Today in History

Today is Friday, March 16, the 76th day of 2012. There are 290 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 16, 1912, future first lady Pat Nixon was born Thelma Catherine Ryan in Ely, Nev.

On this date:

In A.D. 37, Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by Caligula.

In 1521, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.

In 1751, James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.

In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" was first published.

In 1926, rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.

In 1935, Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany.

In 1945, during World War II, American forces declared they had secured Iwo Jima, although pockets of Japanese resistance remained.

In 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians was carried out by U.S. Army troops; estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.

In 1972, in a nationally broadcast address, President Richard M. Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.

In 1982, Claus Von Bulow was found guilty in Newport, R.I., of trying to kill his comatose wife, Martha, with insulin. (Von Bulow was acquitted in a retrial; his former wife, who was also known as "Sunny," died in December 2008.)

In 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie, 23, was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer while trying to block the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip.

Ten years ago: Gunmen killed Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino, a prominent critic of Colombia's leftist guerrillas, in Cali. Thirteen-year-old Brittanie Cecil was struck by a flying hockey puck during a game between the hometown Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames; she died two days later.

Five years ago: Former CIA operative Valerie Plame told a House committee that White House and State Department officials had "carelessly and recklessly" blown her cover in a politically motivated smear of her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for publicly disputing President George W. Bush's assertion that Saddam Hussein was on the brink of acquiring a nuclear bomb. Menu Foods, a major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands, recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

One year ago: Pakistan abruptly freed CIA contractor Raymond Allen Davis, who had shot and killed two men in a gunfight in Lahore, after a deal was sealed to pay $2.34 million to the men's families.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian-director Jerry Lewis is 86. Country singer Ray Walker (The Jordanaires) is 78. Movie director Bernardo Bertolucci is 71. Game show host Chuck Woolery is 71. Singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker is 70. Country singer Robin Williams is 65. Actor Erik Estrada is 63. Actor Victor Garber is 63. Actress Kate Nelligan is 61. Country singer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) is 61. Rock singer-musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 58. Golfer Hollis Stacy is 58. Actress Isabelle Huppert is 57. Actor Clifton Powell is 56. Rapper-actor Flavor Flav (Public Enemy) is 53. Rock musician Jimmy DeGrasso is 49. Folk singer Patty Griffin is 48. Country singer Tracy Bonham is 45. Actress Lauren Graham is 45. Actor Judah Friedlander is 43. Actor Alan Tudyk is 41. Actor Tim Kang (TV: "The Mentalist") is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Blu Cantrell is 36. Actress Brooke Burns is 34. Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 21.

Thought for Today: "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true." -- From "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (1804-1864).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.