Thursday, March 28

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

1979

America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partialmeltdown inside the Unit 2reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

1797

Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire received a patent for a washing machine. In 1854, during the Crimean War, Britain and France declaredwar on Russia.

1898

The U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled 6-2thatwong, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen.

1935

The notorious Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of thewill), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.

1939

The Spanish Civil War neared its end as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco. In 1941, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

1942

Duringworldwar II, British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship Tirpitz.

1969

The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died inwashington, D.C., at age 78.

1977

“Rocky” won best picture at the 49th Academy Awards; Peter Finch was honored posthumously as best actor for “Network” while his co-star, Faye Dunaway, was recognized as best actress.

1987

Maria von Trapp, whose life story inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” died in Morrisville, Vermont, at age 82.