TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
In 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians was carried out by U.S. Army troops; estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.
ON THIS DATE
In A.D. 37, Roman emperor Tiberius died; he was succeeded by Caligula.
In 1751, James Madison, fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Va.
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
In 1915, the Federal Trade Commission began operations.
In 1926, rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Mass.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler decided to break the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany.
In 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre of Vietnamese civilians was carried out by U.S. Army troops; estimates of the death toll vary between 347 and 504.
In 1978, Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas, who later murdered him.
In 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by terrorists (he was tortured by his captors and killed in 1985).
In 1985, Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, was abducted in Beirut; he was released in December of 1991.
In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray said he found no credible evidence that Hillary Rodham Clinton or senior White House officials had sought FBI background files of Republicans. Thomas Wilson Ferebee, the Enola Gay bombardier who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Windermere, Fla. at age 81.
In 2005, a judge in Redwood City, Calif. sent Scott Peterson to death row for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci. Norway’s Robert Sorlie won his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in one of the closest races in years.
In 2009, joining a wave of public anger, President Barack Obama blistered insurance giant AIG for “recklessness and greed” for handing its executives $165 million in bonuses after taking billions in federal bailout money. British actress Natasha Richardson, 45, was fatally injured in a skiing accident at a resort in Quebec; she died two days later at a Manhattan hospital. Austrian Josef Fritzl pleaded guilty at the start of his trial to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her seven children. (Two days later, Fritzl pleaded guilty to the remaining charges against him, including negligent homicide; he was sentenced to life in a psychiatric ward.)
Associated Press
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