On This Day in History - April 2nd - Almanac

Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2015 with 273 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mercury, Neptune and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Charlemagne, founder of the Holy Roman Empire, in 742; Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in 1725; Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen in 1805; French novelist Emile Zola in 1840; surrealist artist Max Ernst in 1891; baseball Hall of Fame member Luke Appling in 1907; actor Buddy Ebsen in 1908; actor Alec Guinness in 1914; actor Jack Webb in 1920; Australian auto racer Jack Brabham in 1926; singer/songwriter Marvin Gaye in 1939; radio personality Dr. Demento, born Barret Hansen, in 1941 (age 74); singer/songwriter Leon Russell in 1942 (age 73); actor Linda Hunt in 1945 (age 70); literary and cultural critic Camille Paglia in 1947 (age 68); country singer Emmylou Harris in 1947 (age 68); actor Pamela Reed in 1949 (age 66); actor Christopher Meloni in 1961 (age 54).

On this date in history:

In 1513, Ponce De Leon of Spain landed at what is now St. Augustine, Fla., to search for the Fountain of Youth.

In 1792, Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S.Mint to coin money, all to be inscribed with the Latin words "E Pluribus Unum," a motto meaning "Out of Many, One."

In 1877, the first White House Easter Egg Roll was conducted.

In 1917, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.

In 1932, aviator Charles Lindbergh left $50,000 in a New York City cemetery for the return of his kidnapped son. (The child was later found dead. Bruno Hauptmann subsequently was convicted of kidnapping and murder and was executed.)

In 1982, Argentine troops stormed the Falkland Islands in South America, overwhelming the small British marine unit stationed there.

In 1992, a New York jury convicted mob boss John Gotti in five killings, racketeering and other charges. (Gotti died in prison in 2002.)

In 2005, Pope John Paul II, head of the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century, died at his Vatican apartment. The 84-year-old pontiff suffered in his final days from urinary and bacterial infections that led to organ failure.

In 2007 the University of Florida repeated as NCAA Division I basketball champion, becoming the first school to win both the national collegiate major basketball and football titles the same calendar year.

In 2012, One Goh, a 38-year-old former nursing student in Oakland, Calif., opened fire on the Oikos University campus, killing seven people and wounding three others, authorities said. He was captured a short time later.

In 2014, a soldier shot and killed three service members, wounded 16 others, then killed himself at Fort Hood, Texas, 4 1/2 years after 13 people died in a shooting spree at the same base.

A thought for the day: President John F. Kennedy said, "The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth."