Today in History

Today in History

Today is Monday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2017. There are 293 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On March 13, 1947, the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical "Brigadoon," about a Scottish village which magically reappears once every hundred years, opened on Broadway. "The Best Years of Our Lives" won the Academy Award for best picture of 1946; Oscars also went to its director, William Wyler, lead actor Fredric March and supporting actor Harold Russell; Olivia De Havilland won best actress for "To Each His Own"; Anne Baxter won best supporting actress for "The Razor's Edge."

On this date:

In 1781, the seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered by Sir William Herschel.

In 1845, Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, had its premiere in Leipzig, Germany.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis signed a measure allowing black slaves to enlist in the Confederate States Army with the promise they would be set free.

In 1901, the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, died in Indianapolis at age 67.

In 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. (Gov. Austin Peay signed the measure on March 21.)

In 1933, banks in the U.S. began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu began during the First Indochina War as communist forces attacked French troops, who were defeated nearly two months later.

In 1964, bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her Queens, New York, home; the case gained notoriety over the supposed reluctance of Genovese's neighbors to respond to her cries for help.

In 1980, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Indiana, found the company not guilty of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

In 1996, a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

In 1997, a Jordanian soldier fired on Israeli junior high school girls on a field trip, killing seven of them. (The soldier, Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh, was later sentenced by a military court to life in prison.)

In 2013, Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope, choosing the name Francis.

Ten years ago: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in the way the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, which Democrats charged were a politically motivated purge, but said he wouldn't resign. President George W. Bush, on the last stop of a five-nation Latin American tour, sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies; but his host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence. Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in 9 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes.

Five years ago: A resurgent Rick Santorum swept to victory in Republican presidential primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. Twenty-two young people returning from a ski holiday and six adults died when their bus crashed inside a tunnel in southern Switzerland. A ferry carrying more than 200 people collided with a cargo boat and sank just short of Dhaka, Bangladesh; most on board died. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. said it would stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia. Dallas Seavey, at age 25, became the youngest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska, finishing in 9 days, 4 hours and 29 minutes.

One year ago: A Kurdish woman blew herself up in a car at a busy transport hub in Ankara, Turkey, killing 37 people in an attack claimed by TAK, also known as the Kurdish Freedom Falcons. A gunfight outside a police station in Landover, Maryland, resulted in the death of an undercover narcotics detective shot by a colleague who mistook him as a threat; three brothers, including the alleged gunman, have been indicted in connection with the attack.

Today's Birthdays: Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 92. Country singer Jan Howard is 87. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 84. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 78. Opera singer Julia Migenes is 68. Actor William H. Macy is 67. Comedian Robin Duke is 63. Actress Glenne Headly is 62. Actress Dana Delany is 61. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 57. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 55. Actor Christopher Collet is 49. Rock musician Matt McDonough (Mudvayne) is 48. Actress Annabeth Gish is 46. Actress Tracy Wells is 46. Rapper-actor Common is 45. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 45. Singer Glenn Lewis is 42. Actor Danny Masterson is 41. Bluegrass musician Clayton Campbell (The Gibson Brothers) is 36. Actor Noel Fisher is 33. Singers Natalie and Nicole Albino (Nina Sky) are 33. Actor Emile Hirsch is 32.

Thought for Today: "Work is something you can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you." -- Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist (1904-1971).