On this date

A.D. 41 — Roman Emperor Caligula, 28, was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard after a reign of nearly four years; he was succeeded by his uncle Claudius. 1742 — Charles VII was elected Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the Austrian Succession. 1908 — The Boy Scouts movement began in England under the aegis of Robert Baden-Powell. 1939 — At least 28,000 people were killed by an earthquake that devastated the city of Chillan in Chile. 1942 — The Roberts Commission placed much of the blame for America’s lack of preparedness for Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on Rear Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, the Navy and Army commanders. 1943 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco. 1975 — The extremist group FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in New York City, killing four people. 1978 — A nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Cosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada. 1989 — Confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair. 2003 — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.

Thought for today ‘God gives us relatives; thank God, we can choose our friends.’