History for April 30

History for April 30 - On-This-Day.com:
Cornelius Vanderbilt 1898, George R. Stibitz 1904, Robert Shaw 1916


John (Johnny) Horton 1925, Jill Clayburgh 1944 - Actress, Kirsten Dunst 1982 - Actress ("Spider-Man")


1789 - George Washington took office as first elected U.S. president.


1803 - The U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.


1900 - Casey Jones was killed while trying to save the runaway train "Cannonball Express."


1938 - Happy Rabbit appeared in the cartoon "Porky's Hare Hunt." This rabbit would later evolve into Bugs Bunny.


1943 - The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped 'the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain.


1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. They had been married for one day. One week later Germany surrendered unconditionally.


1952 - Mr. Potato Head became the first toy to be advertised on network television.


1993 - CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain.


1998 - United and Delta airlines announced their alliance that would give them control of 1/3 of all U.S. passenger seats.