TODAY IN HISTORY

On March 16, 1968, the My Lai massacre took place during the Vietnam War as U.S. Army soldiers hunting for Viet Cong fighters and sympathizers killed unarmed villagers in two hamlets of Son My village; estimates of the death toll range from 347 to 504.

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In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany.

In 1945, during World War II, American forces declared they had secured Iwo Jima.

In 1972, in a nationally broadcast address, President Richard Nixon called for a moratorium on courtordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.

In 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine.

In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month. (Republicans who controlled the Senate stuck to their pledge to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election; they confirmed Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch in April 2017.)

In 2020, global stocks plunged again amid coronavirus concerns, with Wall Street seeing a 12% decline, its worst in more than 30 years; the S&P 500 was down 30% from its record set less than a month earlier.

Ten years ago: Thousands of activists gathered for the Conservative Political Action Conference gave Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul a narrow victory over Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in their unscientific presidential preference poll.

Five years ago: Airstrikes in Syria killed more than 100 people as civilians fled besieged areas for a second straight day.

One year ago: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summoned the memory of Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 attacks in a video plea to Congress to send more help for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. President Joe Biden announced the U.S. was sending more anti-aircraft, anti-armor weapons and drones, and declared Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.

AP Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland, right, stands with President Barack Obama as he is introduced as Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court at the White House on March 16, 2016.