- Apr 1 1st Dutch motorway, Amsterdam-Utrecht, opens
- Apr 1 1st US Army helicopter battalion forms, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Gordie Howe Fastest Goal
Apr 1 Detroit Red Wings right wing Gordie Howe scores 2 goals and an assist, and sets a Stanley Cup playoff record for fastest goal from the start of a game (:09) in a 4-3 2OT win over Toronto in Game 5 of the Semi-Finals
- Apr 1 Earthquake/tsunami ravage Aleutians, 200 killed
- Apr 1 US Air Force Academy established
- Apr 1 WQED TV channel 13 in Pittsburgh, PA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 2 Ed Wood's cult classic film "Glen or Glenda?", initially screened as "I Changed My Sex" premieres in San Francisco, California
- Apr 2 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced [see Jan 26]
- Apr 3 Don Perry climbs a 20' rope in under 2.8 seconds (AAU record)
Me and Juliet
Apr 3 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's musical "Me and Juliet" closes at Majestic Theater, NYC, after 358 performances
Conference of Interest
Apr 7 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a news conference is first to voice fear of a "domino-effect" of communism in the Indo-China region
- Apr 7 WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
Music Premiere
Apr 8 Andrew Schwartz and Dorothy Fields' musical "By the Beautiful Sea", starring Shirley Booth, opens at the Majestic Theatre, later transferring to the Imperial, NYC; runs for 270 performances
- Apr 9 7th Cannes Film Festival: "Gate of Hell" directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- Apr 9 WECT TV channel 6 in Wilmington, NC (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 10 108th Grand National: Bryan Marshall wins aboard Royal Tan at 8/1; second consecutive GN victory for both Marshall and trainer Vincent O'Brien
- Apr 10 KRGV TV channel 5 in Weslaco, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 10 Wales beats Scotland, 15-3 at the St. Helen's Ground, Swansea to share Five Nations Rugby Championship with France and England; France's first title
US Masters Golf
Apr 12 18th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Sam Snead wins his 3rd and final Masters by 1 stroke in an 18-hole playoff with Ben Hogan
- Apr 12 8th NBA Championship: Min Lakers beat Syracuse Nationals, 4 games to 3
- Apr 12 Belgian Van Houtte government resigns
Music History
Apr 12 Bill Haley & His Comets record "Rock Around Clock"
- Apr 12 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"
- Apr 13 Baltimore Orioles 1st game, loses to Tigers in Detroit 3-0
Aaron's 1st Game
Apr 13 Milwaukee Braves' Hank Aaron's 1st game
Oppenheimer Security Hearing
Apr 13 Robert Oppenheimer accused of being a communist
- Apr 14 Soviet diplomat Vladimir Petrov asks for politics asylum in Canberra
- Apr 15 KARK TV channel 4 in Little Rock, AR (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 15 Orioles 1st game in Baltimore beat White Sox 3-1
- Apr 15 WHO TV channel 13 in Des Moines, IA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Apr 15 Yankees dedicate a plaque to Edward Barrow
- Apr 16 KVAL TV channel 13 in Eugene, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Apr 16 Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 in OT for a 4-3 series victory
Nasser Seizes Power
Apr 18 Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power and appoints himself Prime Minister
- Apr 19 58th Boston Marathon won by Veikko Karvonen of Finland in 2:20:39
Demar's Last Race
Apr 19 7-time winner of Boston Marathon, 65-year-old Clarence Demar, runs his last race at Boston finishing 78th
- Apr 20 "Golden Apple" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
- Apr 21 USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
- Apr 22 Achiel van Acker forms Belgian government
- Apr 22 NBA adopts 24-second shot clock & 6 team-foul rule
- Apr 22 US Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings begin
- Apr 22 USSR joins UNESCO
- Apr 23 Hammerin' Hank Aaron hits 1st of his 755 homers
- Apr 24 1st American, civilian pilot, P.R. Holden, wounded in Indochina
- Apr 24 Australia & USSR break diplomatic relations
- Apr 24 WSEE TV channel 35 in Erie, PA (CBS) begins broadcasting
First Solar Battery
Apr 25 Bell labs announces the first solar battery made from silicon. It has about 6% efficiency.
- Apr 25 British raid Nairobi, Kenya (25,000 Mau Mau suspects arrested)
- Apr 25 US performs atmospheric nuclear test above Bikini Island
- Apr 25 WDEF TV channel 12 in Chattanooga, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting
Seven Samurai
Apr 26 "Seven Samurai", Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, is released
- Apr 26 Far Eastern Affairs conference opens in Geneva
Anti-Polio Vaccine Trial Begins
Apr 26 Mass trials of Jonas Salk's anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, Virginia; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months
- Apr 26 USSR Supreme Soviet transfer the Crimean oblast from Russian SFSR to Ukrainian SSR
Music Concert
Apr 30 Darius Milhaud's 4th Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (Op. 295) premieres in Haifa, Israel
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists