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! TODAY IN HISTORY !
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Today is Thursday, March 6, the 65th day of 2014. There are 300 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On March 6, 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.
On this date:
In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto.
In 1853, Verdi's opera "La Traviata" premiered in Venice, Italy.
In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.
In 1912, Oreo sandwich cookies were first introduced by the National Biscuit Co.
In 1933, a national bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt aimed at calming panicked depositors went into effect. Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, wounded in an attempt on Roosevelt's life the previous month, died at a Miami hospital at age 59.
In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.
In 1953, Georgy Malenkov was named premier of the Soviet Union a day after the death of Josef Stalin.
In 1964, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay officially changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
In 1967, the daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva (ah-lee-loo-YAY'-vah), appeared at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and declared her intention to defect to the West.
In 1970, a bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members.
In 1983, in a case that drew much notoriety, a woman was gang-raped atop a pool table in a tavern in New Bedford, Mass., called Big Dan's; four men were later convicted of the attack.
In 1994, Greek actress-turned-politician Melina Mercouri, 73, died in New York.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush, playing host to Mexican President Vicente Fox at his Texas ranch, backed off on plans to require frequent Mexican travelers to the U.S. to be fingerprinted and photographed before crossing the border, a reversal welcomed by Fox. A water taxi capsized in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, killing five people.
Five years ago: The government reported the jobless rate reached 8.1 percent in Feb. 2009. While acknowledging an "astounding" number of job losses, President Barack Obama told critics of his $787 billion economic recovery plan in Columbus, Ohio, that it was saving jobs and said, "I know we did the right thing." NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft, Kepler, rocketed into space on a voyage to track down other Earths in a faraway patch of the Milky Way galaxy.
One year ago: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a critic of the Obama administration's drone policy, launched an old-style filibuster to block Senate confirmation of John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director; Paul lasted nearly 13 hours before yielding the floor. Syria's accelerating humanitarian crisis hit a grim milestone as the number of U.N.-registered refugees topped 1 million, half of them children.
Today's Birthdays: Orchestra conductor Julius Rudel is 93. Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 90. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 88. Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is 87. Orchestra conductor Lorin Maazel is 84. Former Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 77. Former Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., is 75. Actress-writer Joanna Miles is 74. Actor Ben Murphy is 72. Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is 70. Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) is 70. Rock musician Hugh Grundy (The Zombies) is 69. Rock singer-musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 68. Actress Anna Maria Horsford is 67. Actor-director Rob Reiner is 67. Singer Kiki Dee is 67. Broadcast journalist John Stossel is 67. Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz ("Godspell") is 66. Rock singer-musician Phil Alvin (The Blasters) is 61. Sports correspondent Armen Keteyian is 61. Actor Tom Arnold is 55. Former child actress Suzanne Crough (kroh) is 51. Actor D.L. Hughley is 50. Country songwriter Skip Ewing is 50. Actor Shuler Hensley is 47. Actress Connie Britton is 47. Actress Moira Kelly is 46. Actress Amy Pietz is 45. Rock musician Chris Broderick (Megadeth) is 44. NBA player Shaquille O'Neal is 42. Country singer Trent Willmon is 41. Country musician Shan Farmer (Ricochet) is 40. Rapper Beanie Sigel is 40. Rapper Bubba Sparxxx is 37. Rock musician Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend) is 30. Actor Eli Marienthal is 28. Actor Jimmy Galeota is 28. Rapper/producer Tyler, the Creator is 23. Actor Dillon Freasier (Film: "There Will Be Blood") is 18. Actress Savannah Stehlin is 18.
Thought for Today: "Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true!" — Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861).
Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
