This Day in History

On March 26, 1945, during World War II, Iwo Jima was fully secured by U.S. forces following a final, desperate at- tack by Japanese soldiers.

On this date:

In 1812, an earthquake dev- astated Caracas, Venezuela, causing an estimated 26,000 deaths, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In 1827, composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.

In 1911, American play- wright Tennessee Williams (“The Glass Menagerie,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) was born in Columbus, Miss.

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Baker v. Carr, gave federal courts the power to or- der reapportionment of states’ legislative districts.

In 1964, the musical play “Funny Girl,” starring Bar- bra Streisand as Fanny Brice, opened on Broadway.

In 1979, a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minis- ter Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

In 1982, groundbreak- ing ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Viet- nam Veterans Memorial.

In 1988, Jesse Jackson stunned fellow Democrats by soundly defeating Michael S. Dukakis in Michigan’s Demo- cratic presidential caucuses.

In 1992, a judge in Indianap- olis sentenced former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison for raping a Miss Black America contestant. (Tyson ended up serving three years.)

In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate techno-religious cult who com- mitted suicide were found in- side a rented mansion in Ran- cho Santa Fe, California.

In 2013, Italy’s top criminal court overturned the acquittal of American Amanda Knox in the grisly murder of British roommate Meredith Kercher and ordered Knox to stand trial again. (Although convicted in absentia, Knox was exonerated by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015.)

In 2018, a toxicology report obtained by The Associated Press revealed that the late pop music superstar Prince had lev- els of fentanyl in his body that multiple experts described as “exceedingly high.”

Ten years ago: The U.S. and Russia sealed the first ma- jor nuclear weapons treaty in nearly two decades, agreeing to slash the former Cold War ri- vals’ warhead arsenals by near- ly one-third.