Today’s Highlights

On April 2, 2005, John Paul II, the Polish pope born Karol Józef Wojtyla, died in his Vatican apartment at age 84. The first non-Italian pope in over 450 years, John Paul II became one of the most influential leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries while playing a crucial role in the fall of communism in Europe.

On this date

1917: President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)

1992: Mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life in prison without parole. (Gotti died in prison in 2002.)

2007: In its first case on climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

2012: A gunman killed seven people at Oikos University, a Christian school in Oakland, California. (The gunman, One Goh, died in 2019 while serving a life prison sentence.)

2020: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 1 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Today’s birthdays

Disc jockey Dr. Demento is 84. Actor Linda Hunt is 80. Musician Emmylou Harris is 78. Actor Christopher Meloni is 64. Tennis Hall of Famer Todd Woodbridge is 54. Actor Pedro Pascal is 50.