Today in History

Today is Friday, March 7, the 66th day of 2014. There are 299 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 7, 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., unanimously ruled that a parody that pokes fun at an original work can be considered "fair use" that doesn't require permission from the copyright holder. (The ruling concerned a parody of the Roy Orbison song "Oh, Pretty Woman" by the rap group 2 Live Crew.)

On this date:

In 1793, during the French Revolutionary Wars, France declared war on Spain.

In 1850, in a three-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.

In 1912, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen arrived in Hobart, Australia, where he dispatched telegrams announcing his success in leading the first expedition to the South Pole the previous December.

In 1926, the first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place between New York and London.

In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but still usable Ludendorff Bridge.

In 1965, a march by civil rights demonstrators was violently broken up at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff's posse in what came to be known as "Bloody Sunday."

In 1975, the U.S. Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.

In 1983, the original version of The Nashville Network (now Spike) made its debut.

In 1994, the U.S. Navy issued its first permanent orders assigning women to regular duty on a combat ship -- in this case, the USS Eisenhower.

In 1999, movie director Stanley Kubrick, whose films included "Dr. Strangelove," "A Clockwork Orange" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," died in Hertfordshire, England, at age 70, having just finished editing "Eyes Wide Shut."

Ten years ago: Fourteen Palestinians were killed in the deadliest Israeli raid in Gaza in 17 months. An investiture ceremony was held in Concord, N.H., for V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop. Actor Paul Winfield died in Los Angeles at age 64.

Five years ago: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Turkish leaders in Ankara, where she announced that President Barack Obama was planning to make his own visit, which took place in April 2009. Western-backed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad submitted his resignation (however, he retained his position under a new government). Former Metropolitan Opera general manager Schuyler Chapin died in New York at age 86. Former child actor and singer Jimmy Boyd ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus") died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 70.

One year ago: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously for tough new sanctions to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test; a furious Pyongyang threatened a nuclear strike against the United States. The Senate confirmed John Brennan to be CIA director, 63-34, after the Obama administration bowed to demands from Republicans blocking the nomination and stated explicitly there were limits to the president's power to use drones against U.S. terror suspects on American soil. Sybil Christopher, 83, the wife Richard Burton left in 1963 to marry Elizabeth Taylor, and who became a theater producer and nightclub founder, died in New York.

Today's Birthdays: Photographer Lord Snowdon is 84. TV personality Willard Scott is 80. Auto racer Janet Guthrie is 76. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 74. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner is 72. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 71. Actor John Heard is 68. Rock singer Peter Wolf is 68. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) is 68. Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Franco Harris is 64. Pro and College Football Hall-of-Famer Lynn Swann is 62. Rhythm-and-blues singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 62. Actor Bryan Cranston is 58. Actress Donna Murphy is 55. Actor Nick Searcy is 55. Golfer Tom Lehman is 55. International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Ivan Lendl is 54. Actress Mary Beth Evans is 53. Singer-actress Taylor Dayne is 52. Actor Bill Brochtrup is 51. Opera singer Denyce Graves is 50. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 50. Actor Jonathan Del Arco is 48. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 47. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 43. Actress Rachel Weisz is 43. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 41. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 40. Actress Jenna Fischer is 40. Actress Sarayu Rao is 39. Actress Audrey Marie Anderson is 39. Actor TJ Thyne is 39. Actress Laura Prepon is 34.

Thought for Today: "Caveat actor." (Let the doer beware.) -- Latin proverb.

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