TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT March 2, 1933

The motion picture “King Kong” had its world premiere at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1793

The first president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, was born near Lexington, Virginia.

1836

The Republic of Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico.

1877

Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.

1917

Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act.

1939

Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected pope on his 63rd birthday; he took the name Pius XII. The Massachusetts legislature voted to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147years after the first 10amendments to the U.S. Constitution had gone into effect.

1943

The three-day Battle of the Bismarck Sea began in the southwest Pacific during World War II; U.S. and Australian warplanes were able to inflict heavy damage on an Imperial Japanese convoy.

1962

Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands.

1978

The remains of comedian Charles Chaplin were stolen by extortionists from his grave in Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.

1985

The government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply.