Today in History
Today is Thursday, March 30, the 89th day of 2017. There are 276 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 30, 1867, U.S.
Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to
purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million (the rough equivalent
of $125 million today), a deal ridiculed by critics as "Seward's Folly.
On this date: In 1822, Florida became a United States territory. In
1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited
denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of
race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. Texas
was readmitted to the Union. In 1923, the Cunard liner RMS Laconia
became the first passenger ship to circle the globe as it arrived in
New York. In 1945, during World War II, the Soviet Union invaded
Austria with the goal of taking Vienna, which it accomplished two weeks
later. In 1959, a narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Bartkus v.
Illinois, ruled that a conviction in state court following an acquittal
in federal court for the same crime did not constitute double jeopardy.
In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for the U.S. Senate
because of injuries suffered in a fall. The original version of the TV
game show "Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming, premiered on NBC. In 1975,
as the Vietnam War neared its end, Communist forces oc'cup'ied the city
of Da Nang. James Ruppert, 41, killed 11 members of his family at his
mother's home in Hamilton, Ohio, on Easter Sunday. In 1981, President
Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington,
D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley, Jr.; also wounded were White House
press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and
a District of Columbia police officer, Thomas Delahanty. In 1987, at
the 59th Academy Awards, "Platoon" was named best picture; Marlee
Matlin received best actress for "Children of a Lesser God" and Paul
Newman was honored as best actor for "The Color of Money. In 1991,
Patricia Bowman of Jupiter, Florida, told authorities she'd been raped
hours earlier by William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of Sen. Edward
Kennedy, at the family's Palm Beach estate. (Smith was acquitted at
trial.) In 2002, Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth died at Royal Lodge,
Windsor, outside London; she was 101 years old. In 2006, American
reporter Jill Carroll, a freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor,
was released after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq. Ten years ago:
President George W. Bush visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where
he personally apologized to troops for shoddy conditions there. The
Food and Drug Administration said it had found melamine, a chemical
used to make plastics, in samples of Menu Foods pet food, as well as in
wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the company's wet-style products.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama said he was plowing ahead with
potential sanctions against countries that kept buying oil from Iran,
including allies of the United States, in a deepening campaign to
starve Tehran of money for its disputed nuclear program. Anthony Davis
became the first Kentucky basketball player and second freshman to be
selected The Associated Press' Player of the Year. One year ago:
President Barack Obama commuted the prison sentences of 61 drug
offenders, including more than a third serving life sentences. A
Hennepin County, Minnesota, prosecutor announced that two Minneapolis
police officers involved in the Nov. 2015 fatal shooting of Jamar
Clark, a black man, would not face criminal charges, a decision that
drew outrage from community members. Today's Birthdays: Game show host
Peter Marshall is 91. Actor John Astin is 87. Actor-director Warren
Beatty is 80. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 76. Rock
musician Eric Clapton is 72. Actor Justin Deas is 69. Actor Paul Reiser
is 60. Rap artist MC Hammer is 54. Singer Tracy Chapman is 53. Actor
Ian Ziering (EYE'-an ZEER'-ing) is 53. TV personality Piers Morgan is
52. Actress Donna D'Errico is 49. Singer Celine Dion is 49. Actor Mark
Consuelos is 46. Actress Bahar Soomekh is 42. Actress Jessica Cauffiel
is 41. Singer Norah Jones is 38. Actress Fiona Gubelmann is 37. Actress
Katy Mixon is 36. Actor Jason Dohring is 35. Country singer Justin
Moore is 33. Actress Tessa Ferrer is 31. Country singer Thomas Rhett is
27. Thought for Today: "Prophecy, however honest, is generally a poor
substitute for experience. Benjamin N. Cardozo, U.S. Supreme Court
Justice (1870-1938).
