TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, March 27, the 86th day of 2018. There are 279 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On March 27, 1968, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, died when his MiG-15 jet crashed during a routine training flight near Moscow; he was 34.
On this date
1513 — Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted present-day Florida. 1625 — Charles I acceded to the English throne upon the death of James I. 1794 — Congress approved “An Act to provide a Naval Armament” of six armed ships. 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. 1958 — Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party. 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. 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. 1980 — 123 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. 1998 — The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, saying it had helped about two-thirds of impotent men improve their sexual function.
Ten years ago
The Pentagon said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had ordered a full inventory of all nuclear weapons and related materials after the mistaken delivery of ballistic missile fuses to Taiwan.
One year ago
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned socalled “sanctuary cities” they could lose federal money for refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities; city leaders vowed to intensify their fight against the promised crackdown despite the financial risks.
Today’s Birthdays
Dance company director Arthur Mitchell is 84. Actor Julian Glover is 83. Actor Jerry Lacy is 82. Hall of Fame racer Cale Yarborough is 79. Actor-director Austin Pendleton is 78. Movie director Quentin Tarantino is 55. Rock musician Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai) is 54. Rock musician Johnny April (Staind) is 53. Actress Talisa Soto is 51. Actress Emily Ann Lloyd is 34. Actress Brenda Song is 30. Pop singer-songwriter Kimbra is 28. First Presbyterian Church Student Ministries Assistant Director Jordan Avery Shaw of Rome is 24. Actress Taylor Atelian is 23.