Today is Wednesday, March 8, the 67th day of 2006. There are 298 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 8, 1782, the Gnadenhutten massacre took place as some 90 Indians were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.
On this date:
In 1702, England’s Queen Anne ascended the throne upon the death of King William III.
In 1841, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the “Great Dissenter,” was born in Boston.
In 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese.
In 1874, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, died in Buffalo, N.Y.
In 1917, Russia’s “February Revolution” (so called because of the Old Style calendar being used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.
In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
In 1930, the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft, died in Washington.
In 1942, Japanese forces captured Rangoon, Burma, during World War II.
In 1965, the United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam.
In 1999, New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Fla., at age 84.
Ten years ago: Wall Street plummeted in a major selloff triggered by seemingly good economic news — a drop in the nation’s unemployment rate and the biggest jobs gain in more than a decade. (Investors apparently worried that a stronger economy would mean no more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.) Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted of assisted suicide for helping two suffering patients kill themselves.
Five years ago: The Republican-controlled House voted for an across-the-board tax cut of nearly $1 trillion in the next decade, handing President Bush a major victory only 48 days into his term. Scott Waddle, the embattled commander of the Navy submarine that collided with a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii, offered a tearful apology to the families of some of the victims. Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, died in London at age 102.
One year ago: President Bush said authoritarian rule in the Middle East had begun to ease, and he insisted anew that Syria had to end its nearly three-decade occupation of Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands jammed a central Beirut square, chanting support for Syria in a thundering show of strength by the militant group Hezbollah. Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed in northern Chechnya during a raid by Russian forces.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Sue Ane Langdon is 70. Baseball player-turned-author Jim Bouton is 67. Actress Lynn Redgrave is 63. Actor-director Micky Dolenz is 61. Lyricist Carole Bayer Sager is 60. Pop singer Peggy March is 58. Baseball player Jim Rice is 53. Singer Gary Numan is 48. Actor Aidan Quinn is 47. Country musician Jimmy Dormire (Confederate Railroad) is 46. Actress Camryn Manheim is 45. Actor Leon is 43. Rock singer Shawn Mullins (The Thorns) is 38. Actress Andrea Parker is 37. Actor Boris Kodjoe is 33. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is 30. Actor James Van Der Beek is 29. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kameelah Williams (702) is 28. Rock singer Tom Chaplin (Keane) is 27.
Thought for Today: “In every person, even in such as appear most reckless, there is an inherent desire to attain balance.” — Jakob Wassermann, German author (1873-1934).