Today in history

In 1792,

Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot during a masquerade party.

In 1912,

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, his doomed expedition stranded in an Antarctic blizzard after failing to be the first to reach the South Pole, wrote the last words of his journal: “For Gods sake look after our people.”

In 1936,

German Chancellor Adolf Hitler claimed overwhelming victory in a plebiscite on his policies.

In 1951,

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.) The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The King and I” opened on Broadway.

In 1962,

Jack Paar hosted NBC’s “Tonight” show for the last time. (Johnny Carson debuted as host the next October.)

In 1971,

Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the 1968 My Lai (mee ly) massacre. (Calley ended up serving three years under house arrest.) A Los Angeles jury recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders. (The sentences were later commuted.)

In 1973,

the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.