[goofywife]

1945: Hitler commits suicide
Adolf Hitler and his wife for one day, Eva Braun, committed suicide today. . Early newspaper reports stated Hitler was thought to have been slain by the Russians or to have died of a stroke, but no mention was made of suicide. It was not until almost two months later that newspapers revealed the couple had made a suicide pact.

"Hitler shot himself through the temple, the chauffer said, while Eva Braun sent a bullet through her heart. Both died almost instantly. The source of this information apparently clarifying the mystery of Hitler's end as overlord of Europe was Erich Kempke, his driver since 1936," reported The Port Arthur News on June 21, 1945. "The bodies of Hitler and his bride were taken out into the chancellory garden, Kempke said, soaked with gasoline and burned."

NOTE: Reports revealed that Hitler and his wife shot themselves while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule. Though some remains were discovered, many still believe that Hitler may have faked his death and gone into hiding, and that the remains are inauthentic.

1980: Beatrix crowned queen of Netherlands
Princess Beatrix became queen of the Netherlands today upon the abdication of her mother, Queen Juliana. "Juliana signed the abdication document surrendering the throne at 10 a.m. in the royal palace on Dam Square, and Beatrix, her energetic, 42-year-old eldest daughter, succeeded her, becoming Holland's fourth successive female monarch and its sixth constitutional ruler," explained The Daily Intelligencer on April 30, 1980. NOTE: As the inaugural ceremonies were taking place, rioting erupted in the capital as protesters threw a smoke bomb into a crowd of spectators.

1975: South Vietnam surrenders
The Vietnam War ended today when the Saigon government announced its surrender. "The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops – jubilant over the unconditional surrender that ended 35 years of war against American, French, Japanese and South Vietnamese forces – seized Saigon Radio and announced they were renaming the South Vietnamese capital 'Ho Chi Minh City,'" informed the Delta Democrat-Times on April 30, 1975. "One by one, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops overwhelmed the holdouts and gained complete control of all of Saigon. They crashed tanks through the wall at the presidential palace and hoisted a huge Viet Cong flag – red on the top, blue on the bottom with a gold star in the center."

1973: Nixon's top aides resign
Four of President Richard Nixon's closest aides resigned today. "Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and three trusted White House aides – H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman and John W. Dean II – were swept out of office today by the Watergate bugging scandal," reported The Lowell Sun on April 30, 1973. "The resignations came amid growing pressures from within the Republican party for a housecleaning and full disclosure of the facts of administration involvement in the Watergate bugging."

1939: First regular TV service begins in U.S.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared on television today for the opening of the New York World's Fair. His appearance opened the first regular television service in the United States. "Popular television in America, for years a fantasy of dreamers and a problem for scientists, was realized today. President Roosevelt and other guests at the New York World's fair inaugural were among the subjects telecast to homes and radio stores as far as 50 miles away," explained The Helena Independent on May 1, 1939. NOTE: At that time, television could only be broadcast 50 miles from the Empire State Building. Even then, television sets needed to be installed in positions that were in "the line-of-sight route."