On this day, March 7
1876 Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for his telephone.
1911 President William Howard Taft ordered 20,000 troops to patrol the U.S.Mexico border in response to the Mexican Revolution.
1926 The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place between New York and London.
1936 Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.
1945 During World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but still usable Ludendorff Bridge.
1994 The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a parody that pokes fun at an original work can be considered “fair use.” (The ruling concerned a parody of the Roy Orbison song “Oh, Pretty Woman” by the rap group 2 Live Crew.)
2005 President George W. Bush nominated John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, an appointment that ran into Democratic opposition, prompting Bush to make a recess appointment.
2016 Peyton Manning announced his retirement after 18 NFL seasons.
2020 Health officials in Florida said two people who had tested positive for the new coronavirus had died; the deaths were the first on the East Coast attributed to the outbreak.
Today’s birthdays: International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie, 85. Actor Daniel J. Travanti, 83. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner, 81. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies), 80. Rock singer Peter Wolf, 77. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum), 77. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer
Lynn Swann, 71. R&B singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers), 71. Rock musician Kenny Aronoff (BoDeans, John Mellencamp), 70. Actor Bryan Cranston, 67. Actor Donna Murphy, 64. Actor Nick Searcy, 64. Golfer Tom Lehman, 64. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl, 63. Actor Mary Beth Evans, 62. Singer-actor Taylor Dayne, 61. Actor Bill Brochtrup, 60. Author E.L. James, 60. Author Bret Easton Ellis, 59. Opera singer Denyce Graves, 59. Comedian Wanda Sykes, 59. Actor Jonathan Del Arco, 57. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket), 56. Actor Rachel Weisz, 53. Actor Peter Sarsgaard, 52. Actor Jay Duplass, 50. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo), 50. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric), 49. Actor Jenna Fischer, 49. Actor Tobias Menzies, 49. Actor Sarayu Blue, 48. Actor Audrey Marie Anderson, 48. Actor TJ Thyne, 48.