April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (121st in
leap years). There are 245 days remaining.
- 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire eastern empire under his rule.
- 1789 - On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office becoming the first elected President of the United States.
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million more than doubling the size of the young nation overnight.
- 1812 - The Territory of Orleans[?] becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
- 1900 - Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
- 1900 - Casey Jones is killed attempting to save the runaway train Cannonball Express[?].
- 1939 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the first President of the United States to appear on television
- 1939 - The 1939 New York World's Fair opens.
- 1943 - World War II: Operation Mincemeat[?] - The submarine HMS Seraph[?] surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day.
- 1947 - In Nevada Boulder Dam is officially renamed Hoover Dam again.
- 1948 - In Bogota, Colombia the Organization of American States is established.
- 1973 - Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aids HR Haldeman[?], John Ehrlichman[?], and others have resigned.
- 1975 - North Vietnamese troops occupy Saigon, ending the Vietnam War.
- 1980 - Accession of Beatrix of the Netherlands.
- 1991 - A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh killing an estimated 125,000 people.
- 1992 - CERN announces that World Wide Web will be free to anyone, with no fees due
- 1997 - Ellen DeGeneres comes out of the closet on her sitcom Ellen[?] (which originally aired on ABC this day).
- 1998 - NATO membership expands by approving the admission of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (the nations will be formally admitted following NATO's 50th anniversary summit next April).
- 2001 - Dennis Tito[?], the first 'space tourist' in space lifts off in a Russian rocket heading for the International Space Station.
- 2001 - Chandra Levy, a former intern to California Congressman Gary Condit, is last seen in Washington, DC.
- 2002 - A referendum in Pakistan overwhelmingly approves the military government under Pervez Musharraf for another five years.
- 1602 - William Lilly, astrologer (+ 1681)
- 1662 - Queen Mary II of England (+ 1694)
- 1777 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, mathematician, astronomer and physicist (+ 1855)
- 1780 - Charles Nodier[?], French writer (+ 1844)
- 1870 - Franz Lehár, composer (+ 1948)
- 1877 - Alice B. Toklas, muse (+ 1967)
- 1893 - Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign minister (+ 1946)
- 1898 - Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.[?], reporter, columnist, author, lecturer
- 1908 - Eve Arden, actress (+ 1990)
- 1909 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
- 1911 - Luise Rinser[?], narrator (+ 2002)
- 1926 - Cloris Leachman[?], actress
- 1929 - Klausjürgen Wussow[?], actor
- 1933 - Willie Nelson, country musician, composer
- 1943 - Bobby Vee[?], singer
- 1944 - Jill Clayburgh, actress
- 1945 - Annie Dillard, poet, essayist, novelist
- 1946 - King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden
- 1946 - Don Schollander[?], Olympic gold medalist in swimming
- 1946 - Ulla Hahn[?], lyricist
- 1961 - Isiah Thomas[?], basketball player, coach, owner
- 1964 - Barrington Levy, reggae and dancehall musician
- 1982 - Kirsten Dunst, actress
- 1875 - Jean Frederic Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer and cartographer, dies at age 109
- 1883 - Edouard Manet, impressionist painter
- 1936 - A.E. Housman[?], poet
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun (suicide)
- 1956 - Alben W. Barkley, former Vice President of the United States
- 1974 - Agnes Moorehead, actress
- 1982 - Lester Bangs, music journalist, author, musician
- 1983 - George Balanchine, dancer, choreographer
- 1983 - Muddy Waters, blues musician
See Also:
April 29 - May 1 - March 29 - May 29 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December