Today in History

Today is Tuesday, March 1, the 60th day of 2022. There are 305 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 1, 1974, seven people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. (These four defendants were convicted in January 1975, although Mardian's conviction was later reversed.)

On this date:

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 as President Andrew Johnson signed a proclamation.

In 1893, inventor Nikola Tesla first publicly demonstrated radio during a meeting of the National Electric Light Association in St. Louis by transmitting electromagnetic energy without wires.

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 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.

In 1966, the Soviet space probe Venera 3 impacted the surface of Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach another planet; however, Venera was unable to transmit any data, its communications system having failed.

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 2005, 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.

In 2010, Jay Leno returned as host of NBC's "The Tonight Show."

In 2015, tens of thousands marched through Moscow in honor of slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who had been shot to death on Feb. 27.

In 2020, state officials said New York City had its first confirmed case of the coronavirus, a woman in her late 30s who had contracted the virus while traveling in Iran. Health officials in Washington state, announcing what was believed at the time to be the second U.S. death from the coronavirus, said the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in the Seattle area.

Ten years ago: Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a measure legalizing same-sex marriage in his state, effective January 2013. Online publisher and conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died in Los Angeles at age 43.

Five years ago: Former Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke was sworn in as secretary of the Interior Department by Vice President Mike Pence, hours after being confirmed by the Senate.

One year ago: Vernon Jordan, who rose from humble beginnings in the segregated South to become a champion of civil rights before reinventing himself as a Washington insider, died at 85. Pennsylvania's Republican Party expressed its disapproval of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey over his vote to convict Donald Trump during Trump's second impeachment trial, but stopped short of issuing a more serious censure. Twitter said it had begun labeling tweets that included misleading information about COVID-19 vaccines, and that it would use a "strike system" to remove accounts that repeatedly violate its rules. An American father and son wanted by Japan for helping former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn escape from the country in a box while facing financial misconduct charges were handed over to Japanese custody. (Michael Taylor would be sentenced to two years in prison; his son Peter was sentenced to one year and eight months.)

Today's Birthdays: Actor Robert Clary is 96. Singer/actor Harry Belafonte is 95. Rock singer Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann) is 78. Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 78. Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 78. Actor Dirk Benedict is 77. Actor-director Ron Howard is 68. Country singer Janis Oliver (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 68. Actor Catherine Bach is 67. Actor Tim Daly is 66. Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 65. Rock musician Bill Leen is 60. Actor Bryan Batt is 59. Actor Maurice Benard is 59. Actor Russell Wong is 59. Actor Chris Eigeman is 57. Actor George Eads is 55. Actor Javier Bardem is 53. Actor Jack Davenport is 49. Rock musician Ryan Peake (Nickelback) is 49. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 48. Singer Tate Stevens is 47. Actor Jensen Ackles is 44. TV host Donovan Patton is 44. Actor Joe Tippett is 40. Actor Lupita Nyong'o is 39. Pop singer Kesha (formerly Ke$ha) is 35. R&B singer Sammie is 35. Pop singer Justin Bieber is 28.