In 1971, a Texas state representative introduced a bill honoring Albert DeSalvo, widely thought to be the Boston Strangler, for his work in "population control." He wanted to prove that his colleagues passed legislation without due diligence, and they passed the bill unanimously.
Back in 1971, Rep. Tom Moore, Jr. of Waco, Texas - knowing that his fellow legislators in the Texas House of Representatives often passed bills and resolutions without fully reading or understanding them - pulled an April Fool's joke on the House by sponsoring a resolution commending Albert DeSalvo for his unselfish service to "his county, his state, and his community." That resolution reads, in part:
"This compassionate gentleman's dedication and devotion to his work has enabled the weak and the lonely throughout the nation to achieve and maintain a new degree of concern for their future. He has been officially recognized by the state of Massachusetts for his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology."
The joke, of course, was that Albert DeSalvo was more commonly known as the Boston Strangler, assumed to be responsible for the murders of thirteen women in the Boston area between 1962 and 1964. (Technically, DeSalvo was never convicted or put on trial for any of those killings - he was sentenced to life in prison for sexual assaults on several other women and confessed to the thirteen murders as well. He was stabbed to death in prison in 1973, and whether he committed the murders he confessed to has been a subject of controversy ever since.)
As Rep. Moore expected, he saw his resolution passed unanimously; he then withdrew it and explained that he had offered the motion only to demonstrate a point. (A bit of sardonic humor offered at the time claimed that perhaps Moore was wrong: maybe the legislators had been paying attention.
Similarly;
This reminds me of how in 1957 BBC pulled off one of the most famous April Fool's pranks in history when they aired a segment about the annual "spaghetti harvest" in the Swiss region of Ticino. Narrated by the respected broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, the segment showcased a family "harvesting" spaghetti strands from their family-owned spaghetti trees.
Many viewers believed the report, given the credibility of the source and the lack of general knowledge about how pasta was made at the time. It wasn't until the next day that the BBC revealed it was a prank, intended to highlight the importance of critical thinking and media literacy. Like Rep. Tom Moore's legislative prank in Texas, the BBC's spaghetti harvest prank underscored how easily people could be led to believe falsehoods, especially when presented in an official or trustworthy context.
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