Today in history

Today is Sunday, March 26, the 85th day of 2017. There are 280 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On March 26, 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup as they defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the finals by a score of 9-1.

On this date

In 1812, an earthquake devastated 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 1874, poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.

In 1892, poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey.

In 1937, a 6-foot-tall statue of the cartoon character Popeye was unveiled during the Second Annual Spinach Festival in Crystal City, Texas.

In 1945, during World War II, Iwo Jima was fully secured by U.S. forces following a final, desperate attack by Japanese soldiers. Former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, 82, died in Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy, Wales.

In 1958, the U.S. Army launched America’s third successful satellite, Explorer 3.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI issued an encyclical, “Populorum Progressio,” on “the progressive development of peoples,” in which he expressed concern for those trying to escape hunger, poverty, endemic disease and ignorance.

In 1979, a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH’-kem BAY’-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

In 1992, a judge in Indianapolis 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’d committed suicide were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Ten years ago: The military concluded that highranking Army officers had made critical errors in reporting the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, but that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of the former NFL star by fellow soldiers. (Tillman’s family rejected the findings.) Australian detainee David Hicks pleaded guilty before a military tribunal at Guantanamo to helping terrorists fight the United States in Afghanistan. (Hicks, who had already spent more than five years at Guantanamo Bay, was sentenced to seven years in prison; all but nine months of his term were suspended. Hicks was returned to Australia to serve out his term, and was freed in Dec. 2007; the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review struck down his conviction in 2015.)

Five years ago: As demonstrations swirled outside, Supreme Court justices began hearing arguments on challenges to President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cuba in the footsteps of his immediate predecessor, Pope John Paul II, expressing great affection for Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits and heartfelt hopes for reconciliation.