Maurice Papon convicted of war crimes
On April 2, 1998, Maurice Papon was convicted of war crimes for his role in deporting French Jews to concentration camps during the Nazi occupation of France. Under German occupation, Papon served as the supervisor of the Service for Jewish Questions in Bordeaux from which he collaborated with the Nazi S.S. and oversaw the deportation of 1,560 Jewish men, women, and children to concentration camps.
Read an biography of Maurice Papon from the BBC.
Massachusetts enacted Vietnam antiwar bill
On April 2, 1970, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law an anti-Vietnam War bill providing that no inhabitant of Massachusetts inducted into or serving in the armed forces shall be required to serve abroad in an armed hostility that had not been declared a war by Congress under Article I, Section 8, clause 11 of the United States Constitution.