Today in History

Today is Sunday, March 1, the 60th day of 2015. There are 305 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 1, 1565, the city of Rio de Janeiro was founded by Portuguese knight Estacio de Sa.

On this date:

In 1790, President George Washington signed a measure authorizing the first U.S. Census.

In 1815, Napoleon, having escaped exile in Elba, arrived in Cannes, France, and headed for Paris to begin his "Hundred Days" rule.

In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state.

In 1890, J.P. Lippincott published the first U.S. edition of the Sherlock Holmes mystery "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle.

In 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)

In 1940, "Native Son" by Richard Wright was first published by Harper & Brothers.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, back from the Yalta Conference, proclaimed the meeting a success as he addressed a joint session of Congress.

In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the spectators' gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress. The United States detonated a dry-fuel hydrogen bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps.

In 1971, a bomb went off inside a men's room at the U.S. Capitol; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn blast.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands began a hunger strike at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland; he died 65 days later.

In 1995, the Internet search engine website Yahoo! was incorporated by founders Jerry Yang and David Filo.

Ten years ago: Dennis Rader, the churchgoing family man accused of leading a double life as the BTK serial killer, was charged in Wichita, Kansas, with 10 counts of first-degree murder. (Rader later pleaded guilty and received multiple life sentences.) A closely divided Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for juvenile criminals.

Five years ago: Wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, defending himself against charges of Europe's worst genocide since the Holocaust, told judges in his slow-moving trial that he was not the barbarian depicted by U.N. prosecutors, but was protecting his people against a fundamentalist Muslim plot. Jay Leno returned as host of NBC's "The Tonight Show."

One year ago: Russian troops took over Crimea as the parliament in Moscow gave President Vladimir Putin a green light to use the military to protect Russian interests in Ukraine. French filmmaker Alain Resnais, director of such art house classics as "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Last Year at Marienbad," died in Paris at age 91.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Robert Clary is 89. Singer Harry Belafonte is 88. Actor Robert Conrad is 80. Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 71. Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 71. Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 71. Actor Dirk Benedict is 70. Actor Alan Thicke is 68. Actor-director Ron Howard is 61. Actress Catherine Bach is 61. Country singer Janis Gill (aka Janis Oliver Cummins) (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 61. Actor Tim Daly is 59. Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 58. Rock musician Bill Leen is 53. Actor Bryan Batt (TV: "Mad Men"; Film: "12 Years a Slave") is 52. Actor Maurice Bernard is 52. Actor Russell Wong is 52. Actor Chris Eigeman is 50. Actor John David Cullum is 49. Actor George Eads is 48. Actor Javier Bardem is 46. Actor Jack Davenport is 42. Rock musician Ryan Peake (Nickelback) is 42. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 41. Singer Tate Stevens (TV: "The X Factor") is 40. Actor Jensen Ackles is 37. TV host Donovan Patton is 37. Rock musician Sean Woolstenhulme (WOOL'-sten-hyoolm) is 34. Actress Lupita Nyong'o (Film: "12 Years a Slave") is 32. Pop singer Kesha (formerly Ke$ha) is 28. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sammie is 28. Pop singer Justin Bieber is 21.

Thought for Today: "An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail." -- Edwin H. Land, American investor (born 1909, died this date in 1991).

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