April 2 in Pop Culture History

1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed near what is now called St. Augustine, Florida, and declared the land for Spain.

1792 – The Coinage Act was passed, establishing the United States Mint.

1827 – Lead pencils began being manufactured by Joseph Dixon, who built his factory in Salem, Massachusetts

1882 – Tombstone reads, “Jesse W. James, Died April 3, 1882, Aged 34 years, six months, 28 days, Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy of appearing here.” Jesse James was shot and killed by their frenemy Robert Ford for the reward money. The bank robber had a $5,000 bounty, but they gave Ford $500 and then arrested him.

1902 – “Electric Theatre,” the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opened in Los Angeles.

1917 – The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana.

1953 – The journal Nature published a paper with this date from Francis Crick and James Watson, titled Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, in which they described a double helix structure for DNA.

1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night first aired on the CBS network in the United States as the first half-hour serial dramas.

1956 – Elvis Presley sang Heartbreak Hotel on the Milton Berle Show, with an estimated 25% of the United States population viewing.

1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis legal research service.

1978 – Dallas premiered on CBS.

1978 – Velcro, the hook-and-loop fastener patent, expired. Velcro comes from “vel” or velvet and “cro” from the French word crochet which means hook.

1982 – Cat People was released in theaters.

1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

1992 – Pope John Paul II died.

1996 – Suspected ‘Unabomber’ Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his Montana cabin.

2004 – Hellboy and Walking Tall debuted in theaters.

2010 – Clash of the Titans was released in theaters (along with The Krakon)