Today in History

Today is Sunday, March 9, the 68th day of 2014. There are 297 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 9, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raised the standard for proving libel, unanimously ruling that public officials who charged they'd been defamed by the press concerning their official duties had to demonstrate "actual malice" on the part of the news organization in order to recover damages.

On this date:

In 1661, Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the chief minister of France, died, leaving King Louis XIV in full control.

In 1796, the future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, married Josephine de Beauharnais. (The couple later divorced.)

In 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.

In 1916, Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, N.M., killing 18 Americans.

In 1933, Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, began its "hundred days" of enacting New Deal legislation.

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.

In 1954, CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviewed Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's anti-communism campaign on "See It Now."

In 1964, the first Ford Mustang, a Wimbledon White convertible, rolled off the production line in Dearborn, Mich. (Instead of being kept by Ford Motor Co., the car was mistakenly sold to Canadian airline pilot Stanley Tucker, who later agreed to trade it back to Ford in exchange for the one-millionth Mustang.)

In 1977, about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. (The siege ended two days later.)

In 1989, the Senate rejected President George H.W. Bush's nomination of John Tower to be defense secretary by a vote of 53-47. (The next day, Bush tapped Wyoming Rep. Dick Cheney, who went on to win unanimous Senate approval.)

In 1994, the U.N. Human Rights Commission condemned anti-Semitism, putting the world body on record for the first time as opposing discrimination against Jews.

In 1997, gangsta rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (real name: Christopher Wallace) was killed in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; he was 24.

Ten years ago: Convicted D.C. Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death by a judge in Virginia (Muhammad was executed in Nov. 2009). Former United Nations official Gerard Latortue was named Haiti's new prime minister.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama lifted George W. Bush-era limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research.

One year ago: During U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's first trip to Afghanistan as defense chief, two suicide bombings, one outside the Afghan Defense Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province, killed at least 19 people. Egyptian soccer fans rampaged through the heart of Cairo, furious about the acquittal of seven police officers while death sentences against 21 alleged rioters were confirmed in a trial over a stadium melee that had left 74 people dead. Rebels in southern Syria freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days.

Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. James L. Buckley, Conservative-N.Y., is 91. Singer-actress Keely Smith is 86. Singer Lloyd Price is 81. Actress Joyce Van Patten is 80. Actor-comedian Marty Ingels is 78. Country singer Mickey Gilley is 78. Actress Trish Van Devere is 73. Singer Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere and the Raiders) is 72. Former ABC anchorman Charles Gibson is 71. Rock musician Robin Trower is 69. Singer Jeffrey Osborne is 66. Country musician Jimmie Fadden (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 66. Actress Jaime Lyn Bauer is 65. Magazine editor Michael Kinsley is 63. TV newscaster Faith Daniels is 57. Actor Tom Amandes is 55. Actor-director Lonny Price is 55. Actress Linda Fiorentino is 54. Country musician Rusty Hendrix (Confederate Railroad) is 54. Actress Juliette Binoche is 50. Rock musician Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) is 46. Rapper C-Murder (AKA C-Miller) is 43. Actor Emmanuel Lewis is 43. Actress Jean Louisa Kelly is 42. Actor Kerr Smith is 42. Rapper Chingy is 34. Actor Matthew Gray Gubler is 34. Roots rock musician Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) is 31. Actress Brittany Snow is 28. Rapper Bow Wow is 27. Actor Luis Armand Garcia is 22. Actress Cierra Ramirez is 19.

Thought for Today: "Delay is the deadliest form of denial." -- C. Northcote Parkinson, British author (1909-1993).

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