TODAY IN HISTORY

On March 1, 1790, President George Washington signed a measure authorizing the first United States Census. (Census Day was Aug. 2, 1790.)

On this date:

In 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was founded by Portuguese knight Estacio de Sa.

In 1781, the Continental Congress declared the Articles of Confederation to be in force, following ratification by Maryland.

In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state as President Andrew Johnson signed a proclamation.

In 1893, inventor Nikola Tesla first publicly demonstrated radio during a meeting of the National Electric Light Association in St. Louis by transmitting electromagnetic energy without wires.

In 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)

In 1940, "Native Son" by Richard Wright was first published by Harper & Brothers.

In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the spectators' gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress. The United States detonated a dryfuel hydrogen bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps.

In 1968, Johnny Cash married June Carter at the First Methodist Church in Franklin, Kentucky.

In 1971, a bomb went off inside a men's room at the U.S. Capitol; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn blast.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.

In 1990, the controversial Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant won federal permission to go on line after two decades of protests and legal struggles.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, speaking at his Texas ranch, declined to promise more U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq before leaving, underscoring the need for a strong military presence during Iraqi provincial elections. The USS New York, an amphibious assault ship built with scrap steel from the ruins of the World Trade Center, was christened at Avondale, Louisiana. New York's famed Plaza Hotel reopened after a three-year, $400 million renovation.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama, still deadlocked with Republican congressional leaders, formally enacted $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts a few hours before the midnight deadline required by law. Actress Bonnie Franklin, who played divorced mom Ann Romano on the long-running sitcom "One Day at a Time," died in Los Angeles at age 69.