Today In History

Today is Thursday, March 30, the 89th day of 2023. There are 276 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr.; also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and a District of Columbia police officer, Thomas Delahanty.

ON THIS DATE

› 1822: Florida became a United States territory.

› 1842: Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during an operation to remove a patient’s neck tumor.

› 1867: U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal ridiculed by critics as “Seward’s Folly.”

› 1870: The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

› 1923: The Cunard liner RMS Laconia became the first passenger ship to circle the globe as it arrived in New York.

› 1945: During World War II, the Soviet Union invaded Austria with the goal of taking Vienna, which it accomplished two weeks later.

› 1959: A narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Bartkus v. Illinois, ruled that a conviction in state court following an acquittal in federal court for the same crime did not constitute double jeopardy.

› 1975: As the Vietnam War neared its end, communist forces occupied the city of Da Nang.

› 1987: At the 59th Academy Awards, “Platoon” was named best picture; Marlee Matlin received best actress for “Children of a Lesser God” and Paul Newman was honored as best actor for “The Color of Money.”

› 2010: President Barack Obama signed a single measure sealing his health care overhaul and making the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Game show host Peter Marshall is 97. Actor John Astin is 93. Actor-director Warren Beatty is 86. Rock musician Eric Clapton is

78. Actor Justin Deas is

75. Actor Paul Reiser is 67. Rap artist MC Hammer is

61. Singer Tracy Chapman is 59. Actor Ian Ziering is 59. TV personality Piers Morgan is 58. Rock musician Joey Castillo is

57. Actor Donna D’Errico is 55. Singer Celine Dion is 55. Actor Mark Consuelos is 52. Actor Bahar Soomekh is 48. Actor Jessica Cauffiel is 47. Singer Norah Jones is 44. Actor Fiona Gubelmann is 43. Actor Katy Mixon is 42. Actor Jason Dohring is

41. Country singer Justin Moore is 39. Actor Tessa Ferrer is 37. Country singer Thomas Rhett is 33. Rapper NF is 32.