Today in History

Today is Thursday, March 7, the 66th day of 2019. There are 299 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 7, 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact.

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 1911, President William Howard Taft ordered 20,000 troops to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the Mexican Revolution.

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

In 1955, the first TV production of the musical "Peter Pan" starring Mary Martin aired on NBC.

In 1965, a march by civil rights demonstrators was violently broken up at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, 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 1981, anti-government guerrillas in Colombia executed kidnapped American Bible translator Chester Bitterman, whom they accused of being a CIA agent.

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: 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.

Five years ago: Russia was swept up in patriotic fervor in anticipation of bringing Crimea back into its territory, with tens of thousands of people thronging Red Square in Moscow chanting, "Crimea is Russia!"

One year ago: The White House said Mexico, Canada and other countries could be spared from President Donald Trump's planned steel and aluminum tariffs under national security "carve-outs." For the second time in less than a week, a storm rolled into the Northeast with as much as two feet of wet, heavy snow that grounded flights, closed schools and knocked out power.

Today's Birthdays: TV personality Willard Scott is 85. International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie is 81. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 79. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner is 77. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 76. Rock singer Peter Wolf is 73. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) is 73. Pro Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris is 69. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann is 67. Rhythm-and-blues singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 67. Rock musician Kenny Aronoff (BoDeans, John Mellencamp) is 66. Actor Bryan Cranston is 63. Actress Donna Murphy is 60. Actor Nick Searcy is 60. Golfer Tom Lehman is 60. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl is 59. Actress Mary Beth Evans is 58. Singer-actress Taylor Dayne is 57. Actor Bill Brochtrup is 56. Author E.L. James is 56. Author Bret Easton Ellis is 55. Opera singer Denyce Graves is 55. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 55. Actor Jonathan Del Arco is 53. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 52. Actress Rachel Weisz is 49. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 48. Actor Jay Duplass is 46. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 46. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 45. Actress Jenna Fischer is 45. Actor Tobias Menzies is 45. Actress Sarayu Rao is 44. Actress Audrey Marie Anderson is 44. Actor TJ Thyne is 44. Bluegrass singer-musician Frank Solivan is 42. Actress Laura Prepon is 39. Actress Bel Powley is 27. Actress Giselle Eisenberg (TV: "Life in Pieces") is 12.

Thought for Today: "History and experience tells us that moral progress cannot come in comfortable and in complacent times, but out of trial and out of confusion." -- Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States (1913-2006).

Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.