TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Monday, March 27, the 86th day of 2017. There are 279 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On March 27, 1977, in aviation’s worst disaster, 583 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off in heavy fog, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on an airport runway on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
On this date
1513 — Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted present-day Florida. 1836 — The first Mormon temple was dedicated in Kirtland, Ohio, by Joseph Smith Jr. 1884 — The first telephone line between Boston and New York was inaugurated. 1912 — First lady Helen Herron Taft and the wife of Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Viscountess Chinda, planted the first two of 3,000 cherry trees given to the U.S. as a gift by the mayor of Tokyo. 1933 — Japan officially withdrew from the League of Nations. 1942 — During World War II, Congress granted American servicemen free first-class mailing privileges. 1952 — The MGM movie musical “Singin’ in the Rain,” starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds, had its world premiere at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. 1957 — “Around the World in 80 Days” won the Academy Award for best picture of 1956; Yul Brynner won best actor for “The King and I,” Ingrid Bergman was awarded best actress for “Anastasia” and George Stevens was recognized as best director for “Giant.” 1964 — Alaska was hit by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake (the strongest on record in North America) and tsunamis that together claimed about 130 lives. 1980 — One hundred twenty-three workers died when a North Sea floating oil field platform, the Alexander Kielland, capsized during a storm. 1990 — The first of three faces was put on the clock tower at the historic Floyd County Courthouse. The courthouse tower, built with the courthouse in 1892-93, was constructed with the cutouts for a clock, but the county ran out of money and originally bricked in the spaces. 1996 — An Israeli court convicted Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s confessed assassin of murder, then sentenced former law student Yigal Amir to life in prison. 2002 — President George W. Bush signed landmark bipartisan legislation designed to limit the role of big money in political campaigns.
Five years ago
A JetBlue Airways captain ran through the cabin of a New York-to-Las Vegas flight yelling about religion and terrorists before he was tackled and restrained by passengers. (Clayton Osbon was charged with interference with a flight crew; he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.)
One year ago
A bombing in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed 65 people in a park crowded with Christians, including many children; a breakaway faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility.
The Syrian government recaptured the historic city of Palmyra from Islamic State fighters who had waged a 10-month reign of terror there.