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Today in History

Staff
Friday March 08, 2002

Today is Friday, March 8, the 67th day of 2002. There are 298 days left in the year. 

 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

Three hundred years ago, on March 8, 1702, England’s Queen Anne ascended the throne upon the death of King William III. 

 

On this date: 

In 1841, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the “Great Dissenter,” was born in Boston. 

In 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan. Within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese. 

In 1874, the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, died in Buffalo, N.Y. 

In 1917, Russia’s “February Revolution” (so called because of the Old Style calendar being used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg. 

In 1917, the U.S. Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule. 

In 1930, the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft, died in Washington. 

In 1942, Japanese forces captured Rangoon, Burma, during World War II. 

In 1965, the United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam. 

In 1986, four French television crew members were abducted in west Beirut; a caller claimed Islamic Jihad was responsible. (All four were eventually released.) 

In 1999, former New York Yankees baseball star Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Fla. at age 84. 

Ten years ago: President George H.W. Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton headed toward “Super Tuesday” claiming big boosts from weekend victories. Ninety people were killed when a ferry carrying pilgrims to a Buddhist shrine collided with an oil tanker in the Gulf of Thailand. 

Five years ago: President Clinton, in keeping with his push for private businesses and churches to hire off welfare rolls, ordered federal agencies to do the same. 

One year ago: The Republican-controlled House voted for an across-the-board tax cut of nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, handing President Bush a major victory only 48 days into his term. Scott Waddle, the embattled commander of the Navy submarine that collided with a Japanese fishing vessel off Hawaii, offered a tearful apology to the families of some of the victims. Dame Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet, died in London at age 102. 

 

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Sue Ane Langdon is 66. Baseball player-turned-author Jim Bouton is 63. Actress Lynn Redgrave is 59. Actor-director Micky Dolenz is 57. Lyricist Carole Bayer Sager is 55. Actress Jaime Lyn Bauer is 53. Baseball player Jim Rice is 49. Singer Gary Numan is 44. Actor Aidan Quinn is 43. Actress Camryn Manheim is 41. Actress Andrea Parker is 33. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is 26. Actor James Van Der Beek is 25. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kameelah Williams (702) is 24. Pop musicians David, Bob and Clint Moffatt are 18.