TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, March 21, the 81st day of 2024. There are 285 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On March 21, 1965, civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their third, successful march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
1685 — Composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany.
1935 — Persia officially changed its name to Iran.
1990 — Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule.
1997 — President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrapped up their summit in Helsinki, Finland, still deadlocked over NATO expansion, but able to agree on slashing nuclear weapons arsenals.
2006 — The social media website Twitter was established with the sending of the first “tweet” by co-founder Jack Dorsey, who wrote: “just setting up my twttr.”
2013 — In the Middle East, President Barack Obama insisted “peace is possible” as he prodded both Israelis and Palestinians to return to longstalled negotiations with few, if any, pre-conditions.
2016 — Laying bare a half-century of tensions, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro prodded each other over human rights and the longstanding US economic embargo during an unprecedented joint news conference in Havana.
2019 — President Donald Trump abruptly declared that the US would recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, a major shift in American policy.
2020 — During a White House briefing, President Donald Trump doubled down on his support for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a possible treatment for the Coronavirus, while Dr. Anthony Fauci said the evidence was “anecdotal.”
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Kathleen Widdoes is 85. Songwriter Chip Taylor (“Wild Thing”) is 84. Folk-pop singer-musician Keith Potger (The Seekers) is 83. Actor Marie-Christine Barrault is 80. Singer-musician Rose Stone (Sly and the Family Stone) is 79. Actor Timothy Dalton is 78. Singer Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry) is 78. Rock singer-musician Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) is 74. Rock musician Conrad Lozano (Los Lobos) is 73. R&B singer Russell Thompkins Jr. is 73. Comedy writer-performer Brad Hall is 66. Actor Sabrina LeBeauf is 66. Actor Gary Oldman is 66. Actor Kassie Depaiva is 63. Actor Matthew Broderick is 62. Comedian-actor Rosie O’Donnell is 62. Actor Cynthia Geary is 59. Hiphop DJ Premier (Gang Starr) is 58. Pop musician Jonas “Joker” Berggren (Ace of Base) is 57. Rock MC Maxim (Prodigy) is 57. Actor Laura Allen is 50. Rapper-TV personality Kevin Federline is 46. Actor Sonequa Martin-Green (TV: “The Walking Dead”) is 39. Actor Scott Eastwood is 38. Tennis player Karolina Pliskova is 32. Actor Jasmin Savoy Brown is 30. Actor Forrest Wheeler is 20.