|
 Today's highlight in history:
On March 11, 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.)
On this date:
In 1810, Emperor Napoleon I of France was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
In 1861, the Confederate convention in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution.
In 1888, the famous "Blizzard of '88" began its sweep through the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.
In 1957, Charles Van Doren's 14-week run on the rigged NBC game show "Twenty-One" ended as he was defeated by attorney Vivienne Nearing; Van Doren's take was $129,000. He later acknowledged that he had been given answers by the show's producers.
In 1957, American explorer Richard E. Byrd died in Boston at age 68.
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 1978, 37 Israelis were killed as Palestinian guerrillas went on a rampage on the Tel Aviv-Haifa highway.
In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.
In 2004, 10 bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida.
Ten years ago: The International Astronomical Union issued an alert, saying a mile-wide asteroid could zip very close to Earth on October 26, 2028, possibly colliding with it. (The next day, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.) A Florida appeals court restored Joe Carollo as mayor of Miami after charges of voter fraud on absentee ballots.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Five years ago: A U.S. Army helicopter crashed near Fort Drum in upstate New York, killing 11 soldiers. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of Turkey's governing party, was named prime minister. After a four-day walkout that cost New York City $10 million, Broadway musicians settled the first strike on the Great White Way in nearly 30 years.
One year ago: President Bush, continuing his tour of Latin America, met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Newborn Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was found safe in Clovis, N.M., a day after she was abducted from a hospital in Lubbock, Texas. (The abductor, Rayshaun Parson, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.) Actress-singer Betty Hutton died in Palm Springs, Calif., at age 86.
Today's birthdays: Actor Terence Alexander is 85. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 77. ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 74. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 72. Musician Flaco Jimenez is 69. Actress Tricia O'Neil is 63. Actor Mark Metcalf is 62. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 61. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 58. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 58. Actress Susan Richardson is 56. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine is 55. Singer Nina Hagen is 53. Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 53. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 51. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 46. Actress Alex Kingston is 45. Country musician David Talbot is 45. Actor Wallace Langham is 43. Actor John Barrowman is 41. Singer Lisa Loeb is 40. Singer Pete Droge is 39. Actor Terrence Howard is 39. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 39. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 37. Rock singer-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte) are 29. Actor David Anders is 27. Singer LeToya is 27. Actress Thora Birch is 26. Actor Anton Yelchin is 19.
Thought for today: "Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are."
-- Bertholt Brecht, German poet and dramatist (1898-1956)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
 |
