|
 Today's
highlight in history:
On March 4, 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York. (The lawmakers then adjourned for lack of a quorum.)
On this date:
In 1681, England's King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn for an area of land that later became Pennsylvania.
In 1791, Vermont became the 14th state.
In 1858, Sen. James Henry Hammond, D-S.C., declared, "Cotton is king" in a speech to the U.S. Senate.
In 1858, Matthew Calbraith Perry, the American naval officer who'd opened trade relations between the U.S. and Japan, died in New York at age 63.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president.
In 1908, a fire at Lake View School in Collinwood, Ohio, claimed the lives of 172 children and three adults.
In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge's inauguration was broadcast live on 21 radio stations coast to coast.
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated president, pledging to lead the country out of the Great Depression.
In 1952, actors Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis were married in San Fernando Valley, Calif.
In 1977, some 1,500 people were killed in an earthquake that shook southern and eastern Europe.
Ten years ago: The Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment at work can be illegal even when the offender and victim are of the same gender.
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Five years ago: The Army's oldest armored division, "Old Ironsides," got orders to head for the Persian Gulf as the total of U.S. land, sea and air forces arrayed against Iraq or preparing to go neared 300,000. A bomb in a backpack killed more than 20 people at an airport terminal in the southern Philippines.
One year ago: NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon announced he was quitting the civil rights organization after just 19 months at the helm, citing growing strain with board members over the group's management style and future operations. Former Sen. Thomas Eagleton, who resigned as George McGovern's running mate in 1972 after it was revealed he'd been hospitalized for depression, died in St. Louis, Mo., at age 77.
Today's birthdays: Folk singer Miriam Makeba is 76. Movie director Adrian Lyne is 67. Singer Bobby Womack is 64. Rock musician Chris Squire (Yes) is 60. Singer Shakin' Stevens is 60. Singer Chris Rea is 57. Actor Ronn Moss is 56. Actress Kay Lenz is 55. Musician Emilio Estefan is 55. Movie director Scott Hicks is 55. Actress Catherine O'Hara is 54. Actress Patricia Heaton is 50. Actor Mykelti Williamson is 48. Actor Steven Weber is 47. Rock musician Jason Newsted is 45. Actress Stacy Edwards is 43. Rapper Grand Puba is 42. Rock musician Patrick Hannan (The Sundays) is 42. Rock singer Evan Dando (Lemonheads) is 41. Actress Patsy Kensit is 40. Chastity Bono is 39. Actor Nick Stabile is 38. Rock musician Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries) is 37. Country singer Jason Sellers is 37. Jazz musician Jason Marsalis is 31. Actress Andrea Bowen ("Desperate Housewives") is 18. Actress Jenna Boyd is 15.
Thought for today: "The world fears a new experience more than it fears anything. Because a new experience displaces so many old experiences."
-- D.H. Lawrence, English author (1885-1930)
[Associated Press]
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