Today in History

Today is Friday, March 1, the 61st day of 2024. There are 305 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 1, 1974, seven people, including former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in connection with the Watergate break-in. (These four defendants were convicted in January 1975, though Mardian’s conviction was later reversed.)

On this date:

In 1815, Napoleon, having escaped exile in Elba, arrived in Cannes, France, and headed for Paris to begin his “Hundred Days” rule.

In 1867, Nebraska became the 37th state as President Andrew Johnson signed a proclamation.

In 1893, inventor Nikola Tesla first publicly demonstrated radio during a meeting of the National Electric Light Association in St. Louis by transmitting electromagnetic energy without wires.

In 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. (Remains identified as those of the child were found the following May.)

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, back from the Yalta Conference, proclaimed the meeting a success as he addressed a joint session of Congress.

In 1954, four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the spectators’ gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five members of Congress.

In 1966, the Soviet space probe Venera 3 impacted the surface of Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to reach another planet; however, Venera was unable to transmit any data, its communications system having failed.

In 1971, a bomb went off inside a men’s room at the U.S. Capitol; the radical group Weather Underground claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn blast.

In 2005, Dennis Rader, the churchgoing family man accused of leading a double life as the BTK serial killer, was charged in Wichita, Kansas, with 10 counts of first-degree murder. (Rader later pleaded guilty and received multiple life sentences.)

In 2010, Jay Leno returned as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

In 2012, online publisher and conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died in Los Angeles at age 43.

In 2015, tens of thousands marched through Moscow in honor of slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who had been shot to death on Feb. 27.

In 2020, state officials said New York City had its first confirmed case of the coronavirus, a woman in her late 30s who had contracted the virus while traveling in Iran. Health officials in Washington state, announcing what was believed at the time to be the second U.S. death from the coronavirus, said the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in the Seattle area.

In 2021, Vernon Jordan, who rose from humble beginnings in the segregated South to become a champion of civil rights before reinventing himself as a Washington insider, died at 85.

In 2022, in his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden aimed to rally the American public to bear the costs of supporting Ukraine’s fight to stave off the massive Russian invasion.

Today’s birthdays: Rock singer Mike D’Abo (Manfred Mann) is 80. Former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., is 80. Rock singer Roger Daltrey is 80. Actor Dirk Benedict is 79. Actor-director Ron Howard is 70. Country singer Janis Oliver (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 70. Actor Catherine Bach is 69. Actor Tim Daly is 68. Singer-musician Jon Carroll is 67. Rock musician Bill Leen is 62. Actor Bryan Batt is 61. Actor Maurice Benard is 61. Actor Russell Wong is 61. Actor Chris Eigeman is 59. Actor George Eads is 57. Actor Javier Bardem is 55. Actor Jack Davenport is 51. Rock musician Ryan Peake (Nickelback) is 51. Actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar is 50. Singer Tate Stevens is 49. Actor Jensen Ackles is 46. TV host Donovan Patton is 46. Actor Joe Tippett is 42. Actor Lupita Nyong’o is 41. Pop singer Kesha (formerly Ke$ha) is 37. R&B singer Sammie is 37. Pop singer Justin Bieber is 30.