24th March: Today In History

Today is Friday, March 24th, the 83rd day of 2017. There are 282 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1765:  Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.

1832:  A mob in Hiram, Ohio, attacked, tarred and feathered Mormon leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.

1913:  New York’s Palace Theatre, the legendary home of vaudeville, opened on Broadway.

1934:  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.

1944:  In occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that had killed 32 German soldiers.

1958:  Rock-and-roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tennessee.

1965:  Ranger 9, a lunar probe launched three days earlier by NASA, crashed into the moon (as planned) after sending back more than 5,800 video images.

1976:  The president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country’s military. British war hero Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, 88, died in Alton, Hampshire, England.

1989:  The supertanker Exxon Valdez (vahl-DEEZ’) ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.

1997:   At the 69th Annual Academy Awards, “The English Patient” won best picture and director (Anthony Minghella); Frances McDormand won best actress for “Fargo” while Geoffrey Rush won best actor for “Shine.”

1999: NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. Thirty-nine people were killed when fire erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in France and burned for two days.

2002:  At the 74th Academy Awards, Halle Berry became the first black actress to win an Oscar for a leading role for her work in “Monster’s Ball,” while Denzel Washington became the second black actor, after Sidney Poitier, to win in the best actor category for “Training Day.” ”A Beautiful Mind” won four Oscars, including best picture and best director for Ron Howard.

2015:  Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators said the jetliner was deliberately downed by the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.

Birthdays:

Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is 98.

Actor William Smith is 84.

Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 78.

Actor R. Lee Ermey is 73.

Former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 70.

Rock musician Lee Oskar is 69.

Singer Nick Lowe is 68.

Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 66.

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 66.

Comedian Louie Anderson is 64.

 Actress Donna Pescow is 63.

Actor Robert Carradine is 63.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 61.