On this date
In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.
In 1913, New York’s Palace Theatre, the legendary home of vaudeville, opened on Broadway.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.
In 1958, singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn.
In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.
In 1997, at the 69th Annual Academy Awards, “The English Patient” won best picture and director (Anthony Minghella); Frances McDormand won best actress for “Fargo” while Geoffrey Rush won best actor for “Shine.”
In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country.
Ten years ago: The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to impose new sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
Five years ago: Former Vice President Dick Cheney, with a long history of cardiovascular problems, underwent a heart transplant at a Virginia hospital.
One year ago: A U.N. war crimes court convicted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of genocide and nine other charges for orchestrating a campaign of terror that left 100,000 people dead during the 1992-’95 war in Bosnia; Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison.