Today in History

Today is Sunday, March 7, the 66th day of 2021 There are 299 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 7, 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."

On this date:

In 1875, composer Maurice Ravel was born in Ciboure, France.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for his telephone.

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

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

In 1963, the Pan Am Building (today the MetLife Building) first opened in midtown Manhattan.

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 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 2001, Ariel Sharon was sworn in as Israel's prime minister, serving until he suffered a stroke in 2006.

In 2010, the Iraq war thriller "The Hurt Locker" received six Academy Awards including best picture, with Kathryn Bigelow accepting the first directing Oscar awarded to a woman.

Ten years ago: Reversing course, President Barack Obama approved the resumption of military trials at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban. Charlie Sheen was fired from the sitcom "Two and a Half Men" by Warner Bros. Television following repeated misbehavior and weeks of the actor's angry, often-manic media campaign against his studio bosses.

Five years ago: Peyton Manning announced his retirement after 18 seasons in the National Football League. A jury in Nashville, Tennessee, awarded sports reporter Erin Andrews $55 million in her lawsuit against a stalker who rented a hotel room next to hers and secretly recorded her, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in the blame. Stephen Curry scored 41 points and became the first player in NBA history to make 300 3-pointers in a season as the Golden State Warriors held off the Orlando Magic 119-113 for their 45th straight home victory.

One year ago: Health officials in Florida said two people who had tested positive for the new coronavirus had died; the deaths were the first on the East Coast attributed to the outbreak. Italy saw its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in the northern part of the country. A hotel in southeastern China that was being used to quarantine suspected coronavirus patients collapsed, killing 29 people. In an interim report, Ethiopian investigators put most of the blame on Boeing for the 2019 crash of a 737 Max jet shortly after takeoff, saying there were design failures and inadequate training for pilots; the crash killed all 157 people on board.

Today's Birthdays: TV personality Willard Scott is 87. International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie is 83. Actor Daniel J. Travanti is 81. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner is 79. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies) is 78. Rock singer Peter Wolf is 75. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum) is 75. Pro Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris is 71. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann is 69. R&B singer-musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 69. Rock musician Kenny Aronoff (BoDeans, John Mellencamp) is 68. Actor Bryan Cranston is 65. Actor Donna Murphy is 62. Actor Nick Searcy is 62. Golfer Tom Lehman is 62. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl is 61. Actor Mary Beth Evans is 60. Singer-actor Taylor Dayne is 59. Actor Bill Brochtrup is 58. Author E.L. James is 58. Author Bret Easton Ellis is 57. Opera singer Denyce Graves is 57. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 57. Actor Jonathan Del Arco is 55. Rock musician Randy Guss (Toad the Wet Sprocket) is 54. Actor Rachel Weisz is 51. Actor Peter Sarsgaard is 50. Actor Jay Duplass is 48. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo) is 48. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric) is 47. Actor Jenna Fischer is 47. Actor Tobias Menzies is 47. Actor Sarayu Blue is 46. Actor Audrey Marie Anderson is 46. Actor TJ Thyne is 46. Bluegrass singer-musician Frank Solivan is 44. Actor Laura Prepon is 41. Actor Bel Powley is 29. Actor Giselle Eisenberg (TV: "Life in Pieces") is 14.