In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy." (Congress declared war four days later.)

In 2005, Pope John Paul II, who'd led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84.

Google search for: this day in history april 2, first link.
Source(s):
Google search for: this day in history april 2, first link.

Permalink | Report

According to AP Press this is the day in 1513, that Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in present-day Florida.
Source(s):
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhZfSZI4djl_MxnRykC5lZzlB...

Permalink | Report

Pope John Paul the Second died. Wilson asks congress for a declaration of war for WWII.

~Joey V.~
Source(s):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAgCRCZ3jhg

Permalink | Report

This is a boring answer - compared to Wilson declaring war - but here goes... on this day in 1917 Lenin returned to Russia from exile, marking the beginning of Bolshevik leadership in the Russian Revolution, and 70 years of communism.

How different would the world be if he'd stayed in Switzerland?
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin

Permalink | Report

April 1902

Wednesday 02:

"Electric Theatre", the first movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.

1987 - IBM introduces PS/2 & OS/2

1971 - Sci-fi soap opera "Dark Shadows" concludes an almost 5 year run

1930 - 1st NY-Bermuda airplane flight lands in Bermuda

1993 - Venezuelan DC-10 crashes at Margarita, killing 10

1993 - 1st test flight of Fokker 70 (Amsterdam)

1992 - Space Shuttle STS-45 (Atlantis 11) lands
Source(s):
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/02-april-2009/

http://www.historyorb.com/events/april/2

Permalink | Report

The Prime Minister of Canada was in the bathroom instead of being in the photoshoot of all the world leaders.
Source(s):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/wheres-canada-bathroom-bre...

Permalink | Report

1513
Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon is credited with the first recorded landing in Florida.
Source(s):
http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/this_day_in_history/this_day_April_...

Permalink | Report

Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) became the first woman to take a seat in Congress in 1916. This was quite impressive, considering that the Nineteenth Amendment did not come into effect until 1920, so that when she was seated there were many states where women still could not vote. Rankin was a noted pacifist, who opposed American entry into World War I and even World War II (she was the only person in Congress to vote against the declaration of war). She was later active in the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King, and in the anti-Vietnam War Movement.

While few people remember her today (there is no Mahalo entry on her, for instance), she laid the ground for women to enter politics in the US.
Source(s):
http://www.jrpc.org/about_jrpc/jeannette_who.html
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000055
http://womenincongress.house.gov/profiles/index.html?id=R000055

Permalink | Report