Today's Highlight in History:
On March 17, A.D. 461 (or A.D. 493, depending on sources) St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died in Saul.
On this date:
In 1776, British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.
In 1777, Roger Taney, the fifth chief justice of the United States and author of the Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision on slavery, was born in Calvert County, Md.
In 1845, British officials granted a patent to Stephen Perry for the rubber band.
In 1860, the Kanrin Maru became the first official Japanese ship to reach U.S. soil as it arrived in San Francisco. (The ship arrived 12 days ahead of the USS Powhatan, which was carrying a Japanese embassy delegation.)
In 1901, 71 paintings by the late Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh were shown at the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris and caused a sensation across the art world.
In 1905, Franklin D. Roosevelt married his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, in New York City. The wedding was attended by President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's fifth cousin, who gave his niece away.
In 1910, the Camp Fire Girls organization was formed. (It was formally presented to the public on this date two years later.) The U.S. National Museum, a precursor to the National Museum of Natural History, opened in Washington, D.C.
In 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
In 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater.
In 1945, the bloody battle against Japanese forces for the Pacific island of Iwo Jima ended in victory for the United States.
In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, which they named "californium."
In 1958, the U.S. Navy launched the Vanguard 1 satellite.
In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.
In 1960, a Northwest Orient Lockheed L-188C Electra crashed near Cannelton, Ind., killing all 63 people on board.
In 1966, a U.S. midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb which had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.
In 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.
In 1970, the United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council. (The U.S. killed a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.)
In 1978, the tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground on the coast of Brittany in France, eventually spilling 220,000 tons of crude oil.
In 1992, 29 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 1999, a panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana had medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS. The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members, but backed president Juan Antonio Samaranch, in the wake of a bribery scandal. Instant replay was voted back in the NFL for the 1999 season.
In 2000, in a decision that outraged many gun rights supporters, Smith & Wesson signed an unprecedented agreement with the Clinton administration to, among other things, include safety locks with all of its handguns to make them more childproof; in return, the agreement called for federal, state and city lawsuits against the gun maker to be dropped. The United States lifted a ban on imports of Iranian luxury goods. More than 500 members of a doomsday cult were burned to death in a makeshift church in southwestern Uganda.
In 2003, edging to the brink of war, President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country. Iraq rejected the ultimatum.
In 2004, a car bomb tore apart a five-story hotel catering to foreigners in the heart of Baghdad, killing seven people. Charles A. McCoy, Jr., suspected in a series of highway shootings in central Ohio, was arrested in Las Vegas. (McCoy later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Gail Knisley plus 10 other charges, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.)
In 2005, baseball players told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport; stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn't used them while Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had. (McGwire owned up to steroid use in January 2010.) Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland won the men's title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow.
In 2006, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the Environmental Protection Administration cannot exempt older power plants and refineries from the Clean Air Act, voting unanimously against the Bush administration's interpretation of the law. Also in 2006, General Motors said its actual losses the year before were $10 billion, some $2 billion more than previously reported.
In 2007, the Palestinian legislature approved the Hamas-dominated unity government though leaders of the Hamas and Fatah factions remained divided on Israeli issues.
In 2008, a female suicide bomber struck Shiite Muslim worshippers in the holy city of Karbala, killing at least 49 people. David Paterson was sworn in as governor of New York; he succeeded Eliot Spitzer, who'd resigned because of a prostitution scandal. Also in 2008, three dozen bodies were found buried in a residential backyard in Juarez, Mexico, near the U.S. border, believed enemies of the Juarez drug cartel and second mass burial found in a week.
In 2009, U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korea while reporting on North Korean refugees living across the border in China. (Both were convicted of entering North Korea illegally and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor; both were freed in Aug. 2009 after former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition. Russia announced its armed forces would undergo a comprehensive modernization starting in 2011 to "respond to a changing world geopolitical situation."
Today's Birthdays: Jazz/New Age musician Paul Horn is 80. The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 77. Rock musician Paul Kantner is 69. Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 67. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful) is 66. Rock musician Harold Brown (War; Lowrider Band) is 64. Actor Patrick Duffy is 61. Actor Kurt Russell is 59. Country singer Susie Allanson is 58. Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 56. Country singer Paul Overstreet is 55. Actor Gary Sinise is 55. Former basketball and baseball player Danny Ainge is 51. Actress Vicki Lewis is 50. Actor Casey Siemaszko is 49. Writer-director Rob Sitch is 48. Actor Rob Lowe is 46. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 43. Rock musician Van Conner (Screaming Trees) is 43. Actor Mathew St. Patrick is 42. Actor Yanic Truesdale is 41. Rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur is 38. Soccer player Mia Hamm is 38. Rock musician Caroline Corr (The Corrs) is 37. Actress Marisa Coughlan is 36. Rapper Swifty (D12) is 35. Actress Natalie Zea is 35. Actress Brittany Daniel is 34.
Today's Birthdays, w/ Pictures: John Wayne Gacy
Also: German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, inventor of the gasoline-burning internal combustion engine (1834); children's author and illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846); composer Alfred Newman (1901); golf legend Bobby Jones (1902); football Hall of fame inductee Sammy Baugh (1914); singer/pianist Nat "King" Cole (1919); astronaut James Irwin (1930); ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938); serial killer John Wayne Gacy (1942).
March 17 In Entertainment
1961, the live country program "Five Star Jubilee" premiered on NBC. It took its name from the five stars who rotated as hosts.
In 1962, the band Blues Incorporated played its first gig in London. At various times, the band included future Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts. Another member was Jack Bruce, who later became the bassist for Cream. Also in 1962, The Shirelles' single "Soldier Boy" was released.
In 1968, The Bee Gees made their US television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The brothers sang "To Love Somebody" and "Words."
In 1980, fiddler Hugh Farr, an original member of the Sons of Pioneers, died in Casper, Wyoming.
In 1982, the leader of The Capitols, Samuel George, was stabbed to death in Detroit during an argument. The group is known for the hit "Cool Jerk."
In 1993, actress Helen Hayes died at age 92 in Nyack, N.Y., following a battle with heart problems. [Died in battle? What? — Ed.]
In 2008,Paul McCartney's divorce from Heather Mills was settled for $48.6 million.
In 2004, Courtney Love was arrested for allegedly throwing a microphone stand at a member of the audience at a show in New York. Earlier that day, she had appeared on David Letterman's show and flashed him six times. Former MTV personality John "J.J." Jackson died in Los Angeles at age 62.
In 2005, rapper Lil' Kim was convicted of lying to a grand jury about a shootout outside a New York radio station. (She was sentenced to 366 days in prison & served nearly 10 months.)
Thought for Today: "Television is a device that permits people who haven't anything to do to watch people who can't do anything." — Fred Allen, American comedian (1894-1956). [Spoken like a radio star. — Ed.]
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