 Today's highlight in history:
On March 16, 1912, future first lady Pat Nixon was born Thelma
Catherine Ryan in Ely, Nev.
On this date:
In A.D. 37, Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by
Caligula.
In 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the
Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.
In 1751, James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was
born in Port Conway, Va.
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the
establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" was first
published.
In 1926, rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully
tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the
Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY') by ordering the rearming of Germany.
In 1945, during World War II, American forces declared they had
secured Iwo Jima, although pockets of Japanese resistance remained.
In 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai (mee ly) Massacre of
Vietnamese civilians was carried out by U.S. Army troops; estimates
of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.
In 1972, in a nationally broadcast address, President Richard M.
Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to
achieve racial desegregation.
In 1982, Claus Von Bulow was found guilty in Newport, R.I., of
trying to kill his comatose wife, Martha, with insulin. (Von Bulow
was acquitted in a retrial; his former wife, who was also known as
"Sunny," died in December 2008.)
In 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie, 23, was crushed to death
by an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to block the
demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip.
Ten years ago: Gunmen killed Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino
(ih-sah-EE'-uhs DWAHR'-tay kahn-SEE'-noh), a prominent critic of
Colombia's leftist guerrillas, in Cali. Thirteen-year-old Brittanie
Cecil was struck by a flying hockey puck during a game between the
hometown Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames; she died two
days later.
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Five years ago: Former CIA operative Valerie Plame told a
House committee that White House and State Department officials had
"carelessly and recklessly" blown her cover in a politically
motivated smear of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for
publicly disputing President George W. Bush's assertion that Saddam
Hussein was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear bomb. Menu Foods, a
major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway,
Kroger and other store brands, recalled 60 million containers of wet
pet food after reports of kidney failure and deaths.
One year ago: Pakistan abruptly freed CIA contractor Raymond
Allen Davis, who had shot and killed two men in a gunfight in
Lahore, after a deal was sealed to pay $2.34 million to the men's
families.
Today's birthdays: Comedian-director Jerry Lewis is 86.
Country singer Ray Walker (The Jordanaires) is 78. Movie director
Bernardo Bertolucci is 71. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 71.
Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 70. Country singer Robin
Williams is 65. Actor Erik Estrada is 63. Actor Victor Garber is 63.
Actress Kate Nelligan is 61. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at
the Wheel) is 61. Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 58.
Golfer Hollis Stacy is 58. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 57. Actor
Clifton Powell is 56. Rapper-actor Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 53.
Rock musician Jimmy DeGrasso is 49. Folk singer Patty Griffin is 48.
Country singer Tracy Bonham is 45. Actress Lauren Graham is 45.
Actor Judah Friedlander (FREED'-lan-duhr) is 43. Actor Alan Tudyk
(TOO'-dihk) is 41. Actor Tim Kang (TV: "The Mentalist") is 39.
Rhythm-and-blues singer Blu Cantrell is 36. Actress Brooke Burns is
34. Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 21.
Thought for today: "No man, for any considerable period, can
wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without
finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true." --
From "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (1804-1864)
[Associated Press]
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