This Day in History: April 30

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This Day in History: April 30

Take a look at all of the important historical events that took place on April 30.

On this day, April 30 ...

1789:  George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

Also on this day:

• 1798: The U.S Department of the Navy forms.
• 1803: Chancellor Robert Livingston and James Monroe sign the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris at a cost of $15 million.
• 1859: Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published, in the literary periodical "All the Year Round."
• 1864: New York becomes the first state to charge a hunting license fee.
• 1885: The Boston Pops Orchestra forms.
• 1897: English physicist J. J. Thomson announces his discovery of the electron in a lecture to the Royal Institution.
• 1900: The "Hawaiian Organic Act" is enacted by Congress, making Hawaii a U.S. territory.
• 1903: In the New York Highlanders' (Yankees) first home game, they beat the Washington Senators, 6-2.
• 1904: The ice cream cone makes its debut.
• 1939: The New York World's Fair opens.

• 1939: Lou Gehrig sets an MLB record, playing his 2,130th consecutive and final game for the New York Yankees.
• 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his new wife Eva Braun in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin as the Red Army captures the city.
• 1947: Boulder Dam is renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover.
• 1952: Mr. Potato Head is the first toy advertised on television.
• 1972: "Arthur Godfrey Time" ends a 27-year run on radio.
• 1974: President Richard Nixon hands over partial transcripts of Watergate tape recordings.
• 1989: The World Wide Web (WWW) is first launched in the public domain by European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
• 1992: The 208th and final episode of "The Cosby Show" airs on NBC.
• 1996: President Bill Clinton approves the sale of $227 million of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

• 1997: Approximately 42 million viewers watch Ellen DeGeneres declare she is gay through her character Ellen Morgan, on her TV sitcom, "Ellen."