1945 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office and Vice President Harry Truman is sworn in as 33rd US President
1946 – Syria gains independence from France
1961 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)
1981 – Maiden voyage Space Transit System-space shuttle Columbia launched
1990 – James Brown moves to a work-release center after serving 15 months
1992 – Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France
2002 – Palestinian suicide bomber (female) kills 7 and injures 104 (among them 9 Arabs) at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.
2013 – 11 people are killed and 30 are injured in mosque attacks across Iraq
2015 – Hillary Clinton announces she will run for the Democratic nominee for US President for the 2nd time
2020 – Pope Francis calls for the world to be united in the face of COVID-19 as he delivers his Easter message from an empty St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome
2020 – Huge storm system produces more than 40 tornadoes in the US from Texas to South Carolina killing 32 people across six states
Film & TV:
1932 – “Grand Hotel” directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Greta Garbo and John Barrymore premieres in New York, includes the line “I want to be alone” (Best Picture/Production 1932)
Music:
1954 – Bill Haley and the Comets record “Rock Around Clock”
1963 – Beatles “From Me to You” is released in UK
Sport:
1980 – US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow Olympic games
