SUNDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, March 12, the 71st day of 2017. There are 294 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman announced what became known as the “Truman Doctrine” to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

On this date:

In 1857, the original version of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Simon Boccanegra” was poorly received at its premiere in Venice, Italy. (Verdi offered a revised version in 1881.)

In 1912, the Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.

In 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.

In1938, theAnschlussmergingAustriawithNaziGermany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.

In 1940, Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during World War II.

In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)

In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S. attorney general.

In 2003, Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who vanished fromher bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, who are serving prison terms for kidnapping her.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush promoted free trade as a salve to Latin America’s woes.

Five years ago: A day after the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a U.S. soldier, President Barack Obama called the episode “absolutely tragic and heartbreaking.”

Oneyear ago: Ted Cruz won most of the delegates at stake in Republican county conventions in Wyoming; Marco Rubio won the GOP presidential caucuses in Washington, D.C.

Today’s Birthdays: Politician, diplomat and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 85. Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 81. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 71. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is 70. Singersongwriter James Taylor is 69. Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 55. CNN reporter Jake Tapper is 48.

Thought for Today: “‘Home’ is any four walls that enclose the right person.” — Helen Rowland, American writer, journalist and humorist (1876-1950).