Today In History
Today is Wednesday, March 20, the 80th day of 2024. There are 286 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On March 20, 1996, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of their wealthy parents.
ON THIS DATE
› 1413: England’s King Henry IV died; he was succeeded by Henry V.
› 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
› 1922: The decommissioned USS Jupiter, converted into the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, was recommissioned as the USS Langley.
› 1969: John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
› 1976: Kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
› 1995: In Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.
› 2014: President Barack Obama ordered economic sanctions against nearly two dozen members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and a major bank that provided them support, raising the stakes in an East-West showdown over Ukraine.
› 2018: In a phone call to Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump offered congratulations on Putin’s reelection victory; a senior official said Trump had been warned in briefing materials that he should not congratulate Putin.
› 2023: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Kremlin, sending a powerful message to Western leaders that their efforts to isolate Moscow over the fighting in Ukraine have fallen short.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Hal Linden is 93. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley is 79. Country singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 78. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr is 76. Blues singer-musician Marcia Ball is 75. Actor Amy Aquino is 67. Movie director Spike Lee is 67. Actor Theresa Russell is 67. Actor Vanessa Bell Calloway is 67. Actor Holly Hunter is 66. Actor-model-designer Kathy Ireland is 61. Actor David Thewlis is 61. Rock musician Adrian Oxaal (James) is 59. Actor Jessica Lundy is 58. Actor Liza Snyder is 56. Actor Michael Rapaport is 54. Actor Alexander Chaplin is 53. Actor Cedric Yarbrough is 51. Actor Paula Garcés is 50. Actor Bianca Lawson is 45. Comedian-actor Mikey Day is
44. Rock musician Nick Wheeler (The All-American Rejects) is 42. Actor Michael Cassidy is 41. Actor-singer Christy Carlson Romano is 40. Actor Ruby Rose is 38.