Today in History
Today is Tuesday, March 7, the 66th day of 2017. There are 299 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 7, 1967, the
musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," based on the "Peanuts"
comic strips by Charles M. Schulz with Gary Burghoff in the title role,
opened in New York's Greenwich Village, beginning an off-Broadway run
of 1,597 performances. On this date: In 1793, during the French
Revolutionary Wars, France declared war on Spain. In 1850, in a
three-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts
endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union. In
1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for his telephone.
In 1916, Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) had its beginnings in Munich,
Germany, as an airplane engine manufacturer. In 1926, the first
successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place
between New York and London. In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops
to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles
(vehr-SY') and the Locarno Pact. In 1945, during World War II, U.S.
forces crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but
still usable Ludendorff Bridge. In 1955, the first TV production of the
musical "Peter Pan" starring Mary Martin aired on NBC. In 1965, a march
by civil rights demonstrators was violently broken up at the Edmund
Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, by state troopers and a sheriff's
posse in what came to be known as "Bloody Sunday. In 1975, the U.S.
Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit
debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of
senators present. In 1981, anti-government guerrillas in Colombia
executed kidnapped American Bible translator Chester Bitterman, whom
they'd accused of being a CIA agent. In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court
unanimously ruled that a parody that pokes fun at an original work can
be considered "fair use. (The ruling concerned a parody of the Roy
Orbison song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by the rap group 2 Live Crew.) Ten
years ago: A sex offender was found guilty in Miami of kidnapping,
raping and murdering 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was buried alive.
(John Evander Couey (KOO'-ee) was sentenced to death, but died of
natural causes in Sept. 2009.) Ten people, most of them children, were
killed in The Bronx, New York, when fire tore through their home. A
suicide attacker blew himself up in a cafe northeast of Baghdad,
killing 30 people. Five years ago: President Barack Obama, speaking at
a Daimler truck plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina, made his most
urgent appeal to date for the nation to wean itself from oil, calling
it a "fuel of the past" and demanding that the United States broaden
its approach to energy. The Indianapolis Colts released injured
quarterback Peyton Manning, who went on to play for the Denver Broncos.
One year ago: Peyton Manning announced his retirement after 18 seasons
in the National Football League. A jury in Nashville, Tennessee,
awarded sports reporter Erin Andrews $55 million in her lawsuit against
a stalker who rented a hotel room next to hers and secretly recorded
her, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in the
blame. Stephen Curry scored 41 points and became the first player in
NBA history to make 300 3-pointers in a season as the Golden State
Warriors held off the Orlando Magic 119-113 for their 45th straight
home victory. Today's Birthdays: TV personality Willard Scott is 83.
International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie is 79. Actor
Daniel J. Travanti is 77. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner is 75.
Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 74. Actor John Heard is 71.
Rock singer Peter Wolf is 71. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol
Harum) is 71. Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Franco Harris is 67. Pro and
College Football Hall-of-Famer Lynn Swann is 65. Rhythm-and-blues
singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 65. Rock musician
Kenny Aronoff (BoDeans, John Mellencamp) is 64. Actor Bryan Cranston is
61. Actress Donna Murphy is 58. Actor Nick Searcy is 58. Golfer Tom
Lehman is 58. International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Ivan Lendl is 57.
Actress Mary Beth Evans is 56. Singer-actress Taylor Dayne is 55. Actor
Bill Brochtrup is 54. Author E.L. James ("Fifty Shades of Grey") is 54.
Author Bret Easton Ellis ("American Psycho") is 53. Opera singer Denyce
Graves is 53. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 53. Actor Jonathan Del Arco is
51. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 50. Actress
Rachel Weisz (wys) is 47. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 46. Actor Jay
Duplass is 44. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 44.
Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 43. Actress Jenna Fischer is 43.
Actor Tobias Menzies is 43. Actress Sarayu Rao is 42. Actress Audrey
Marie Anderson is 42. Actor TJ Thyne is 42. Bluegrass singer-musician
Frank Solivan is 40. Actress Laura Prepon is 37. Actress Bel Powley is
25. Thought for Today: "All you need is love. But a little chocolate
now and then doesn't hurt. Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist
(1922-2000).
