4 April 1958
A Friday in history
Weekday
Friday
Season
Spring (N. Hemisphere)
Century
20th century
Records
504
2011Georgian Airways Flight 834 crashed at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa, killing 32 people and leaving one survivor.
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1990The current flag of Hong Kong (pictured) was adopted for post-colonial use during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.
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1988Evan Mecham, Governor of Arizona, was removed from office after being convicted in his impeachment trial.
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1975Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
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1975Vietnam War: On a mission to evacuate children from South Vietnam, a U.S. Air Force plane crash-landed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, killing 78 children and 60 others.
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1973A year after the completion of the second of the complex's twin towers, the World Trade Center in New York City was officially dedicated.
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1973A C-141, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, flew the last mission of Operation Homecoming to return American prisoners of war from Vietnam.
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1968American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (pictured) was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
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1949Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing NATO, an international military alliance whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
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1905An earthquake hit the Kangra Valley in India, killing at least 20,000 people and destroying 100,000 buildings.
Source- 1873
The Kennel Club, the world's oldest kennel club, was founded in the United Kingdom after Sewallis Shirley became frustrated by trying to organise dog shows without a consistent set of rules.
Source - 1859
Bryant's Minstrels premiered the minstrel song "Dixie" in New York City as part of their blackface show.
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1841William Henry Harrison became the first U.S. president to die in office, sparking a brief constitutional crisis regarding questions of presidential succession that were unanswered by the U.S. Constitution.
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- 1081
The Komnenos dynasty came to full power with the coronation of Alexios I Komnenos (pictured) as Byzantine emperor.
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-503Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrated a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
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Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.