Events in History
- Apr 1 Japan allows its citizens to own gold
- Apr 1 OPEC increases price of petroleum by 5.7 percent
- Apr 2 ITT admits to asking CIA to influence Chilean presidential election
- Apr 2 Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
- Apr 3 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin Cooper to the Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey
- Apr 4 World Trade Center, then the world's tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
- Apr 5 Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter
- Apr 6 America launches the Pioneer 11 (Pioneer G) probe to study Jupiter & Saturn
- Apr 6 Dock strike in Gent/Antwerp, Belgium
- Apr 6 Indian troops invade Sikkim
- Apr 7 Cleveland sets day-game & opening-game attendance records of 74,420
- Apr 8 Thirty-two terrorist bombings in Cyprus
- Apr 9 Netherlands recognizes North Vietnam
- Apr 9 Otto Kerner, former governor of Illinois, convicted for his role in an illegal racetrack scheme
- Apr 10 BEA flight to Basel Switzerland, crashes on landing, killing 104 of 143
- Apr 10 Pakistan suspends constitution
Event of Interest
Apr 18 US Government ends Mandatory Oil Import Program, established in 1959 by President Eisenhower
- Apr 19 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Apr 20 Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in orbit
- Apr 20 Mass murderer Ed Kemper attempts to dispose of his mother's vocal chords in a domestic waste disposal unit
- Apr 25 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 26 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 28 Over 6000 Mk. 82 500 pound bombs detonate over 18 hrs in a railyard in northern California. 5500 structures damaged, town of Antelope destroyed, with every building reduced to foundations. Leads to Transportation Safety Act (1974)
Event of Interest
Apr 30 US President Nixon announces the resignation of H. R. Haldeman, Ehrlichman and others
Birthdays in History
- Apr 7 Carole Montillet, French skier
- Apr 9 Spencer "Spenny" Rice, Canadian entertainer, born in Toronto, Ontario
- Apr 10 Christopher Simmons, American graphic designer, born in Canada
- Apr 12 J. Scott Campbell, American comic book artist, born in East Tawas, Michigan
- Apr 20 Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter (Geoff Lloyd with Annabel Port), born in Withington, Lancashire, England
- Apr 20 Isabel Dos Santos, Angolan businesswoman, daughter of ex-President José Eduardo dos Santos, Africa's richest woman, born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR
- Apr 28 Ian Murdock, German-born American computer programmer (Debian project, Progeny Linux Systems), born in Konstanz, West Germany (d. 2015)
- Apr 29 David Belle, French physical educator (founded Parkour), born in Fécamp, France
Weddings in History
- Apr 18 American sci-fi writer "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Philip K Dick marries 5th wife Leslie (Tessa) Busby
Deaths in History
- Apr 5 John Coleman, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Apr 8 Spanish painter (The Three Dancers, Guernica) and sculptor who co-founded the Cubist movement, dies at 91
- Apr 13 A. A. M. Stols, Dutch publisher (Schoone Book), dies at 73
- Apr 20 Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal philosopher and political philosopher, dies at 91
- Apr 21 Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia, dies at 79
- Apr 23 Otto Eissfeldt, German old testament scholar, dies at 85
- Apr 28 Jacques Maritain, French Catholic philosopher (exponent of St Thomas), dies at 90
- Apr 30 Václav Renč, Czech poet, dramatist and translator, dies at 61
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists