|
 Today's highlight in history:
On April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "mountaintop" speech to a rally of striking sanitation workers.
On this date:
In 1783, author Washington Irving was born in New York.
In 1860, the legendary Pony Express began service between St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif.
In 1865, Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.
In 1882, outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of James' gang.
In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh child.
In 1946, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed by firing squad outside Manila.
In 1948, President Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist Communism.
In 1968, North Vietnam agreed to meet with U.S. representatives to set up preliminary peace talks.
In 1974, deadly tornadoes struck wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping across the border into Canada; more than 300 fatalities resulted.
In 1996, an Air Force jetliner carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and American business executives crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 people aboard.
Ten years ago: The Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 9,000 for the first time, but finished with a 3.23-point drop at 8,983.41. Douglas Fred Groat, a disgruntled spy fired by the CIA, was charged with espionage and extortion. (Groat later pleaded guilty to trying to extort $1 million from the agency, and was sentenced to five years in prison.)
[to top of second column]
 |
 Five years ago: Moving with a sense of wartime urgency, the House and Senate separately agreed to give President Bush nearly $80 billion to carry out the battle against Iraq and meet the threat of terrorism. Atlantic magazine editor Michael Kelly, 46, became the first American journalist to be killed while covering the Iraq war when his Army Humvee came under fire and rolled into a canal. Cuban security forces arrested the hijackers of a passenger ferry, rescuing nearly 50 hostages.
One year ago: President Bush denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria. An ex-con shot and killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta before being wounded by a security guard. (Arthur Mann was later convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without parole.) A high-speed French train broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, surpassing 357.2 mph. After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols captured a seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
Today's birthdays: Actress-singer Doris Day is 84. Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is 78. Jazz musician Jimmy McGriff is 72. Actor William Gaunt is 71. Actor Eric Braeden is 67. Actress Marsha Mason is 66. Singer Wayne Newton is 66. Singer Billy Joe Royal is 66. Singer Tony Orlando is 64. Comedy writer Pat Proft is 61. Singer Richard Thompson is 59. Country musician Curtis Stone (Highway 101) is 58. Blues singer-guitarist John Mooney is 53. Rock musician Mick Mars (Motley Crue) is 52. Actor Alec Baldwin is 50. Actor David Hyde Pierce is 49. Rock singer John Thomas Griffith (Cowboy Mouth) is 48. Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 47. Rock singer-musician Mike Ness (Social Distortion) is 46. Rock singer Sebastian Bach is 40. Rock musician James MacDonough is 38. Actress Jennie Garth is 36. Comedian Aries Spears is 33. Actress Cobie Smulders is 26. Rock-pop singer Leona Lewis is 23. Actress Amanda Bynes is 22.
Thought for today: "I didn't invent the world I write about
-- it's all true." -- Graham Greene, British author (1904-1991)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
