Today in history

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 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 49years old at the time of his death.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 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.

1924

Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich.

1933

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

1945

American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II.

1947

Greece’s King George II died.

1954

The United States Air Force Academy was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1962

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

1972

The first Major League Baseball players’ strike began; it lasted 12 days.

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.

1984

Recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay, Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before his 45th birthday.

1987

In his first speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Ronald Reagan told the Philadelphia College of Physicians, “We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy no. 1.”