Today's Highlight in History:
On March 15, 44 B.C., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of nobles that included Brutus and Cassius.
On this date:
In 1493, Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
In 1767, the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, was born in Waxhaw, S.C.
In 1820, Maine became the 23rd state.
In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson met with about 100 reporters for the first formal presidential press conference.
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In 1919, members of the American Expeditionary Force from World War I convened in Paris for a three-day meeting to found the American Legion.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied bombers again raided German-held Monte Cassino.
In 1956, the Lerner and Loewe musical play "My Fair Lady," based on Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," opened on Broadway.
In 1964, actress Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in Montreal; it was her fifth marriage, his second.
In 1970, Expo '70, promoting "Progress and Harmony for Mankind," opened in Osaka, Japan.
In 1975, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis died near Paris at age 69.
In 1985, the first Internet domain name, symbolics.com, was registered by the Symbolics Computer Corp. of Massachusetts.
In 1999, an Amtrak train slammed into a steel-filled truck at a crossing in Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people.
Ten years ago: Ten days after being convicted in a stock scandal, Martha Stewart resigned from the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. (Stewart rejoined the board in Sept. 2011.) Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to the Caribbean from African exile after winning temporary asylum in Jamaica. A drive-by shooting in Mosul, Iraq, killed four American missionaries working for the Richmond, Va.-based Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
Five years ago: A chorus of outrage on Capitol Hill greeted news that some $165 million in executive bonuses were being paid by bailed-out insurance giant American International Group. The space shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to the International Space Station that had been delayed five times. Mauricio Funes won El Salvador's presidential election. Tony Award-winning actor Ron Silver died in New York City at age 62.
One year ago: The Pentagon announced it would spend $1 billion to add 14 interceptors to an Alaska-based missile defense system, responding to what it called faster-than-anticipated North Korean progress on nuclear weapons and missiles. The chief of Syria's main, Western-backed rebel group marked the second anniversary of the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad by pledging to fight until the "criminal" regime was gone. Canadian Patrick Chan won his third title at the World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontario.
Today's Birthdays: Musician DJ Fontana is 83. Former astronaut Alan L. Bean is 82. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 81. Actor Judd Hirsch is 79. Rock musician Phil Lesh is 74. Singer Mike Love (The Beach Boys) is 73. Rock singer-musician Sly Stone is 71. Rock singer-musician Howard Scott (War; Lowrider Band) is 68. Rock singer Ry Cooder is 67. Actor Craig Wasson is 60. Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 59. Actress Park Overall is 57. Movie director Renny Harlin is 55. Model Fabio is 53. Singer Terence Trent D'Arby (AKA Sananda Maitreya) is 52. Rock singer Bret Michaels (Poison) is 51. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rockwell is 50. Rock singer Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) is 46. Actress Kim Raver is 45. Rock musician Mark Hoppus is 42. Actress Eva Longoria is 39. Rapper-musician will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) is 39. Rock DJ Joseph Hahn (Linkin Park) is 37. Rapper Young Buck is 33. Actor Sean Biggerstaff is 31. Rock musician Ethan Mentzer is 31. Actor Kellan Lutz is 29. Actress Caitlin Wachs is 25.
Thought for Today: "Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess it always will. But I love it just the same." — E.B. White, American author and humorist (1899-1985).
