Today in History

Today is Tuesday, March 25, the 84th day of 2014. There are 281 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 25, 1634, English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.

On this date:

In 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned the King of Scots.

In 1776, Gen. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal by the Continental Congress.

In 1865, during the Civil War, Confederate forces attacked Fort Stedman in Virginia but were forced to withdraw because of counterattacking Union troops.

In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.

In 1911, 146 people, mostly young female immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York.

In 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed in Greece.

In 1947, a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., claimed 111 lives.

In 1954, RCA announced it had begun producing color television sets at its plant in Bloomington, Ind. (The sets, with 121/2-inch picture tubes, cost $1,000 each -- roughly $8,700 in today's dollars.)

In 1964, an acre of Runnymede in Surrey, England, was set aside by the British government as the site of a memorial to honor the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

In 1975, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. (The nephew was beheaded in June 1975.)

In 1988, in New York City's so-called "Preppie Killer" case, Robert Chambers Jr. pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. (Chambers received a sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison; he was released in 2003.)

In 1990, 87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City.

Ten years ago: The Senate joined the House in passing the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, making it a separate offense to harm a fetus during a violent federal crime. The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin (AKH'-mehd yah-SEEN'). Russian Evgeni Plushenko won his third world figure skating title, defeating French rival Brian Joubert in Dortmund, Germany.

Five years ago: Pirates seized the Panama-registered, Greek-owned Nipayia with 18 Filipino crew members and a Russian captain off the Somali coastline. (The ship and crew were released in May 2009.) John Hope Franklin, a towering scholar of African-American studies, died in Durham, N.C. at age 94. Dan Seals, half of the pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley, later a top country singer ("You Still Move Me"), died in Nashville at age 61.

One year ago: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of unusual unity between their two nations as the U.S. military ceded control of its last detention facility in Afghanistan, ending a long-standing irritant in relations. Anthony Lewis, 85, a prize-winning columnist for The New York Times who'd championed liberal causes for three decades, died in Cambridge, Mass.

Today's Birthdays: Modeling agency founder Eileen Ford is 92. Movie reviewer Gene Shalit is 88. Former astronaut James Lovell is 86. Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem is 80. Singer Anita Bryant is 74. Singer Aretha Franklin is 72. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 71. Singer Elton John is 67. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 66. Actress-comedian Mary Gross is 61. Actor James McDaniel is 56. Former Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is 56. Rock musician Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) is 54. Actress Brenda Strong is 54. Actor Fred Goss is 53. Actor-writer-director John Stockwell is 53. Actress Marcia Cross is 52. Author Kate DiCamillo is 50. Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton is 50. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 49. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Tom Glavine is 48. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas, M.D., is 47. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints) is 39. Actor Lee Pace is 35. Actor Sean Faris is 32. Auto racer Danica Patrick is 32. Actress-singer Katharine McPhee is 30. Singer Jason Castro ("American Idol") is 27. Rap DJ/producer Ryan Lewis is 26. Actress-singer Aly (AKA Alyson) Michalka is 25. Actor Kiowa Gordon is 24. Actress Seychelle Gabriel is 23.

Thought for Today: "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not." -- Andre Gide, French author and critic (1869-1951).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.