• On March 20, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln’s sons, Willie and Tad, are diagnosed with the measles. The boys recovered, but in 1862 Willie contracted typhoid fever and died. Tad died at age 18 in 1871. Of Lincoln’s four boys, only the first child, Robert, lived to an advanced age; he passed away at age 82 in 1926. • On March 18, 1911, Irving Berlin copyrights the biggest pop song of the early 20th century, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band:’ The song was easier to play than Joplin’s “The Entertainer:’ which encouraged sheet music sales. Those topped 1.5 million copies in the first ...