March 23, 2007), American mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1966 Fields Medal.  He died 10 days before his 73^rd birthday.

1934 ~ Carl Kasell, American newscaster and radio personality.  For many years, he was the announcer on NPR’s Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me.  He retired from the radio show in 2014.

1929 ~ Catherine Gaskin (d. Sept. 6, 2009), Irish-Australian writer.  She died at age 80 of ovarian cancer.

1927 ~ Bo Callaway (né Howard Hollis Callaway, Sr., d. Mar. 15, 2014), American soldier and 11^th United States Secretary of the Army.  He served under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford from May 1973 until July 1975.  He died 13 days before his 87^th birthday.

1923 ~ G. Spencer Brown (né George Spencer Brown, d. Aug. 25, 2016), English mathematician.  He died at age 93.

1920 ~ Jack Webb (né John Randolph Webb, d. Dec. 23, 1982), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday from the television series Dragnet.  He died of a heart attack at age 62.

1914 ~ Sir Alec Guinness (né Alec Guinness de Cuffe, d. Aug. 5, 2000), English actor.  He died of cancer at age 86.

1908 ~ Buddy Ebsen (né Christian Ludolf Ebsen, Jr., d. July 6, 2003), American actor best known for his role as Jed Clampett in the Beverly Hillbillies.  He died at age 95.

1891 ~ Max Ernst (b. Apr. 1, 1976), German Artist.  He died 1 day before his 85^th birthday.

1875 ~ Walter Percy Chrysler (d. Aug. 18, 1940), American automobile pioneer and founder of the Chrysler company.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 65.

1862 ~ Nicholas Murray Butler (d. Dec. 7, 1947), American philosopher and diplomat.  He was President of Columbia University.  He was, ironically, the recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize, considering his stance on Italy and Germany during World War II.  He also enforced the quotas on the number of Jews who could attend Columbia University.  He died at age 85.

1840 ~ Émile Zola (d. Sept. 29, 1902), French novelist and critic.  He is best known for his article, J’Accuse, which was instrumental in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, an army officer who had been convicted of a crime simply because he was Jewish.  The article brought to light the false accusations against Dreyfus. Zola died at age 62 of carbon monoxide poisoning, which some believe was murder.

1814 ~ Eratus Brigham Bigelow (d. Dec. 6, 1879), American industrialist and inventor of weaving machines.  He was born in West Boylston, Massachusetts and died in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was 65 at the time of his death.

1807 ~ Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart (d. Feb. 13, 1891), 3^rd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce from September 1850 until March 1853.  He died at age 83.

1805 ~ Hans Christian Andersen (d. Aug. 4, 1875), Danish writer of children’s stories and fairy tales.  He died at age 70.

1725 ~ Giacomo Casanova (d. June 4, 1798), Italian adventurer and womanizer.  He died at age 73 years old.

1647 ~ Maria Sibylla Merian (d. Jan. 13, 1717), German-born naturalist, entomologist botanist, and illustrator.  She died at age 69.

1618 ~ Francesco Maria Grimaldi (d. Dec. 28, 1663), Italian mathematician, physicist and priest.  The Grimaldi crater on the moon is named in his honor.  He died at age 45.

742 ~ Charlemagne (d. Jan. 28, 814), King of the Franks.  He is also sometimes referred to as Charles the Great.  He died of pleurisy at age 71.

181 ~ Emperor Xian of Han (d. Apr. 21, 234), 14^th and last emperor of the Han Dynasty.  He reigned from September 189 until November 220.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is believed to have been on April 2, 181.  He died 19 days before his 53^rd birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2006 ~ Over 60 tornadoes hit across the United States.  Tennessee was hit the hardest and nearly 30 people were killed by the storm.

1982 ~ Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

1973 ~ LexisNexis began its computerized legal research services.

1956 ~ CBS television premiered two 30-minute soap operas ~ As the World Turns and The Edge of Night.

1930 ~ Haile Selassie (1892 ~ 1975) was proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.

1917 ~ President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany, thus marking the entry of the United States in World War I.

1902 ~ The first full-time movie theater in the United States opened in Los Angeles.  It was called the Electric Theatre.

1900 ~ The Foraker Act was passed granting Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

1863 ~ Food shortages caused by the American Civil War incited hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Confederate government release emergency supplies.

1792 ~ The Coinage Act was passed thereby establishing the United States Mint.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Jane Ann Nebel Henson (b. June 16, 1924), American puppeteer and wife of puppeteer Jim Hanson, creator of The Muppets.  She died of cancer at age 78.

2013 ~ Milo O’Shea (b. June 2, 1926), Irish character actor.  He died at age 86.

2005 ~ Pope Saint John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyla, b. May 18, 1920).  He served as Pope from 1978 until his death in 2005.  He was 84 at the time of his death.

1995 ~ Hannes Alfvén (b. May 30, 1908), Swedish physicist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 86.

1994 ~ Betty Furness (née Elizabeth Mary Furness, b. Jan. 3, 1916), American actress and television journalist.  She died at age 78.

1987 ~ Buddy Rich (né Bernard Rich, b. Sept. 30, 1917), American jazz drummer and bandleader.  He died of a brain tumor at age 69.

1980 ~ Stanley Forman Reed (b. Dec. 31, 1884), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from January 1938 until February 1957.  He died at age 95.

1974 ~ Georges Pompidou (b. July 5, 1911), French politician and President of France from June 1969 until April 1974.  He died in office at age 62.

1966 ~ C.S. Forester (né Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, b. Aug. 27, 1899), English author.  He was the author of The African Queen.  He died at age 66.

1928 ~ Theodore William Richards (b. Jan. 31, 1868), American chemist and recipient of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 60 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1914 ~ Paul von Heyse (né Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse, b. Mar. 15, 1830), German writer and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 18 days before his 85^th birthday.

1872 ~ Samuel Finley Breese Morse (b. Apr. 27, 1791), American painter and inventor of the Morse code.  His contribution greatly advanced the use of the commercial telegraph.  He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  He died three weeks before his 81^st birthday.

1791 ~ Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (b. Mar. 9, 1749), French journalist and politician who played a role in the French revolution.  He died of illness at age 42.

1787 ~ Thomas Gage (b. Mar. 10, 1719), British general and American Revolutionary War figure.  He had also served as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.  The exact year of his birth is not known.  He is believed to have been born in either r1719 or 1720.  He died at age 67n or 68.

1720 ~ Joseph Dudley (b. Sept. 23, 1647), Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.  He died at age 72.

1657 ~ Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. July 13, 1608).  He died at age 48.

1502 ~ Prince Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (b. Sept. 20, 1486), son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York.  He married Catherine of Aragon, but died before marriage was said to have been consummated.  He died before his father, Henry VII, so his younger brother, Henry ultimately became King Henry VIII, who married Arthur’s widow.  Arthur was 15 years old at the time of his death.