DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Thursday, March 9, the 68th day of 2023. There are 297 days left in the year.
On this date in:
1796: The future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (The couple later divorced.)
1841: The U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. The Amistad, ruled 7-1 in favor of a group of illegally enslaved Africans who were captured off the U.S. coast after seizing control of a Spanish schooner, La Amistad; the justices ruled that the Africans should be set free.
1862: During the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1916: More than 400 Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus,
New Mexico, killing 18 Americans. During the First World War, Germany declared war on Portugal.
1933: Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, began its “hundred days” of enacting New Deal legislation.
1945: During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers began launching incendiary bomb attacks against Tokyo, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.
1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.
1976: A cable car in the Italian ski resort of Cavalese fell some 700 feet to the ground when a supporting line snapped, killing 43 people.
1989: The Senate rejected President George H.W. Bush’s nomination of John
Tower to be defense secretary by a vote of 53-47. (The next day, Bush tapped Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney, who went on to win unanimous Senate approval.)
1997: Rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; he was 24.
2000: John Mccain suspended his presidential campaign, conceding the Republican nomination to George W. Bush. Bill Bradley ended his presidential bid, conceding the Democratic nomination to Vice President Al Gore.
2020: Global stock markets and oil prices plunged, reflecting mounting alarm over the impact of the coronavirus. An alarmingly sharp slide at the opening bell on Wall Street triggered the first automatic halt in trading in more than two decades; the Dow industrials finished nearly 8% lower.
Singer Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders is 81. TV anchor Charles Gibson is 80. Guitarist Robin Trower (Procol Harum) is 78. Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 75. Guitarist Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is 75. Guitarist Rusty Hendrix of Confederate Railroad is 63. Actor Juliette Binoche (“Chocolat,” “The English Patient”) is 59. Bassist Robert Sledge of Ben Folds Five is 55. Drummer Shannon Leto of 30 Seconds To Mars is 53. Actor
Emmanuel Lewis (“Webster”) is 52. Actor Oscar Isaac (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”) is 44. Comedian Jordan Klepper (“The Daily Show”) is 44. Rapper Chingy is 43. Actor Matthew Gray Gubler (“Criminal Minds”) is 43. Actor
Cierra Ramirez (“The Fosters”) is 28