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 Today's
highlight in history:
On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
On this date:
In 1664, England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York.
In 1857, the opera "Simon Boccanegra," by Giuseppe Verdi, premiered in Venice, Italy.
In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War.
In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.
In 1930, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.
In 1938, German troops entered Austria in what came to be known as the Anschluss.
In 1947, President Truman established what became known as the Truman Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, but a strong second-place showing by anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota played a role in Johnson's decision not to seek re-election.
In 1968, the British-ruled African island of Mauritius became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)
Ten years ago: The government reported the rate of new cancer cases among Americans had inched down for the first time, meaning about 70,000 fewer people than expected were diagnosed between 1992 and 1995.
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Five years ago: Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who'd vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated. Author Howard Fast died in Greenwich, Conn., at age 88. Actress Lynne Thigpen died in Los Angeles at age 54.
One year ago: President Bush promoted free trade as a salve to Latin America's woes as he spoke out against poverty during a visit to Guatemala; the president then traveled to Mexico. Masked Palestinians kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston at gunpoint in Gaza City. (He was released several months later.) R.E.M. and Van Halen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Today's birthdays: Playwright Edward Albee is 80. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young is 76. Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 72. Singer Al Jarreau is 68. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 62. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is 61. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 60. Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 59. Actor Jon Provost ("Lassie") is 58. Author Carl Hiaasen is 55. Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 52. Actor Jerry Levine is 51. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 51. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 48. Actor Titus Welliver is 47. Former baseball player Darryl Strawberry is 46. Actress Julia Campbell is 45. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 40. Rock musician Graham Coxon is 39. Country musician Tommy Bales (Flynnville Train) is 35. Actor Samm Levine is 26. Actor Tyler Patrick Jones is 14.
Thought for today: "Ill luck, you know, seldom comes alone."
-- Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, dramatist and poet (1547-1616)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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