Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On March 19, 1966, the Texas Western Miners defeated the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats, 72-65, to win the NCAA Championship played in College Park, Maryland; making the contest especially noteworthy was that Texas Western became the first basketball team to start five black players in a national title game as it faced an allwhite Kentucky squad.
On this date:
1687: French explorer Rene-robert Cavelier, Sieur de
La Salle, the first European to navigate the length of the Mississippi River, was murdered by mutineers in present-day Texas.
1917: A divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Wilson v. New, upheld, 5-4, the eight-hour work day for interstate railroad workers.
1931: Nevada Gov.
Fred B. Balzar signed a measure legalizing casino gambling.
1945: During World
War II, 724 people were killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacked the carrier USS Franklin off Japan. The ship was saved. Adolf
Hitler ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called “Nero Decree,” which was largely disregarded.
1953: The Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time; “The Greatest Show on Earth” was named best picture of 1952.
1977: The series finale of “Mary Tyler Moore” aired on CBSTV, ending the situation comedy’s seven-season run.
1979: The U.S. House of Representatives began televising its floor proceedings; the live feed was carried by C-SPAN, Cable-satellite Public Affairs Network, which was making its debut.
1987: Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.
1993: Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White announced plans to retire. White’s departure paved the way for Ruth
Bader Ginsburg to become the court’s second female
justice.
2003: President George W. Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq.
2014: Toyota agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle an investigation by the U.S. government, admitting that it had hidden information about defects that caused Toyota and Lexus vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly, resulting in injuries and deaths.
Ten years ago: The White House released an online video of President Barack Obama making a fresh appeal directly to the people of Iran, saying a U.S. offer of diplomatic dialogue still stood, but that the Tehran government had chosen isolation.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, driving his climate change agenda forward despite percolating challenges from Republican-led states.
One year ago: President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on the late Sen. John Mccain, who had died in 2018 of brain cancer; Trump told reporters, “I was never a fan of John Mccain and I never will be.”