On March 10, 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you."
On this date:
In 515 B.C.E, the rebuilding of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed.
In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.
In 1629, England's King Charles I dissolved Parliament.
In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.
In 1848, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War.
In 1862, the U.S. Treasury issued the first American paper money, in denominations from $5 to $1,000.
In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies during the Civil War.
In 1910, luggage maker Samsonite Corp. had its beginnings as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co. was founded in Denver by Jesse Shwayder.
In 1948, the body of the anti-Communist foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, was found in the garden of Czernin Palace in Prague.
In 1949, Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C. of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)
In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)
In 1980, "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death at his home in Purchase, N.Y. (Tarnower's former lover, Jean Harris, was convicted of his murder; she served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)
In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union's leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.
In 1987, the Vatican condemned human artificial fertilization or generation of human life outside the womb and said all reproduction must result from the "act of conjugal love."
In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Democratic challenger Bill Clinton got sweeping Southern victories in the Super Tuesday primaries.
In 1993, FBI agents arrested a third person, a 25-year-old Kuwaiti-born chemical engineer, in connection with the World Trade Center bombing. Also in 1993, an anti-abortion rights demonstrator fatally shot a Dr. David Gunn outside a Pensacola, Fla., clinic.
In 1994, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of new AIDS cases in the United States had more than doubled in 1993.
In 1997, The Citadel announced that 10 male cadets had been disciplined for mistreating two female cadets. The women later resigned from the South Carolina military academy.
In 1998, Indonesian President Suharto was elected to a seventh term.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton, during his tour of Central America, addressed lawmakers in El Salvador, then traveled to Guatemala, where he acknowledged the U.S. role in Central America's "dark and painful period" of civil wars and repression.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II approved sainthood for Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia socialite who had taken a vow of poverty and devoted her fortune to helping poor blacks and American Indians. (Drexel, who died in 1955, was canonized in Oct. 2000.)
In 2002, Israeli helicopters destroyed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office in Gaza City, hours after 11 Israelis were killed in a suicide bombing in a cafe across the street from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence in Jerusalem.
In 2003, the Palestinian Legislative Council created the position of prime minister but peace talks with Israel continued under the command of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Also in 2003, Ivory Coast, torn by civil war for six months, got a new premier, Seydou Diarra, under a French-brokered peace accord.
In 2004, teenage sniper Lee Boyd Malvo was sentenced in Chesapeake, Va., to life in prison for an October 2002 killing spree in the Washington D.C. area that left 10 people dead. His partner, John Allen Muhammad, considered the mastermind, was sentenced to death one day earlier.
In 2005, Lebanon's president reappointed staunchly pro-Syrian politician Omar Karami as prime minister. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in Mosul, Iraq, killing at least 47 people. Former President Bill Clinton underwent surgery in New York to remove scar tissue and fluid from his chest. He had had quadruple bypass surgery five months earlier. Michael Jackson, clad in pajamas and walking gingerly, arrived one hour late to his child molestation trial after the judge threatened to have him arrested him for tardiness; a back injury was blamed. (Jackson was acquitted.) Also in 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people and injured 27 at a funeral procession in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
In 2006, the body of Tom Fox, a kidnapped U.S. Christian peace activist, was found near Baghdad, authorities report. Three others kidnapped with Fox were reported released. Also in 2006, amid broad U.S. opposition, Dubai Ports World bowed out of an agreement to manage six U.S. ports on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. The matter would be turned over to a U.S. company, officials said.
In 2007, captured terrorist Khalid Sheik Mohammed, long suspected of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, confessed to planning them and said he played a role in about 30 other attacks and plots. Also in 2007, a federal court threw out a District of Columbia ban on keeping handguns in private homes as unconstitutional.
In 2008, a suicide bomber killed five U.S. soldiers as they chatted with shop owners while on a foot patrol in central Baghdad. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologized after allegations surfaced that he had paid thousands of dollars for a high-end call girl, scandal which eventually led to his resignation. Democrat Barack Obama ridiculed the idea of being Hillary Rodham Clinton's running mate, saying in Columbus, Miss., that voters had to choose between the two for the top spot on the fall ticket. Also in 2008, some 400 Buddhist monks took part in a protest march in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to mark the failed uprising of 1959 that resulted in the Dalai Lama fleeing to India. As Chinese forces moved in, what had been a peaceful gathering turned violent.
In 2009, a gunman, 28-year-old Michael McLendon, killed 10 people, including his mother, four other relatives and the wife and child of a local sheriff's deputy across two rural Alabama counties before committing suicide. In his first major speech on education, President Barack Obama called for tying teachers' pay to student performance and expanding innovative charter schools.
Today's Birthdays: Talk show host Ralph Emery is 77. Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 72. Actor Chuck Norris is 70. Playwright David Rabe is 70. Singer Dean Torrence (Jan and Dean) is 70. Actress Katharine Houghton is 65. Rock musician Tom Scholz (Boston) is 63. Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 63. Producer-director-writer Paul Haggis is 57. Alt-country/rock musician Gary Louris is 55. Actress Shannon Tweed is 53. Pop/jazz singer Jeanie Bryson is 52. Actress Sharon Stone is 52. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 50. Magician Lance Burton is 50. Actress Jasmine Guy is 48. Rock musician Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) is 47. Music producer Rick Rubin is 47. Britain's Prince Edward is 46. Actor Stephen Mailer is 44. Actress Paget Brewster is 41. Actor Jon Hamm (TV: "Mad Men") is 39. Country singer Daryle Singletary is 39. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 38. Actor Cristian de la Fuente is 36. Rock musician Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) is 35. Actor Jeff Branson is 33. Singer Robin Thicke is 33. Actress Bree Turner is 33. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller is 33. Contemporary Christian singer Michael Barnes (Red) is 31. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 27. Actress Emily Osment is 18.
Those Born On This Date But Not Celebrating Include: Italian scientist Marcello Malpighi (1628); actor Barry Fitzgerald (1888); French composer Arthur Honegger (1892); jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke (1903); poet Margaret Fishback (1900); assassin James Earl Ray (1928); & college basketball coach Jim Valvano (1946).
March 10 In Entertainment
In 1959, the Tennessee Williams play "Sweet Bird of Youth," starring Paul Newman and Geraldine Page, opened at Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre.
In 1965, Neil Simon's play "The Odd Couple" opened on Broadway.
In 1977, A&M Records in Britain signed the Sex Pistols in a ceremony outside Buckingham Palace, two months after EMI nulled its contract with the band. A&M ended its association with the band nine days later.
In 1988, pop singer Andy Gibb died of a heart condition in Oxford, England. Gibb was 30.
In 1991, Alabama, K.T. Oslin, Ricky Skaggs and Tammy Wynette were among those performing at Ford's Theatre in Washington to help celebrate the end of the Gulf War. The concert, attended by President George Bush, also raised money for the theater.
In 1992, Prince received a lifetime achievement award at the Soul Train Awards. Winners of other awards included Natalie Cole and Color Me Badd.
In 1993, songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Also in 1993, ventriloquist Shari Lewis and the puppet "Lamb Chop" testified before a House subcommittee, saying that there weren't enough good TV shows for kids.
In 1997, singer LaVern Baker died at the age of 67 in New York. She had been suffering from diabetes. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" debuted on the WB network.
In 1998, actor Lloyd Bridges died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles. He was 85. Also in 1998, Lewis Peter Morgan pleaded guilty to impersonating former Eagles bassist Randy Meisner in San Francisco.
In 2003, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines told an audience in London, "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas." They endured a firestorm of criticism that included radio stations banning their music and protests outside their concerts. Also in 2003, The Police reunited for their first show together in 18 years, at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2004, David Crosby was arrested in a New York hotel for possession of marijuana and a handgun. He later pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000.
Thought for Today: "Show me a man who claims he is objective and I'll show you a man with illusions." — Henry R. Luce, American magazine publisher (1898-1967).
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