This Day in History: April 1

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This Day in History: April 1

Take a look at all of the important historical events that took place on April 1.

On this day, April 1 ...

1984: Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before the recording star’s 45th birthday. (The elder Gay would plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and receive probation.)

Also on this day:

• 1789: The U.S. House of Representatives holds its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania is elected the first House speaker.
• 1933: Nazi Germany stages a daylong national boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.
• 1945: American forces launch the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces would succeed in capturing the Japanese island on June 22.)
• 1954: The United States Air Force Academy is established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• 1970: President Richard M. Nixon signs a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television.
• 1972: The first Major League Baseball players’ strike begins; it lasts 12 days.

Steve Jobs, left, chairman of Apple Computers, John Sculley, center, president and CEO, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the new Apple IIc computer in San Francisco, April 24, 1984. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)

• 1976: Apple Computer is founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
• 1987: In his first speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Ronald Reagan tells doctors in Philadelphia, "We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy no. 1."
• 1988: The scientific bestseller "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes" by British physicist Stephen Hawking is first published in the United Kingdom and the United States by Bantam Books.
• 1992: The National Hockey League Players’ Association goes on its first-ever strike, which lasts 10 days.

• 2003: American troops enter a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, and rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who had been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed on March 23.
• 2014: Mocking his critics, President Barack Obama boasts that 7.1 million people signed up for his health care law and says "the debate over repealing this law is over."
• 2014: Congress demands answers from General Motors’ new CEO, Mary Barra, on why the automaker had taken 10 years to recall cars with a faulty ignition switch linked at that time to 13 traffic deaths; Barra acknowledges that the company took too long to act.

• 2018: Writer and producer Steven Bochco, known for creating the groundbreaking TV police drama "Hill Street Blues," dies after a battle with cancer at age 74.