TODAY IN HISTORY

On March 27, 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.

In 1794 President George Washington and Congress authorized creation of the Navy.

In 1836 the first Mormon temple, in Kirtland, Ohio, was dedicated.

In 1884 the first long-distance telephone call was made, between Boston and New York City.

In 1902 the Chicago Daily News becomes the firstknown entity to refer to the city’s National League team using the “Cubs” nickname.

In 1912 first lady Helen Taft plants the first Japanese cherry trees in Washington.

In 1917 the Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. (They defeated the Montreal Canadiens.)

In 1945, during World War II, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower declared that German military forces on the Western front had been defeated.

In 1964 Alaska was rocked by an earthquake that killed 114 people.

In 1968 Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who flew the world’s first manned space mission, was killed when his training plane crashed; he was 34.

In 1973 “The Godfather” won the Academy Award for best movie of 1972, but its star, Marlon Brando, refused to accept his Oscar for best actor. (The best-actress award went to Liza Minnelli for her role in “Cabaret.”)

In 1977 582 people were killed when two jumbo jets collided on a runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

In 1979 the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to raise crude oil prices by 9 percent.