TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, MARCH 11, the 71st day of 2016. There are 295 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1888, the Blizzard of ’ 88, also known as the Great White Hurricane, began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in about 400 deaths.
In 1861, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.
In 1865, during the Civil War, Union forces under General William T. Sherman occupied Fayetteville, N.C.
In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia. (MacArthur, who subsequently vowed, “I shall return,” kept that promise more than 2½ years later.)
In 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and his subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.)
In 1965, the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died two days after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.
In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.
In 1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general.
In 2004, 10 bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.
In 2012, 16 Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — were shot to death as they slept by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. (Bales later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 85. ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 82. Musician Flaco Jimenez is 77. Actress Tricia O’Neil is 71. Actor Mark Metcalf is 70. Singer Bobby McFerrin and movie director Jerry Zucker are 66. Actress Susan Richardson is 64. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine is 63. Singer Nina Hagen and country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) are 61. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 59. Actor Elias Koteas is 55. Actor-director Peter Berg and actor Jeffrey Nordling are 54. Actress Alex Kingston and country musician David Talbot are 53. Actor Wallace Langham and former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., are 51. Actor John Barrowman is 49. Singer Lisa Loeb is 48. Neo-soul musician Al Gamble (St. Paul & the Broken Bones), singer Pete Droge, actor Terrence Howard and rock musician Rami Jaffee are 47. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 45. Actress Thora Birch is 34. TV personality Melissa Rycroft is 33. Actor Rob Brown is 32. Actor Anton Yelchin is 27.