Today is Wednesday, March 14, the 73rd day of 2007. There are 292 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America’s cotton industry.
On this date:
In 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.
In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japan.
In 1923, President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report.
In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.
In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.
In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy.
In 1965, Israel’s cabinet formally approved establishment of diplomatic relations with West Germany.
In 1967, the body of President Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.
In 1980, a Polish airliner crashed while making an emergency landing near Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.
In 1991, a British court reversed the convictions of the Birmingham 6, who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.
Ten years ago: Surgeons at Bethesda Naval Medical Center repaired a painful torn knee tendon in President Clinton’s right leg; the injury had been caused by a freak middle-of-the-night stumble at the Florida home of golfer Greg Norman.
Five years ago: The government charged the Arthur Andersen accounting firm with obstruction of justice, securing its first indictment in the collapse of Enron. Serbia and Montenegro signed a historic accord to radically restructure their federation, dropping the name “Yugoslavia” and granting greater autonomy to prevent the country’s final breakup.
One year ago: Iraqi authorities reported discovering at least 87 corpses — those of men shot to death execution-style — as Iraq edged closer to open civil warfare. Israel raided a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho, seizing six militants, after the new Hamas-led Palestinian government said it would release the men. A reservoir dam in Hawaii burst, releasing a torrent of water that killed seven people.
Today’s Birthdays: Former astronaut Frank Borman is 79. Singer Phil Phillips is 76. Actor Michael Caine is 74. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 74. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 73. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 66. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 62. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 62. Actor Steve Kanaly is 61. Comedian Billy Crystal is 59. Country singer Jann Browne is 53. Actor Adrian Zmed is 53. Prince Albert of Monaco is 49. Actress Tamara Tunie is 48. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is
46. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 42. Actress Megan Follows is 39. Rock musician Michael Bland is 38. Country singer Kristian Bush is 37. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie’s Chicken Shack) is 35. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 28. Actor Chris Klein is 28. Actress Kate Maberly is 25. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 24.
Thought for Today: “Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy.” — Ayn Rand, American author (1905-1982).
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)