History for April 3

History for April 3 - On-This-Day.com

William M. (Marcy) "Boss" Tweed 1823 - Democrat Political boss, known for his Tweed "Ring" that stole millions of dollars from New York City

• 1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida. He had sighted the land the day before.
• 1860 - The first Pony Express riders left St. Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA. The trip across country took about 10 days. The Pony Express only lasted about a year and a half.
• 1910 - Alaska's Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America was climbed.
• 1942 - The Japanese began their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
• 1946 - Lt. General Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed in the Philippines.
• 1948 - U.S. President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan to revive war-torn Europe. It was $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
• 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech just 24 hours before he was assassinated.
• 1986 - The U.S. national debt hit $2 trillion.