Today in History

Today is Tuesday, March 11, the 70th day of 2014. There are 295 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

On March 11, 1954, the U.S. Army charged that Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and his subcommittee’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee. (The confrontation culminated in the famous Senate Army-McCarthy hearings.)

On this date:

In 1861, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America was adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1864, during the Civil War, the Union Army Ambulance Corps was established by the U.S. Congress. Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was appointed an assistant surgeon of the 52nd Ohio Infantry Regiment, the first woman assigned to such a post.

In 1888, the Blizzard of ‘88, also known as the “Great White Hurricane,” began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

In 1930, former President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia. (MacArthur, who subsequently vowed, “I shall return,” kept that promise more than 2 1/2 years later.)

In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama “A Raisin in the Sun” opened at New York’s Ethel Barrymore Theater.

In 1964, at the 21st Golden Globe Awards, “The Cardinal” was named best film drama of 1963 while “Tom Jones” won for best film musical or comedy.

In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C. by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.

In 1989, the reality TV show “COPS” premiered on the Fox Network.

In 1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general.

In 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.

In 2012, sixteen Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — were shot dead as they slept by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Ten years ago: Ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

Five years ago: President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending package to keep the government running through Sept. 2009, even as he called it “imperfect” because of the number of earmarks it contained. A teenager, Tim Kretschmer, went on a shooting rampage starting at a school in Winnenden, Germany, killing 15 people before committing suicide.

One year ago: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a Democrat, was convicted of a raft of crimes, including racketeering conspiracy (he was later sentenced to 28 years in prison). North Korea said it was no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, following days of increased tensions over its latest nuclear test.

(Above Advance for Use Tuesday, March 11)

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.