April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.
- 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
- 1795 - France adopts the metre as the unit of length
- 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II
- 1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee[?].
- 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
- 1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming.
- 1927 - First long distance public television[?] broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City; image was of of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
- 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
- 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
- 1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
- 1954 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his"domino theory[?]" speech during a news conference.
- 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- 1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic[?] and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
- 1964 - IBM announces the System/360
- 1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s[?].
- 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
- 1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave[?] and Don Peterson[?] perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- 1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors died.
- 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
- 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
- 1998 - Citicorp[?] and Travelers Group[?] announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
- 2000 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
- 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus (+ 1552)
- 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (+ 1850)
- 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (+ 1837)
- 1873 - John McGraw[?], baseball coach, manager, player
- 1893 - Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (+ 1969)
- 1897 - Walter Winchell, broadcaster, journalist (+ 1972)
- 1904 - Ralph Bunche[?], diplomat, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1908 - Percy Faith[?], composer, musician (+ 1976)
- 1915 - Billie Holiday, American jazz and Blues singer (+ 1959)
- 1915 - Henry Kuttner[?], science fiction writer (+ 1958)
- 1920 - Ravi Shankar, musician
- 1922 - Mongo Santamaria[?], Latin jazz[?] musician (+ 2003)
- 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel[?], Austrian writer
- 1928 - James Garner, actor
- 1928 - Alan J. Pakula[?], producer, director (+ 1998)
- 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- 1939 - Sir David Frost[?], broadcaster, television host
- 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, German Bundeskanzler (chancellor) since 1998
- 1949 - John Oates[?], musician ("Hall and Oates[?]")
- 1951 - Janis Ian, singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Jackie Chan, actor
- 1954 - Tony Dorsett[?], American football star
- 1964 - Russell Crowe, actor
- 1614 - El Greco, artist
- 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman sultan
- 1858 - Anton Diabelli, music publisher, editor and composer
- 1891 - P. T. Barnum, circus impresario
- 1947 - Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist
- 1950 - Walter Huston, Academy Award winning actor
- 1955 - Theda Bara, silent film actress
- 1968 - Jim Clark, racing driver
- 1981 - Norman Taurog[?], director
- 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut
- 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas[?], preeminent conservationist and eviromentalist, dies at age 108.
See also: January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December
April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 - more historical anniversaries
Link to this page
