TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Thursday, March 2, the 61st day of 2023.
Today’s highlight in history
On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands. Philadelphia won the game, 169-147.
On this date
In 1861, the state of Texas, having seceded from the Union, was admitted to the Confederacy.
In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote.
In 1932, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which moved the date of the presidential inauguration from March 4 to Jan. 20, was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification.
In 1939, John Ford’s classic
Western “Stagecoach,” starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne, opened in New York.
In 1943, the three-day Battle of the Bismarck Sea began in the southwest Pacific; U.S. and Australian warplanes were able to inflict heavy damage on an Imperial Japanese convoy.
In 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Ala., was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a White passenger.
In 1985, the government approved a screening test for AIDS that detected antibodies to the virus, allowing possibly contaminated blood to be excluded from the blood supply.
In 1989, representatives from the 12 European Community nations agreed to ban all production of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), the synthetic compounds blamed for destroying the Earth’s ozone layer, by the end of the 20th century.
In 1995, the Internet search engine website Yahoo! was incorporated by founders
Jerry Yang and David Filo.
In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 8-1, that a grieving father’s pain over mocking protests at his Marine son’s funeral had to yield to First Amendment protections for free speech in a decision favoring the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.
In 2012, some 40 people were killed by tornadoes that struck Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
Today’s birthdays
Actor John Cullum is 93. Actor Barbara Luna is 84. Author John Irving is 81. Actor Cassie Yates is 72. Actor Laraine Newman is 71. Politiciandiplomat Ken Salazar is 68. Singer Jay Osmond is 68. Musician John Cowsill is 67. Singer Larry Stewart (Restless Heart) is 64. Singer Jon Bon Jovi is 61. Actor Daniel Craig is 55. Singer Chris Martin (Coldplay) is 46. Actor Rebel Wilson is 43. Actor Bryce Dallas Howard is 42. Former NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 41. Actor Robert Iler is 38. Actor Nathalie Emmanuel is 34. Singer Luke Combs is 33. Singer Becky G is 26.