This Day in History
1513: Juan Ponce de León discovers Florida and claims it for Spain .
1739: John Wesley , English preacher and founder of Methodism, begins preaching open-air sermons to enthusiastic crowds.
1792: The Coinage Act establishes the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia.
1865: After a 10-month siege during the Civil War, Petersburg, Virginia, falls to federal troops. Jefferson Davis flees Richmond as Union forces close in on the Confederate capital during the Civil War.
1871: Paris is bombarded by the French government as part of the suppression of a revolutionary government, the Commune of Paris.
1877: The first White House Easter Egg Roll is held.
1917: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany.
1974: French Pres. Georges Pompidou dies and is succeeded by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
1982: Argentina invades the nearby Falkland Islands , a British colony.
1992: Mafia boss John Gotti is found guilty of murder, racketeering, and other charges by a New York jury.
2003: U.S. forces in Iraq advance to within 30 miles of Baghdad.
2005: Pope John Paul II dies 26 years after he became the first non-Italian to be elected pope in 456 years, and the first pope from Poland.
Today's Birthdays
742-814: Charlemagne, king of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans (Aachen, Germany; died 814)
1725: Giovanni Casanova, adventurer/memoirist (Venice, Italy; died 1798)
1805: Hans Christian Andersen, children's author (Odense, Denmark; died 1875)
1834: Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty (Colmar, Alsace, France; died 1904)
1838: Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and statesman (Cahors, France; died 1882)
1840: Emile Zola, novelist (Paris, France; died 1902)
1891: Max Ernst, artist (Brühl, Germany; died 1976)
1908: Buddy Ebsen, actor (Belleville, IL; died 2003)
1909: Luke Appling, baseball player (High Point, NC; died 1991)
1914: Sir Alec Guinness, actor (London, England; died 2000)
1932: Edward Egan, Roman Catholic cardinal, archbishop of New York (Oak Park, IL)
1928: Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, archbishop of Chicago (Columbia, SC; died 1996)
1940: Penelope Keith, actress (Sutton, Surrey, England)
1941: Leon Russell, musician (Lawton, OK)
1945: Linda Hunt, actress (Morristown, NJ)
1947: Emmylou Harris, singer (Birmingham, AL). Camille Paglia, literary and cultural critic (Endicott, NY)
1961: Christopher Meloni, actor (Washington, D.C.)
