TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, MARCH 9,
the 68th day of 2017. There are 297 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. The Amistad, ruled in favor of a group of Africans captured by U.S. authorities after they had seized control of a Spanish schooner, La Amistad, that was transporting them to a life of slavery in Cuba; the justices ruled, 7-1, that the Africans had been illegally enslaved and should be set free.
In 1796,
the future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (The couple later divorced.)
In 1862,
during the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.
In 1907,
Indiana’s General Assembly passed America’s first involuntary sterilization law, one aimed at “confirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles, and rapists” in state custody. (This law was struck down in 1921 by the Indiana Supreme Court, but a new law was passed in 1927 that was repealed in 1974.)
In 1916,
more than 400 Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, N.M., killing 18 Americans. Also During the First World War, Germany declared war on Portugal.
In 1933,
Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, began its “hundred days” of enacting New Deal legislation.
In 1954,
CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s anti-communism campaign on “See It Now.”
In 1964,
the U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.
In 1977,
about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. (The siege ended two days later.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Former Sen. James L. Buckley, Conservative-N.Y., is 94. Singer-actress Keely Smith is 89. Singer Lloyd Price is 84. Actress Joyce Van Patten is 83. Country singer Mickey Gilley is 81. Actress Trish Van Devere is 76. Singer-musician John Cale (The Velvet Underground) and singer Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders) are 75. Former ABC anchorman Charles Gibson is 74. Rock musician Robin Trower is 72. Singer Jeffrey Osborne and country musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) are 69. Actress Jaime Lyn Bauer is 68.