Today in History

Today in History

Today is Saturday, March 28, the 88th day of 2020. There are 278 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 28, 2003, American-led forces in Iraq dropped thousand-pound bombs on Republican Guard units guarding the gates to Baghdad and battled for control of the strategic city of Nasiriyah (nah-sih-REE'-uh). President George W. Bush warned of "further sacrifice" ahead in the face of unexpectedly fierce fighting.

On this date:

In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled 6-2 that Wong, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen.

In 1930, the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

In 1941, novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

In 1942, during World War II, British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship Tirpitz.

In 1963, the Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds" premiered in New York.

In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.

In 1978, in Stump v. Sparkman, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, 5-3, the judicial immunity of an Indiana judge against a lawsuit brought by a young woman who'd been ordered sterilized by the judge when she was a teenager.

In 1979, America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

In 1987, Maria von Trapp, whose life story inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music," died in Morrisville, Vermont, at age 82.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the widow of U.S. Olympic legend Jesse Owens.

In 1999, NATO broadened its attacks on Yugoslavia to target Serb military forces in Kosovo in the fifth straight night of airstrikes; thousands of refugees flooded into Albania and Macedonia from Kosovo.

In 2000, in a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court, in Florida v. J.L., sharply curtailed police power in relying on anonymous tips to stop and search people.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama secretly visited Afghanistan near the front lines of the increasingly bloody 8-year-old war. Actress-writer June Havoc, 97, whose childhood in vaudeville was immortalized in the musical "Gypsy," died in Stamford, Connecticut. Jazz guitarist Herb Ellis died in Los Angeles at age 88.

Five years ago: Afghanistan's highest court ruled that the police officer convicted of murdering Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding AP correspondent Kathy Gannon should serve 20 years in prison. Two Russians and an American floated into the International Space Station, eight hours after launching from Russia's space facility in Kazakhstan; Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly spent 342 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, while Russia's Gennady Padalka stayed for six months.

One year ago: As President Donald Trump claimed that he'd been fully exonerated in the report from special counsel Robert Mueller, based on a four-page summary by his attorney general, Democrats intensified their demands for the full report; it would be released weeks later. The Energy Department said the Trump administration had approved seven applications for U.S. companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. The president said he was backing off of his budget request to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics; his announcement came after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spent days defending the proposed cuts.

Today's Birthdays: Author Mario Vargas Llosa is 84. Country musician Charlie McCoy is 79. Movie director Mike Newell is 78. Actress Conchata Ferrell is 77. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is 75. Actress Dianne Wiest is 74. Country singer Reba McEntire is 65. Olympic gold medal gymnast Bart Conner is 62. Actress Alexandra Billings (TV: "Transparent") is 58. Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 54. Actress Tracey Needham is 53. Actor Max Perlich is 52. Movie director Brett Ratner is 51. Country singer Rodney Atkins is 51. Actor Vince Vaughn is 50. Rapper Mr. Cheeks (Lost Boyz) is 49. Actor Ken L. is 47. Singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson is 47. Rock musician Dave Keuning is 44. Actress Annie Wersching is 43. Actress Julia Stiles is 39. Singer Lady Gaga is 34. Electronic musician Clayton Knight (Odesza) is 32.

Thought for Today: "You cannot find peace by avoiding life." -- Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).