April 2

1917
President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany. “The world must be made safe for democracy,” proclaimed the President on this day.

April 3

1948
President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan. Also knowns as Foreign Assistance Act of 1948, the plan was established to provide $12 billion worth of economic recovery aid for Western Europe after World War II.

April 4

1818
The Flag Act of 1818 is enacted by Congress today. It was the flag that determined the design of all succeeding flags to have 13 stripes to represent the first 13 colonies and to have each star representing each state.

1841
President William Henry Harrison dies just after one month in office. The 9th President of the United States succumbed to pneumonia and passed away at the White House.

April 6

1841
After the death of President Harrison, John Tyler, the vice president, is sworn in as president on this day. He was the first vice president to assume the presidency due to the death of a president.

April 7

1913
Suffragists march to Washington, D.C. to demand voting rights to women.

April 8

1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Emergency Relief Appropriation Act to help struggling Americans during the Great Depression. Through the Act, Congress allowed the President to use $5 million for public assistance, the largest ever relief programs in the country’s history.

April 9

1962
President John F. Kennedy throws the first ceremonial pitch at the newly constructed “D.C. Stadium” in Washington, DC.

April 12

1945
President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies. The president suffered a stroke while on vacation at Warm Springs, Georgia. He died just three months into his historic fourth term.

April 13

1743
Thomas Jefferson is born on this day. The third president was also one of the drafters of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

April 14

1865
President Abraham Lincoln in shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the following morning.

April 15

1865
President Abraham Lincoln dies. He was shot the day prior while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

April 16

1789
The newly elected President George Washington leaves his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia and travels to New York for his, and the country’s, first presidential inauguration.

April 21

1865
A train carrying the coffin of assassinated Abraham Lincoln travels to Springfield, Illinois, the president’s home town. President Lincoln was later buried at the family plot.