By Day: Historical Events on April 3rd

Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, initiating the Capetian dynasty.

Nizam al-Mulk, Persian scholar and vizier of the Seljuk Empire, is born.

Building of the Bastille fortress in Paris begins under the reign of King Charles V of France.

The Pony Express begins service. From St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California . Covering mMore than 1,800 miles in 10 days and delivering a letter faster than ever before. It operated for only 18 months, but the Pony express became synonymous with the Old West. About ten weeks after the Pony Express began operations, Congress authorized a bill to subsidize the building of a transcontinental telegraph line to connect the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. On October 26, 1861, San Francisco was in direct contact with New York City. On that day the Pony Express was officially terminated. More

1901, April 3 - The first recorded game of what would become ice hockey in the United States takes place in Baltimore, Maryland.

President Truman signs the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 which became known as the Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who had proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe which was devastated making the Western European countries vulnerable to Soviet expansionism heightened the sense of crisis. More

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his Mountaintop Speech.

The infamous "Unabomber," Theodore Kaczynski, is arrested at his Montana cabin. The FBI had spent nearly two decades hunting him down. More