This day in history

[March 11, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, March 11, the 70th day of 2010. There are 295 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 11, 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

On this date:

In 1810, French Emperor Napoleon I was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.

In 1861, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted during a convention in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1888, the famous Blizzard of '88 began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

In 1930, former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

In 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.)

In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.

In 1965, the Reverend James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Ala.

In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.

In 2004, 10 bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

Ten years ago: Ricardo Lagos was sworn in as president of Chile, the second socialist to take the post since Salvador Allende was killed in a 1973 coup.

Five years ago: A judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy were shot and killed at an Atlanta courthouse; Brian Nichols, suspected of killing them and a federal agent, surrendered a day later at the apartment of a woman he'd taken hostage, Ashley Smith. (Nichols was later convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.)

One year ago: President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending package to keep the government running through Sept. 2009, even as he called it "imperfect" because of the number of earmarks it contained. A German teenager, Tim Kretschmer, went on a shooting rampage starting at a school in Winnenden, killing 15 people before committing suicide.

Today's birthdays: Actor Terence Alexander is 87. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is 79. ABC News correspondent Sam Donaldson is 76. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is 74. Musician Flaco Jimenez (FLAH'-koh hee-MEH'-nez) is 71. Actress Tricia O'Neil is 65. Actor Mark Metcalf is 64. Rock singer-musician Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge) is 63. Singer Bobby McFerrin is 60. Movie director Jerry Zucker is 60. Actress Susan Richardson is 58. Recording executive Jimmy Iovine is 57. Singer Nina Hagen is 55. Country singer Jimmy Fortune (The Statler Brothers) is 55. Singer Cheryl Lynn is 53. Actor Jeffrey Nordling is 48. Actress Alex Kingston is 47. Country musician David Talbot is 47. Actor Wallace Langham is 45. Actor John Barrowman is 43. Singer Lisa Loeb is 42. Singer Pete Droge is 41. Actor Terrence Howard is 41. Rock musician Rami Jaffee is 41. Actor Johnny Knoxville is 39. Rock singer-musicians Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte) are 31. Actor David Anders is 29. Singer LeToya is 29. Actress Thora Birch is 28. Actor Rob Brown is 26. Actor Anton Yelchin is 21.

Thought for today: "Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love." -- David McCullough, American historian

[Associated Press]

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