 Today's highlight in history:
On March 13, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure
prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves
to their owners, effectively superseding the Fugitive Slave Act of
1850.
On this date:
In 1639, New College was renamed Harvard College for clergyman John
Harvard.
In 1781, the seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was
discovered by Sir William Herschel.
In 1845, Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, had
its premiere in Leipzig, Germany.
In 1901, the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison,
died in Indianapolis at age 67.
In 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting
the teaching of the theory of evolution. (Gov. Austin Peay signed
the measure on March 21.)
In 1933, banks began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1947, the Lerner and Loewe musical "Brigadoon," about a Scottish
village which magically reappears once every hundred years, opened
on Broadway.
In 1964, bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to
death near her Queens, N.Y. home; the case generated controversy
over the supposed failure of Genovese's neighbors to respond to her
cries for help.
In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission
that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.
In 1980, Ford Motor Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping
down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company not
guilty of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women
in a Ford Pinto.
In 1992, the U.S. House of Representatives, trying to weather a
politically embarrassing firestorm, voted unanimously to publicly
identify 355 current and former members who had overdrawn their
accounts at the House bank.
In 1996, a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane,
Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher
before killing himself.
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Ten years ago: President George W. Bush declared at a news
conference that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace "and
we're going to deal with him," and said Osama bin Laden had been
reduced to a marginal figure in the war on terrorism.
Five years ago: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted
mistakes in how the Justice Department had handled the dismissal of
eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign. President
George W. Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by
promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration
policies; but his host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon,
criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence. Lance Mackey won
the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in 9 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes.
One year ago: The estimated death toll from Japan's
earthquake and tsunami climbed past 10,000 as authorities raced to
combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds
of thousands of people struggled to find food and water. The NCAA
men's basketball selection committee released its 68-team draw which
included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference
in the nation.
Today's birthdays: Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 87. Country
singer Jan Howard is 82. Songwriter Mike Stoller (STOH'-ler) is 79.
Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 73. Actor William H. Macy is 62.
Actress Deborah Raffin is 59. Comedian Robin Duke is 58. Actress
Glenne Headly is 57. Actress Dana Delany is 56. Rock musician Adam
Clayton (U2) is 52. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 50. Actor
Christopher Collet is 44. Rock musician Matt McDonough (Mudvayne) is
43. Actress Annabeth Gish is 41. Actress Tracy Wells is 41.
Rapper-actor Common is 40. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The
Lumberjacks) is 40. Singer Glenn Lewis is 37. Actor Danny Masterson
is 36. Actor Emile Hirsch is 27. Singers Nicole and Natalie Albino
(Nina Sky) are 26.
Thought for today: "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose
the power to think." -- Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (born
1857, died this date in 1938)
[Associated Press]
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