On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a measure making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of the United States.
On this date:
In 1845, Florida became the 27th state.
In 1847, Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
In 1849, the Home Department, forerunner of the Interior Department, was established, & Congress created the Minnesota Territory.
In 1875, "Carmen" by Georges Bizet premiered in Paris.
In 1879, attorney Belva Ann Lockwood became the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1887, Anne Sullivan arrived at the Alabama home of Capt. and Mrs. Arthur H. Keller to become the teacher of their blind and deaf 6-year-old daughter, Helen. [Pathos ensues. — Ed.]
In 1918, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian participation in World War I. (The treaty was rendered moot by the November 1918 armistice.)
In 1945, the Allies fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces.
In 1959, the United States launched the Pioneer 4 spacecraft, which flew by the moon.
In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test the lunar module.
In 1974, a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris, killing all 346 people on board.
In 1985, British coal miners ended a yearlong strike, the longest and costliest labor dispute in British history.
In 1986, the President's Commission on Organized Crime, ending a 32-month investigation, called for drug testing of most working Americans, including all federal employees.
In 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.
Twenty-five people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport. Also in 1991, residents of the Soviet republics of Latvia and Estonia voted overwhelmingly for independence.
In 1993, Dr. Albert Sabin, the medical pioneer who helped conquer polio, died at his home of heart failure at age 86.
In 1995, the last U.N. peacekeepers left Somalia.
In 1996, a bus bombing in Jerusalem killed 19 people.
In 1997, U.S. Vice President Al Gore admitted he made fundraising calls from the White House but said he'd been advised there was no law against it. Also in 1997, former CIA official Harold Nicholson pleaded guilty to spying for Russia. He was sentenced to 23 years and seven months in prison.
In 1999, the Supreme Court ruled that public schools had to finance one-on-one nursing care for some disabled students throughout the school day. Monica Lewinsky, in an ABC interview timed to coincide with the publication of her book, recounted for Barbara Walters some of the fondest, as well as most painful, aspects of her relationship with President Bill Clinton. An estimated 70 million people tuned in.
In 2000, former dictator General Augusto Pinochet returned to Chile a free man, 16 months after he was detained in Britain on torture charges. Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian college, said it was lifting its ban on interracial dating. (University president Bob Jones III made the announcement on CNN's "Larry King Live.")
In 2001, foot-and-mouth disease, which had flared in Britain, was reported in France and Belgium where livestock were quarantined on two farms.
In 2002, voters in Switzerland approved joining the United Nations, abandoning almost 200 years of formal neutrality.
In 2004, former WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers pleaded innocent to an indictment on federal fraud and conspiracy charges. The company's 2002 bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history. Multnomah County, Ore., began issuing same-sex marriage licenses. The Walt Disney Co.'s board voted to strip Michael Eisner of his chairman's post while retaining him as CEO.
In 2005, President George W. Bush visited CIA headquarters, where he promised agency employees they would retain an "incredibly vital" role in safeguarding the nation's security despite the creation of a new post of national director of intelligence. Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone without stopping or refueling, touching down in central Kansas after a 67-hour, 23,000-mile journey. Also in 2005, North Korea announced it was dropping its self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing, in place since 1999. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 1,500.
In 2006, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., was sentenced by a federal judge to more than eight years in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors for help in landing lucrative government contracts.
In 2007, cleanup operations were under way in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri, where tornadoes killed 20 people, destroyed a hospital and a school and left hundreds homeless.
In 2008, the U.N. Security Council adopted a third round of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium. The resolution authorized cargo inspections in and out of Iran suspected of carrying prohibited equipment and tightens monitoring of Iranian financial institutions. Democrat Barack Obama said his campaign had never given Canada back-channel assurances that his harsh words about the North American Free Trade Agreement were for political show, despite a Canadian memo indicating otherwise. A gunman opened fire inside a Wendy's restaurant in West Palm Beach, Fla., killing a paramedic who'd gone back to fetch a missing meal toy for his child; the gunman wounded five others before turning the gun on himself. Operatic tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano died in Santa Maria Hoe, Italy, at age 86.
In 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Israel, promised to work with the incoming government, but said movement toward establishment of a Palestinian state was "inescapable." Guinea-Bissau's parliamentary leader Raimundo Pereira was sworn in as the country's new president, following the assassination of Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira. Also in 2009, Mexico officials said 1,000 more police personnel would be sent to crime-riddled Ciudad Juarez along with a military buildup to bring the number of troops to around 7,000 to join in the violent drug wars. Gunmen attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan national cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan. Six Pakistani police officers were slain and seven cricketeers were wounded.
Today's Birthdays: Socialite Lee Radziwill is 77. [Nice work if you can get it. — Ed.] Movie producer-director George Miller is 65. Actress Hattie Winston is 65. Singer Jennifer Warnes is 63. Actor-director Tim Kazurinsky is 60. Singer-musician Robyn Hitchcock is 57. Rock musician John Lilley is 56. Actress Miranda Richardson is 52. Radio personality Ira Glass is 51. Actress Mary Page Keller is 49. Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 48. College Football Hall of Famer Herschel Walker is 48. Rapper-actor Tone-Loc is 44. Hockey player Brian Leetch is 42. Rock musician John Bigham is 41. Actress Julie Bowen is 40. Country singer Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers) is 39. Actor David Faustino is 36. Singer Ronan Keating (Boyzone) is 33. Rapper Lil' Flip is 29. Actress Jessica Biel is 28. Football player Santonio Holmes is 26. Rock musician Blower (aka Joe Garvey) (Hinder) is 26.
Those Born On This Date Include: English poet Edmund Waller (1606); industrialist George Pullman, inventor of the railway sleeping car (1831); Charles Ponzi, convicted of fraud for a pyramid scheme that now bears his name (1882); U.S. Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway (1895); movie star Jean Harlow (1911); James Doohan (1920); & fashion designer Perry Ellis (1940).
Today In Entertainment March 3
In 1931, Cab Calloway recorded "Minnie the Moocher." It was the first jazz album to sell a million copies.
In 1940, Artie Shaw and his orchestra recorded "Frenesi" for RCA Victor.
In 1959, comedian Lou Costello died of a heart attack in East Los Angeles, Calif., three days before his 53rd birthday.
In 1960, actress-comedian Lucille Ball filed for divorce from her husband, Desi Arnaz, a day after they'd finished filming the last episode of "The Luci-Desi Comedy Hour" ("Lucy Meets the Mustache") on Arnaz's 43rd birthday. Remember, it's show business. — Ed.]
In 1966, Buffalo Springfield was formed, featuring Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin and Bruce Palmer.
In 1967, Eric Burdon and The Animals refused to do a show in Ottawa, Ontario, unless they were paid in advance. The audience went on a rampage, causing $5,000 in damage. Also in 1967, the Jeff Beck Group made its stage debut in London.
In 1973, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack was named Song and Record of the Year at the Grammys. "The Concert for Bangla Desh" won the best album award.
In 1991, ballroom dancing king Arthur Murray died in Hawaii at the age of 95.
In 1995, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry underwent brain surgery for a ruptured aneurysm in Switzerland.
In 2006, new age musician Yanni was arrested for domestic battery at his home outside Palm Springs, Florida. He was not charged.
In 2009, Sydney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's son and himself a Tony-winning actor, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at age 82.
Thought for Today: "We are creatures of the moment; we live from one little space to another; and only one interest at a time fills these." — William Dean Howells, American author and editor (1837-1920).
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