TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, MARCH 20, the 79th day of 2018. There are 286 days left in the year. Spring arrives at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1854, the Republican Party of the United States was founded by slavery opponents at a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wis.
In 1413, England’s King Henry IV died; he was succeeded by Henry V.
In 1760, a 10-hour fire erupted in Boston, destroying 349 buildings and burning 10 ships, but claiming no lives.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping exile on Elba, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential novel about slavery, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” was first published in book form after being serialized.
In 1922, the decommissioned USS Jupiter, converted into the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, was re-commissioned as the USS Langley.
In 1942, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, having evacuated the Philippines at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, told reporters in Terowie, Australia: “I came out of Bataan, and I shall return.”
In 1952, the U.S. Senate ratified, 66-10, a Security Treaty with Japan.
John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
Libby Riddles of Teller, Alaska, became the first woman to win the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.
in Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages of the deadly chemical sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.
In 1969, In 1985, In 1995,
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Singer Dame Vera Lynn is 101. Producer-director comedian Carl Reiner is 96. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley is 73. Country singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 72. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr is 70. Actor William Hurt and rock musician Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) are 68. Movie director Spike Lee is 61. Actress Holly Hunter is 60. Rock musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) is 57. Actress-modeldesigner Kathy Ireland is 55. Actor Michael Rapaport is 48. Actress Bianca Lawson is 39. Comedian-actor Mikey Day is 38. Actor Nick Blood (TV: “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) is 36. Actor Michael Cassidy is 35. Actresssinger Christy Carlson Romano is 34. Actress Ruby Rose is 32.