TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, the 87th day of 2024. There are 279 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On March 27, 1973, “The Godfather” won the Academy Award for best picture of 1972, but its star, Marlon Brando, refused to accept his Oscar for best actor, and in what would become one of the Oscars’ most famous moments sent in his place actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather, who spoke out about the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood. (In 2022, months before her death, the Academy would apologize for the “abuse” Littlefeather received at the time.)

ON THIS DATE:

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted present-day Florida. In 1625, Charles I acceded to the English throne upon the death of James I. In 1794, Congress approved “An Act to provide a Naval Armament” of six armed ships. In 1945, during World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken. In 1964, Alaska was hit by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake (the strongest on record in North America) and tsunamis that together claimed about 130 lives. In 1977, in aviation’s worst disaster, 583 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off in heavy fog, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on an airport runway on the Canary Island of Tenerife (ten-uh-REEF’). In 2019, Facebook said it was extending its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. In 2022, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage at the Oscar and won best actor just minutes later. (Smith was later expelled from the movie academy and received a 10-year ban from the Oscars.) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Michael York is 82. Movie director Quentin Tarantino is 61. Singer Mariah Carey is 54. Hip-hop singer Fergie is 49. MLB catcher Buster Posey is 37. Actor Brenda Song is 36. Actor/R&B singer Halle Bailey is 24.