 Today's highlight in history:
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously
injured in an assassination attempt outside a Washington, D.C.,
hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Wounded along with Reagan were his
press secretary, James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy,
and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty.
On this date:
In 1135, the Jewish philosopher Maimonides was born in Cordoba in
present-day Spain.
In 1822, Florida became a United States territory.
In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement
with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million.
In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which
prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the
basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton
Fish. Texas was readmitted to the Union.
In 1909, the Queensboro Bridge, linking the New York City boroughs
of Manhattan and Queens, opened.
In 1923, the Cunard liner RMS Laconia became the first passenger
ship to circle the globe as it arrived in New York.
In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.
In 1959, a narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Bartkus v.
Illinois, ruled that a conviction in state court following an
acquittal in federal court for the same crime did not constitute
double jeopardy.
In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for the U.S. Senate
because of injuries suffered in a fall. The original version of the
TV game show "Jeopardy!," hosted by Art Fleming, premiered on NBC.
In 1972, North Vietnamese forces launched their three-pronged Easter
Offensive against South Vietnam; the fighting lasted until the
following October.
In 1986, actor James Cagney died at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y.,
at age 86.
In 1991, Patricia Bowman of Jupiter, Fla., told authorities she'd
been raped hours earlier by William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of
Sen. Edward Kennedy, at the family's Palm Beach estate. (Smith was
acquitted at trial.)
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Ten years ago: Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth died in her
sleep at Royal Lodge, Windsor, outside London; she was 101 years
old. The United States joined other U.N. Security Council members in
adopting a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw its troops from
Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat's
headquarters was under siege.
Five years ago: President George W. Bush went to Walter Reed
Army Medical Center, where he apologized to troops face to face for
shoddy conditions in outpatient housing. The Food and Drug
Administration said it had found melamine, a chemical used to make
plastics, in samples of Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat
gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products.
One year ago: A top Libyan official, Foreign Minister Moussa
Koussa, defected to Britain, dealing a blow to leader Moammar
Gadhafi. Tilikum, the killer whale that drowned trainer Dawn
Brancheau in 2010 at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., resumed performing
for the first time since the woman's death.
Today's birthdays: Game show host Peter Marshall is 86. Actor
Richard Dysart is 83. Actor John Astin is 82. Entertainer Rolf
Harris (song: "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport") is 82. Actor-director
Warren Beatty is 75. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is
71. Rock musician Eric Clapton is 67. Actor Justin Deas (TV:
"Guiding Light") is 64. Actor Robbie Coltrane is 62. Actor Paul
Reiser is 55. Rap artist MC Hammer is 49. Singer Tracy Chapman is
48. Actor Ian Ziering is 48. Singer Celine Dion is 44. Actor Mark
Consuelos is 41. Actress Bahar Soomekh is 37. Actress Jessica
Cauffiel is 36. Singer Norah Jones is 33. Actress Fiona Gubelmann is
32. Actress Katy Mixon is 31. Country singer Justin Moore is 28.
Thought for today: "It is not enough to have a good mind. The
main thing is to use it well." -- Rene Descartes, French philosopher
(1596-1650)
[Associated Press]
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