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Today in History, April 7th

April 7, 1994, saw the Rwandan genocide spread nationwide. Plus the WHO's founding in 1948 and the end of the Battle of Shiloh.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published April 7, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

April 7 is best known for 1994, the day the killings of the Rwandan genocide spread across the country after the president’s plane was shot down the night before. The date also saw the World Health Organization’s constitution take effect in 1948 and the Union win the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.

The big story: The Rwandan genocide engulfs the country (1994)

On the evening of April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi’s president was shot down over Kigali. Who fired the missile is still debated. Within hours, Hutu extremists in the army and militias began killing Tutsi civilians and moderate Hutu, and by April 7 the slaughter was spreading. That day, soldiers killed Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, along with 10 Belgian peacekeepers assigned to guard her. Radio stations urged listeners to join in, and neighbors turned on neighbors. The deaths of the Belgians helped push the United Nations to shrink its force rather than reinforce it. Over about 100 days, more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi, were killed. The killing ended only when the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, under Paul Kagame, took control of the country in July. The world’s failure to step in became a lasting lesson in what inaction can cost.

More events on April 7

Year	What happened
1449	Felix V, the last antipope, gave up his claim to the papacy.
1805	Lewis and Clark left their winter camp among the Mandan and pushed west again toward the Pacific.
1862	The Battle of Shiloh ended near Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee, with a Union victory.
1922	Interior Secretary Albert Fall secretly leased the federal oil reserve at Teapot Dome, Wyoming in exchange for cash gifts, the heart of the Teapot Dome scandal.
1927	A one-way videophone linked Washington, D.C., and New York City in its first public demonstration, with Herbert Hoover taking part.
1933	Low-alcohol beer became legal in the U.S., about eight months before Prohibition ended.
1945	Allied forces sank the Japanese battleship Yamato during the fight for Okinawa.
1948	The World Health Organization’s constitution came into force. The date is now marked each year as World Health Day.
1953	Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden was elected secretary-general of the United Nations.
1954	President Dwight Eisenhower described the “domino theory,” warning that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, its neighbors could follow.
2001	NASA launched the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which went on to find signs of ice just beneath the Martian surface.
2012	Mike Wallace, the TV journalist known for his tough 60 Minutes interviews, died at 93.

Born on April 7

1786: William Rufus de Vane King, 13th U.S. vice president, born in Sampson County, North Carolina. He died before he could perform any of the office’s duties.
1915: Billie Holiday, jazz singer, born in Philadelphia.
1939: Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, born in Detroit.
1954: Jackie Chan, stuntman, actor and director, born in Hong Kong.