Today in history

Today in History

Today is Saturday, April 1, the 91st day of 2017. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool’s Day.

Today’s Highlight in History

On April 1, 1917, Scott Joplin, “The King of Ragtime Writers,” died at a New York City hospital. Joplin, the composer of “Maple Leaf Rag,” ‘’The Entertainer,” ‘’The Easy Winners,” ‘’Heliotrope Bouquet” and “Solace,” among other ragtime pieces, was believed to have been 49 years old at the time of his death.

On this date

In 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker.

In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler was released in Dec. 1924; during his time behind bars, he wrote his autobiographical screed, “Mein Kampf.”)

In 1933, Nazi Germany staged a daylong national boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.

In 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces succeeded in capturing the Japanese island on June 22.)

In 1947, Greece’s King George II died.

In 1954, the United States Air Force Academy was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1962, the Katherine Anne Porter novel “Ship of Fools,” an allegory about the rise of Nazism in Germany, was published by Little, Brown & Co.

In 1972, the first Major League Baseball players’ strike began; it lasted 12 days. In 1977, the U.S. Senate followed the example of the House of Representatives by adopting, 86-9, a stringent code of ethics requiring full financial disclosure and limits on outside income.

In 1984, recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay (cq), Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before his 45th birthday. (The elder Gay pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received probation.)