TODAY IN HISTORY

March 12, 1864

Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assumed command as Generalin-Chief of the Union armies in the Civil War. ALSO ON THIS DATE

1912

The Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.

1914

American inventor George Westinghouse died in New York at age 67.

1923

Inventor Lee De Forest publicly demonstrated his soundon-movie-film system, called “Phonofilm,” in New York.

1933

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio addresses that came to be known as “fireside chats,” telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation’s economic crisis.

1938

The Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.

1947

President Harry S. Truman announced what became known as the “Truman Doctrine” to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

1955

Legendary jazz musician Charlie “Bird” Parker died in New York at age 34.

1980

A Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys.

2003

Elizabeth Smart, the 15-yearold girl who vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee.

2009

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history.