April 1 · This Day in America
For nearly a month the new government does not exist, because not enough of it has shown up. The Constitution said Congress would convene March 4, 1789, in New York. But spring roads are mud, the weather is foul, and members straggle in by ones and twos to a half-empty hall. On April 1, the thirtieth representative at last takes his seat. Quorum. The House of Representatives is real. Its first act is humble and human: they elect Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as Speaker and get to work. No fireworks, no oratory for the ages — just enough ordinary men in one room to make a paper republic begin to breathe. Everything since, every law and argument and election, runs back to this quiet morning when the chamber finally filled.
Source: history.house.gov
Also on this day · 1945
On Easter Sunday, the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific war begins. More than 60,000 soldiers and Marines come ashore on Okinawa against eerily little fire — the storm comes later, in eighty-two days of some of the cruelest fighting of World War II. The island would be the last great battle before the war's end, and its toll would shadow every decision that followed.
Source: www.nps.gov