GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, April 1, the 91st day of 2015 with 274 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 6:28 and sunset is @ 7:08. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Mercury, Neptune & Saturn. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1621 – Leaders of the Plymouth colonists, acting on behalf of King James I, made a defensive alliance with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags.
1778 – Oliver Pollock created the dollar sign.
1789 – The U.S. House of Representatives held its first meeting, in New York City; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first Speaker of the House.
1826 – Samuel Morey of New Hampshire patented the internal-combustion engine.
1863 – The first U.S. wartime conscription law was enacted.
1864 – The first travel accident policy was issued, by The Travelers Insurance Company to James Batterson, who also received the first general insurance policy issued by the firm.
1865 – At the Battle of Five Forks, General Robert E. Lee began his final offensive of the Civil War.
1918 – The Royal Air Force was established in Britain with the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS).
1920 – Germany’s Workers Party changed its name to the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazis).
1924 – Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for leading the Nazis’ unsuccessful “Beer Hall Putsch” in the German State of Bavaria.
1929 – The yo-yo was introduced by Louie Marx.
1939 – The Spanish Civil War ended with the official recognition of Francisco Franco’s government.
1956 – Chet Huntley began his successful news career with NBC.
1960 – The first weather satellite in the world, TIROS-I, was launched from Cape Canaveral.
1963 – The soap opera “General Hospital” began its run on TV. “The Doctors” soap opera also premiered that day.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television.
2001 – Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on corruption charges after a standoff with the police in Belgrade.
2003 – U.S. troops rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq; she had been held prisoner since March 23.