Today's Highlight in History:
On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
In 1664, England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York.
In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.
In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the Girl Guides, which later became the Girl Scouts of America.
In 1925, Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died at age 58.
In 1930, Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.
In 1938, the Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman established what became known as the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.
In 1963, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to grant former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship.
In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson won the New Hampshire Democratic primary, but Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota placed a strong second.
In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)
Illinois state's attorney Bernard CareyIn 1985, conductor Eugene Ormandy, director of the Philadelphia Orchestra for more than four decades, died at age 85.
In 1989, some 2,500 veterans and supporters marched at the Art Institute of Chicago to demand that officials remove an American flag placed on the floor as part of a student's exhibit.
In 1990, Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay a $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Also in 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk introduced legislation to revise land tenure laws and end racial discrimination in land ownership.
In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the nation's first female attorney general. More than 250 people were killed when a wave of bombings rocked Mumbai.
In 1994, the Church of England ordained its first female priests.
In 1999, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin died in Berlin at age 82.
In 2000, in an unprecedented moment in the history of the church, Pope John Paul II asked God's forgiveness for the sins of Roman Catholics through the ages, including wrongs inflicted on Jews, women and minorities. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar scored a major victory in general elections.
In 2001, six people, including five Americans, were killed when an errant bomb from a U.S. Navy fighter jet exploded at an observation post in Kuwait.
In 2002, The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing a Palestinian state for the first time. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking after Israeli raids killed 31 Palestinians, declared that Israel must end its "illegal occupation" of Palestinian land. That night, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire. And in 2002, the Boston archdiocese said it would have to sell church property, take out loans and seek donations from wealthy supporters to cover the $100 million in settlements of lawsuits against priests in sexual abuse cases. Homeland security chief Tom Ridge unveiled a color-coded system for terror warnings.
In 2003, Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who'd vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters. Also in 2003, the premier of Serbia, Zoran Djindjic, died after being shot by assassins.
In 2004, millions of Spaniards protested the Madrid train bombings of the day before that killed 191 and wounded more than 1,000 others. Marcus Wesson, the domineering patriarch of a cultlike clan he'd bred through incest, surrendered to police who found the bodies of nine of his offspring, all but one minors, at their home in Fresno, Calif. (Wesson was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.)
In 2005, Brian Nichols, who had slain a judge and three other people, surrendered to authorities in suburban Atlanta after holding Ashley Smith hostage in her own apartment. (Nichols was later sentenced to life in prison.) A gunman opened fire at a church service being held at a suburban Milwaukee hotel, killing seven people before taking his own life. Bode Miller became the first American in 22 years to win skiing's overall World Cup title, in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Iran rejected Washington's willingness to offer economic incentives if the Islamic state gives up its nuclear program.
In 2006, Iraq violence claimed at least 70 lives, including nearly 50 who died in six car bombings in Baghdad's major Shiite stronghold. Hundreds were wounded.
In 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned two days after reports had surfaced that he was a client of a prostitution ring. He was succeeded by Lt. Gov. David Paterson, New York's first African-American (and legally blind) governor.
In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history. A 17-year-old youth, who felt "no one recognized my potential," killed 17 people at his former school in Winnenden, Germany, including nine students. The alleged shooter died in a police gun battle. The Iraqi journalist who'd thrown shoes at President George W. Bush received a three-year sentence. (Muntadhar al-Zeidi ended up serving nine months.) Insurance broker Willis Group Holdings announced that Chicago's Sears Tower would be renamed Willis Tower. Lindsey Vonn became the first American woman to win the super-G season finale at the World Cup finals in Are, Sweden. Philanthropist Leonore Annenberg died in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at age 91.
Today's Birthdays: Playwright Edward Albee is 82. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young is 78. Actress Barbara Feldon is 77. Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 74. Singer Al Jarreau is 70. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 64. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is 63. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 62. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is 62. Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 61. Actor Jon Provost ("Lassie") is 60. Author Carl Hiaasen (HY'-ah-sihn) is 57. Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 54. Actor Jerry Levine is 53. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 53. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 50. Actor Titus Welliver is 49. Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 48. Actress Julia Campbell is 47. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 42. ABC News reporter Jake Tapper is 41. Rock musician Graham Coxon is 41. Country musician Tommy Bales (Flynnville Train) is 37.
Born On This Date Also: Pioneer automaker Clement Studebaker (1831); New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs (1858); actor/singer Gordon MacRae (1921); novelist Jack Kerouac (1922); & astronaut Wally Schirra (1923).
March 12 In Entertainment
In 1955, saxophone player Charlie "Bird" Parker died in New York of heart failure. He was 34. He's known as the inventor of bebop.
In 1958, singer Billie Holiday was given a year's probation on a narcotics possession charge. She died the next year of alcohol and drug abuse.
In 1969, Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman were married in a civil ceremony in London.
In 1974, John Lennon got into a fight with a photographer outside a club in Los Angeles. Lennon and Harry Nilsson had been heckling comedian Tommy Smothers and had been thrown out of the club.
In 1987, the musical "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.
In 1998, Cathay Pacific airline banned Liam Gallagher of Oasis from its flights after he threatened to stab a pilot.
Thought for Today: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." — John Quincy Adams, American president (1767-1848).
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