On this day, March 28
1797 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire received a patent for a washing machine.
1854 During the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.
1898 The U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled, 6-2, that Wong, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen.
1935 The notorious Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.
1939 The Spanish Civil War neared its end as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.
1941 Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.
1942 During World War II, British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship Tirpitz.
1969 The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in
Washington, D.C., at age 78.
1977 “Rocky” won best picture at the 49th Academy Awards; Peter Finch was honored posthumously as best actor for “Network” while his co-star, Faye Dunaway, was recognized as best actress.
1979 America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.
1987 Maria von Trapp, whose life story inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” died in Morrisville, Vt., at age 82.
1999 NATO broadened its attacks on Yugoslavia to target Serb military forces in Kosovo in the fifth straight night of airstrikes; thousands of refugees flooded into Albania and Macedonia from Kosovo.
2000 In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court, in Florida v. J.L., sharply curtailed police power in relying on anonymous tips to stop and search people.
2012 Bluegrass legend and banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs died in Nashville, Tenn., at 88. 2022 The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences condemned the actions of Will Smith during the previous night’s Oscars and launched an inquiry into his slapping of Chris Rock. (Smith was later expelled from the movie academy and received a 10-year ban from the Oscars.)
Today’s birthdays: Author Mario Vargas Llosa, 88. Country musician Charlie McCoy, 83. Movie director Mike Newell, 82. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, 79. Actor Dianne Wiest, 78. Country singer Reba McEntire, 69. Olympic gold medal gymnast Bart Conner, 66. Actor Alexandra Billings (TV: “Transparent”), 62. Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa), 58. Actor Tracey Needham, 57. Actor Max Perlich, 56. Movie director Brett Ratner, 55. Country singer Rodney Atkins, 55. Actor Vince Vaughn, 54. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz), 53. Singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson, 51. Rock musician Dave Keuning (The Killers), 48. Actor Julia Stiles, 43. Singer Lady Gaga, 38. Electronic musician Clayton Knight (Odesza), 36.