This day in history

[March 11, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Friday, March 11, the 70th day of 2011. There are 295 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 11, 1861, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.

On this date:

In 1810, French Emperor Napoleon I was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.

In 1888, the famous Blizzard of '88 began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

In 1930, former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia. (MacArthur, who subsequently vowed, "I shall return," kept that promise more than 2 1/2 years later.)

In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.

In 1965, the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.

In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.

In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

In 2004, ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

Ten years ago: Masked Zapatista rebels urged passage of an Indian rights bill after riding triumphantly into the heart of Mexico's capital in a march supported by the president and welcomed by 75,000 cheering supporters.

Five years ago: 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 for orchestrating a decade of conflict that had killed a quarter of a million people; he was 64. Michelle Bachelet (bah-cheh-LET') was sworn in as Chile's first female president.

One year ago: 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 an address at Tel Aviv University, Vice President Joe Biden said "good faith negotiations" could recognize Israeli security needs and the Palestinian goal for a viable state. Sebastian Pinera was sworn in as Chile's new president on a day when the country was peppered with a dozen significant aftershocks from a February earthquake. Pro Football Hall of Famer and former television actor Merlin Olsen died in suburban Los Angeles at age 69.

Today's birthdays: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 80. ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 77. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 75. Musician Flaco Jimenez (FLAH'-koh hee-MEH'-nez) is 72. Actress Tricia O'Neil is 66. Actor Mark Metcalf is 65. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 64. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 61. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 61. Actress Susan Richardson is 59. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine is 58. Singer Nina Hagen is 56. Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 56. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 54. Actor-director Peter Berg is 49. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 49. Actress Alex Kingston is 48. Country musician David Talbot is 48. Actor Wallace Langham is 46. Actor John Barrowman is 44. Singer Lisa Loeb is 43. Singer Pete Droge is 42. Actor Terrence Howard is 42. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 42. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 40. Rock singer-musicians Joel and Benji Madden (Good Charlotte) are 32. Actor David Anders is 30. Singer LeToya is 30. Actress Thora Birch is 29. Actor Rob Brown is 27. Actor Anton Yelchin is 22.

Thought for today: "There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water." -- Kate Chopin, American writer (1851-1904)

[Associated Press]

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