April 3rd, 1996

Federal agents in Montana arrested Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as “the Unabomber.” He was an American terrorist who killed 3 people (and injured over 20 others) with explosives that he sent via mail.

April 4th, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated while in Memphis, Tennessee to help support a strike led by the city’s sanitation workers. He was shot by James Earl Gray, a forty year old convict who was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the assassination.

April 5th, 1792

After Congress passed a bill focused on Congressional redistricting, President George Washington used the power of presidential veto for the first time within the United States.

April 6th, 1917

The United States ended its streak of neutrality by declaring war on Germany and officially entering into World War I. The war had already been going on for 3 years and would not end until November 11th, 1918.

April 7th, 1948

A new United Nations agency, the World Health Organization, was established by the UN. Today, the agency is based in Switzerland and manages 150 offices worldwide.

April 8th, 2013

Margaret Thatcher, the controversial conservative first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, died in the Ritz London. 

April 9th, 1865

Confederate leaders surrendered to the North marking the official end of the American Civil War. The United States entered its Reconstruction Era where it would attempt to build back and reunify after the war.