Today in History

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Today is Thursday, March 9, the 68th day of 2023. There are 297 days left in the year. Today’s highlight in history:

On March 9, 1933, Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, began its “hundred days” of enacting New Deal legislation.

On this date:

In 1796, the future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais (boh-ahr-nay’). (The couple later divorced.)

In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. The Amistad, ruled 7-1in 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.

In 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.

In 1916, more than 400 Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa (VEE’UH) attacked Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans. During the First World War, Germany declared war on Portugal.

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29bombers began launching incendiary bomb attacks against Tokyo, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.

In 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.

In 1976, a cable car in the Italian ski resort of Cavalese fell some 700feet to the ground when a supporting line snapped, killing 43 people.

In 1987, Chrysler Corp. announced it had agreed to buy the financially ailing American Motors Corp. In 1989, the Senate rejected President George H.W. Bush’s nomination of John Tower to be defense secretary by a vote of 5347. (The next day, Bush tapped Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney, who went on to win unanimous Senate approval.)

In 1997, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; he was 24.

In 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.

In 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 8percent lower.

Ten years ago: During U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s first trip to Afghanistan as defense chief, two suicide bombings, one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, killed at least 19people. Five years ago: A combat veteran who’d been expelled from a treatment program at a California veterans home fatally shot three mental health workers there before taking his own life. Weeks after the shooting that left 17people dead at a Florida high school, Gov. Rick Scott signed a school-safety bill that included new restrictions on guns, prompting a lawsuit from the National Rifle Association; the bill raised to 21the minimum age to buy rifles and created a program enabling some teachers and other school employees to carry guns. Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical CEO who’d been vilified for jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug, was sentenced in New York to seven years in prison for securities fraud.

One year ago: A Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol and wounded at least 17 people. Police and soldiers rushed to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher. A Maryland hospital said the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig died, two months after the groundbreaking experiment. Scientists said they had found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice. Today’s birthdays: Former Sen. James L. Buckley is 100. Actor Joyce Van Patten is 89. Actor Trish Van Devere is 82. Singermusician John Cale (The Velvet Underground) is 81. Singer Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders) is 81. Former ABC anchorman Charles Gibson is 80. Rock musician Robin Trower is

78. Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 75. Country musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is

75. Actor Jaime Lyn Bauer is 74. Magazine editor Michael Kinsley is

72. TV newscaster Faith Daniels is 66. Actor Linda Fiorentino is

65. Actor Tom Amandes is 64. Actor-director Lonny Price is 64. Country musician Rusty Hendrix (Confederate Railroad) is 63. Actor Juliette Binoche is 59. Rock musician Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) is 55. Rock musician Shannon Leto (30Seconds to Mars) is 53. Rapper C-murder (AKA C-miller) is 52. Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 52. Actor Jean Louisa Kelly is 51. Actor Kerr Smith is 51. Actor Oscar Isaac is 44. Comedian Jordan Klepper (TV: “The Daily Show”) is 44. Rapper Chingy is

43. Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is 43. Rock musician Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory) is 42. NHL defenseman Brent Burns is 38. Actor Brittany Snow is 37. Rapper Bow Wow is 36. Rapper YG is 33. Actor Cierra Ramirez is 28. U.S. Olympic gold-medal-winning gymnast Sunisa Lee is 20.

Friday, March 10, 2023

Today is Friday, March 10, the 69th day of 2023. There are 296 days left in the year. Today’s highlight in history:

On March 10, 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)

On this date:

In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America’s minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln assigned Ulysses S. Grant, who had just received his commission as lieutenant-general, to the command of the Armies of the United States.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant, Thomas Watson, heard Bell say over his experimental telephone: “Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you” from the next room of Bell’s Boston laboratory. In 1906, about 1,100 miners in northern France were killed by a coal-dust explosion.

In 1913, former slave, abolitionist and Underground Railroad “conductor” Harriet Tubman died in Auburn, New York; she was in her 90s.

In 1965, Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple,” starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney, opened on Broadway.

In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union’s leader for 13 months, died at age 73; he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1988, pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30of heart inflammation.

In 2015, breaking her silence in the face of a growing controversy over her use of a private email address and server, Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded that she should have used government email as secretary of state but insisted she had not violated any federal laws or Obama administration rules. In 2019, a Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from the capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board; the crash was similar to one in October 2018in which a 737Max 8flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air plunged into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff, killing all 189people on the plane. (The aircraft would be grounded worldwide after the two disasters, bringing fierce criticism to Boeing over the design and rollout of the jetliner.)

Ten years ago: The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai (Hah’mihd Kahr’-zeye), accused the Taliban and the U.S. of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence would worsen if most foreign troops left — an allegation the top American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford, rejected as “categorically false.” Five years ago: Syrian government forces made their deepest push yet into the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus in a major blow to opposition fighters. Campaigning in western Pennsylvania for a Republican House candidate, President Donald Trump told a rally that his new tariffs were saving the steel industry.

One year ago: Civilians trapped inside Mariupol desperately scrounged for food and fuel as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the Ukrainian port city amid international condemnation over an airstrike a day earlier that killed three people at a maternity hospital. “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler was handcuffed by Atlanta police after he was mistaken for a robber when he passed a teller a note while trying to withdraw a large amount of cash from his account.

Today’s birthdays: Bluegrass/ country singer-musician Norman Blake is 85. Actor Chuck Norris is 83. Playwright David Rabe is

83. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 83. Actor Katharine Houghton (Film: “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”) is 81. Actor Richard Gant is 79. Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 76. Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 76. TV personality/businesswoman Barbara Corcoran (TV: “Shark Tank”) is

74. Actor Aloma Wright is 73. Blues musician Ronnie Earl (Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters) is 70. Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 70. Alt-country/ rock musician Gary Louris is 68. Actor Shannon Tweed is 66. Pop/ jazz singer Jeanie Bryson is 65. Actor Sharon Stone is 65. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 63. Magician Lance Burton is 63. Actor Jasmine Guy is 61. Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 60. Music producer Rick Rubin is 60. Britain’s Prince Edward is

59. Rock singer Edie Brickell is 57. Actor Stephen Mailer is 57. Actor Philip Anthony-rodriguez is 55. Actor Paget Brewster is 54. Actor Jon Hamm is 52. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 51. Actor Cristián (kris-tee-ahn’) de la Fuente is 49. Rock musician Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) is 48. Actor Jeff Branson is

46. Singer Robin Thicke is 46. Actor Bree Turner is 46. Olympic gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller is

46. Contemporary Christian singer Michael Barnes (Red) is 44. Actor Edi Gathegi is 44. Actor Thomas Middleditch is 41. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 40. Actor Olivia Wilde is 39. R&B singer Emeli Sandé (Eh’-mihl-ee San’-day) is

36. Country singer Rachel Reinert is 34. Country musician Jared Hampton (LANCO) is 32. Actor Emily Osment is 31.

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Today is Saturday, March 11, the 70th day of 2023. There are 295 days left in the year. Today’s highlight in history: On March 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

On this date:

In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln removed Gen. George B. Mcclellan as general-in-chief of the Union armies, leaving him in command of the Army of the Potomac, a post Mcclellan also ended up losing. In 1918, what were believed to be the first confirmed U.S. cases of a deadly global flu pandemic were reported among U.S. Army soldiers stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas; 46 soldiers would die. (The worldwide outbreak of influenza claimed an estimated 20to 40million lives.) In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas Macarthur left the Philippines for Australia, where he vowed on March 20, “I shall return” — a promise he kept more than 2 1/2 years later.

In 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. Mccarthy, R-wis., and his subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-mccarthy hearings.)

In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Konstantin U. Chernenko as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

In 1997, rock star Paul Mccartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2002, two columns of light soared skyward from Ground Zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks six months earlier.

In 2004, ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191people in an attack linked to al-qaida-inspired militants.

In 2006, former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic (sloh-boh’-dahn mee-loh’-shuh-vich) was found dead of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Netherlands, abruptly ending his four-year U.N. war crimes trial; he was 64.

In 2010, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency.

In 2011, a magnitude-9.0earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. In 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced in New York to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual abuse.

Ten years ago: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) was convicted of a raft of crimes, including racketeering conspiracy (he was later sentenced to 28 years in prison). North Korea said it was no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War, following days of increased tensions over its latest nuclear test. (A U.N. spokesman said that North Korea could not unilaterally dissolve the armistice.) Five years ago: The White House pledged to help states pay for firearms training for teachers, and renewed its call for an improved background check system, as part of a new plan to prevent school shootings like the one that left 17 people dead at a Florida high school four weeks earlier; the plan did not include a push to boost the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons to 21. Lawmakers in China abolished presidential term limits that had been in place for more than 35 years, opening up the possibility of Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) holding power for life. One year ago: Russia widened its offensive in Ukraine, striking airfields in the west and a major industrial city in the east, while the huge armored column that had been stalled for over a week outside Kyiv went on the move again. A grand jury declined to indict Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson following a police investigation sparked by lawsuits filed by 22 women who accused him of harassment and sexual assault. Officials said actor and singer Jussie Smollett began a 150-day jail sentence for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he staged himself.

Today’s birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 92. Former ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 89. Musician Flaco Jimenez (FLAH’-KOH hee-meh’nez) is 84. Actor Tricia O’neil is 78. Actor Mark Metcalf is 77. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 76. Singer Bobby Mcferrin is 73. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 73. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 72. Actor Susan Richardson is 71. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine (EYE-VEEN’) is 70. Singer Nina Hagen is 68. Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 68. Actor Elias Koteas (ee-ly’-uhs koh-tay’-uhs) is 62. Actor-director Peter Berg is 61. Singer Mary Gauthier (Goh’-shay) is 61. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 61. Actor Alex Kingston is 60. Actor Wallace Langham is 58. Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-ill., is 58. Actor John Barrowman is 56. Singer Lisa Loeb is 55. Neosoul musician Al Gamble (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 54. Singer Pete Droge is 54. Actor Terrence Howard is 54. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 54. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 52. Rock singer-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte; The Madden Brothers) are 44. Actor David Anders is 42. Singer Letoya Luckett is 42. Actor Thora Birch is 41.