12th March: Today In History

Today is Sunday, March 12th, the 71st day of 2017. There are 294 days left in the year.

Today's highlight:

Events;

1857:  The original version of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Simon Boccanegra" was poorly received at its premiere in Venice, Italy. (Verdi offered a revised version in 1881.)

1912:  The Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.

1925:  Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died.

1933:  President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio addresses that came to be known as "fireside chats," telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.

1938:  The Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries. 

1940:  Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during World War II. (Fighting between the two countries flared again the following year.)

1947:  President Harry S. Truman announced what became known as the "Truman Doctrine" to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

1951:  "Dennis the Menace," created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.

1967:  Gen. Suharto became Acting President of Indonesia, replacing President Sukarno.

1971:  Hafez Assad was confirmed as president of Syria in a referendum.

1980:  A Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)

1993:  Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female U.S. attorney general. A three-day blizzard that came to be known as "The Storm of the Century" began inundating the eastern third of the U.S. A series of bombings in Mumbai, India, killed 257 people (the explosions were allegedly masterminded by India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim).

2003:  Elizabeth Smart, the 15-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, who are serving prison terms for kidnapping her.

Birthdays;

Nigerian Actress Chioma Chukwuka is 37.
Politician, diplomat and civil Rights activist Andrew Young is 85.

Actress Barbara Feldon is 84.

Broadcast journalist Lloyd Dobyns is 81.

Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 71.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romneyis 70.

Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 69.

Former Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is 69.

Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 68.

Actor Jon Provost (TV: "Lassie") is 67.

AuthorCarl Hiaasen is 64.

Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 61.

Actor Jerry Levine is 60.

Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 60.

Actor Jason Beghe is 57.

Actor Courtney B. Vance is 57.