Today in history

In 1735 the first opera presented in the United States, “Flora, or Hob in the Well,” was performed in Charleston, S.C.

In 1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1885 Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”’ was published in the United States for the first time.

In 1915 former outlaw Frank James, brother of Jesse James, died in Excelsior Springs, Mo., where he had turned to farming.

In 1930 photographic evidence of Pluto, now designated a “dwarf planet,” was discovered. In 1945 during World War II, the Battle of Iwo Jima began.

In 1972 the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty.

In 1974 Arab nations, except Libya and Syria, ended their oil embargo against the United States.