Events 1492 - Ferdinand and Isabella sign a decree aimed at expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism. 1533 - Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. 1822 - Florida becomes a United States territory. 1842 - Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation (Dr. Crawford Long performed the operation and ether was used). 1855 - "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature. 1856 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War. 1858 - Hyman Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser. 1863 - Prince Wilhelm Georg of Sleesw˙k-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg is chosen as King George I of Greece. 1867 - Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million (about two cents an acre) by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this "Seward's Folly." 1870 - Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction. 1912 - France establishes a protectorate over Morocco. 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna. 1951 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau. 1964 - The game show Jeopardy debuts on television. 1972 - Vietnam War: The Eastertide Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam. 1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C, hotel by John Hinckley, Jr, family friend of the Vice President. Two police officers and James Brady are also wounded. 1987 - Vincent Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" is bought for $39.85 million. Births 1746 - Francisco Goya, painter († 1828) 1798 - Luise Hensel, poet († 1876) 1811 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist, inventor: Bunsen burner († 1899) 1844 - Paul Verlaine, lyric poet († 1896) 1853 - Vincent van Gogh, painter († 1890) 1879 - Coen de Koning, speed skater († 1954) 1880 - Sean O'Casey, dramatist († 1964) 1895 - Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union († 1975) 1913 - Richard Helms, director of the Central Intelligence Agency († 2002) 1913 - Frankie Laine, singer 1914 - Sonny Boy Williamson, musician 1919 - McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor († 1996) 1930 - John Astin, actor 1937 - Warren Beatty, actor/director 1940 - Astrud Gilberto, singer 1945 - Eric Clapton, blues guitarist 1949 - Lene Lovich, singer 1950 - Robbie Coltrane, actor, comedian 1957 - Paul Reiser, actor 1964 - Tracy Chapman, singer 1968 - Céline Dion, singer 1979 - Norah Jones, musician Deaths 1842 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, painter 1879 - Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher 1894 - Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer 1912 - Karl May, author 1986 - James Cagney, actor 1947 - Arthur Machen, author 2002 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom 2003 - Rudolf Walter Leonhardt, German journalist Holidays and observances Roman Empire - Festival devoted to Salus See Also: March 29 - March 31 - April 30 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
March 29 - March 31 - April 30 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December