28th March: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, March 28th, the 87th day of 2017. There are 278 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1942:  During World War II, British naval forces staged a successful raid on the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire in Operation Chariot, destroying the only dry dock on the Atlantic coast capable of repairing the German battleship Tirpitz.

1834:  The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.

1896:  The opera “Andrea Chenier,” by Umberto Giordano, premiered in Milan, Italy.

1898:  The Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.

1930, the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

1935:  The notorious Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.

1941:   Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

1955:   John Marshall Harlan II was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1969:  The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C. at age 78.

1977:  “Rocky” won best picture at the 49th Academy Awards; Peter Finch was honored posthumously as best actor for “Network” while his co-star, Faye Dunaway, was recognized as best actress.

1979:  America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

1987:  Maria von Trapp, whose life story inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” died in Morrisville, Vermont, at age 82.

1990: President George H.W. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the widow of U.S. Olympic legend Jesse Owens.

Birthdays: 

Former White House national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski (ZBIG’-nyef breh-ZHIN’-skee) is 89.

Author Mario Vargas Llosa is 81.

Country musician Charlie McCoy is 76.

Movie director Mike Newell is 75.

Actress Conchata Ferrell is 74.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is 72.

Actress Dianne Wiest (weest) is 71.

Country singer Reba McEntire is 62.

Olympic gold medal gymnast Bart Conner is 59.

Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 51.