TODAY IN HISTORY TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT

Today is Saturday, March 3.

On March 3, 1931, “The StarSpangled Banner” became the national anthem of the United States as President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional resolution.

ON THIS DATE

In 1791, Congress passed a measure taxing distilled spirits; it was the first internal revenue act in U.S. history. In 1845, Florida became the 27th state.

In 1849, the U.S. Department of the Interior was established.

In 1918, Germany, AustriaHungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the Treaty of BrestLitovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War I. (The treaty was rendered moot by the November 1918 armistice.)

In 1923, Time magazine, founded by Briton Hadden and Henry R. Luce, made its debut.

In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal Green tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.

In 1959, the United States launched the Pioneer 4 spacecraft, which flew by the moon. Comedian Lou Costello died in East Los Angeles three days before his 53rd birthday.

In 1974, a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris, killing all 346 people on board.

In 1985, coal miners in Britain voted to end a year-long strike that proved to be the longest and most violent walkout in British history.

In 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video. Twenty-five people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.

In 2002, voters in Switzerland approved joining the United Nations, abandoning almost 200 years of formal neutrality.

Ten years ago: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said his campaign had never given Canada back-channel assurances that his harsh words about the North American Free Trade Agreement were for political show, despite a Canadian memo indicating otherwise. Four adults and two children were found slain in a Memphis, Tennessee, house; three children survived the rampage. (The brother of one of the victims was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.) Five years ago: Vice President Joe Biden led civil rights leaders and national political figures in a ceremonial crossing of a Selma, Alabama, bridge where voting rights marchers were beaten by law enforcement officers in 1965.

One year ago: President Donald Trump toured St. Andrew Catholic School, a private religious facility in Orlando, Florida, praising it as an ideal institution for “disadvantaged children” while re-emphasizing that his education agenda would focus on school choice. The Nintendo Switch, a hybrid game machine that works as both a console at home and a portable tablet on the go, made its debut.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“Some people stay longer in an hour than others do in a month.” — William Dean Howells, American author and editor (1837-1920). THE ASSOCIATED PRESS