This day in history

[March 10, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, March 10, the 69th day of 2011. There are 296 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 10, 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

On this date:

In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

In 1848, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War.

In 1880, the Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.

In 1906, about 1,100 miners in northern France were killed by a coal-dust explosion.

In 1948, the body of the anti-Communist foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, was found in the garden of Czernin Palace in Prague.

In 1949, Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)

In 1980, "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death at his home in Purchase, N.Y. (Tarnower's former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of his murder; she served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in Jan. 1993.)

In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union's leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush told Americans in his Saturday radio address that he thought support for tax relief was building, while opening the door to considering a different sort of cut than what he had proposed and Democrats deplored.

Five years ago: Officials confirmed that Tom Fox, an American who was among four Christian activists kidnapped in Iraq, had been found slain. A NASA spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, slipped into orbit around the Red Planet. Ohio State, acknowledging eight of nine violations alleged by the NCAA, was placed on three years' probation. Opera singer Anna Moffo died in New York at age 73.

One year ago: President Barack Obama denounced waste, inefficiency and downright fraud in the government's health care system as he sought to rally public support for his revamped overhaul plan during a rally in suburban St. Louis. About 200 women who'd flown airplanes during World War II as Women Airforce Service Pilots were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Actor Corey Haim died in Burbank, Calif., at age 38.

Today's birthdays: Talk show host Ralph Emery is 78. Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 73. Actor Chuck Norris is 71. Playwright David Rabe is 71. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 71. Actress Katharine Houghton is 66. Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 64. Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 64. Actress Aloma Wright is 61. Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 58. Alt-country/rock musician Gary Louris is 56. Actress Shannon Tweed is 54. Pop/jazz singer Jeanie Bryson is 53. Actress Sharon Stone is 53. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 51. Magician Lance Burton is 51. Actress Jasmine Guy is 49. Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 48. Music producer Rick Rubin is 48. Britain's Prince Edward is 47. Actor Stephen Mailer is 45. Actress Paget Brewster is 42. Actor Jon Hamm (TV: "Mad Men") is 40. Country singer Daryle Singletary is 40. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 39. Actor Cristian (kris-tee-AHN') de la Fuente is 37. Rock musician Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) is 36. Actor Jeff Branson is 34. Singer Robin Thicke is 34. Actress Bree Turner is 34. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 34. Contemporary Christian singer Michael Barnes (Red) is 32. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 28. Actress Olivia Wilde is 27. Actress Emily Osment is 19.

Thought for today: "To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth." -- Voltaire, French writer and philosopher (1694-1778)

[Associated Press]

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