Today in history

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT 1917

The United States took formal possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.

ALSO ON THIS DATE 1492

King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except those willing to convert to Christianity.

1889

French engineer Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.

1923

The first U.S. dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings, who had danced with six consecutive male partners, setting a world record of 27 hours on her feet.

1933

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps.

1943

“Oklahoma!,” the first musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway.

1957

The original version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s TV musical “Cinderella,” starring Julie Andrews, aired live in color on CBS.

1968

President Lyndon B. Johnson stunned the country by announcing during a televised address that he would not seek re-election.

1976

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan, a young woman in a persistent vegetative state, could be disconnected from her respirator.

1986

167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.

1993

Actor Brandon Lee, 28, was accidentally shot to death during the filming the movie “The Crow” in Wilmington, North Carolina, when he was hit by a bullet fragment that had become lodged inside a prop gun.

1995

Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.