14th March: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, March 14th, the 73rd day of 2017. There are 292 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight;

Events:

1794:  Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.

1885:  The Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera "The Mikado" premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London.

1900:  Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.

1907:  President Theodore Roosevelt signed an executive order designed to prevent Japanese laborers from immigrating to the United States as part of a "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan.

1923:  President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return, paying a levy of $17,990 on his $75,000 salary.

1939:  The republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.

1951:  During the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.

1964:  A jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)

1975, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a send-up of the legend of King Arthur, had its world premiere in Los Angeles. Academy Award-winning actress Susan Hayward, 57, died in Los Angeles.

1980:  A LOT Polish Airlines jet crashed while attempting to land in Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.

1990:  The Soviet Congress of People's Deputies held a secret ballot that elected Mikhail S. Gorbachev to a new, powerful presidency.

1991:  A British court overturned the convictions of the "Birmingham Six," who had spent 16 years in prison for a 1974 Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.

Birthdays:

Singer Phil Phillips (Song: "Sea of Love") is 91.

Former astronaut Frank Borman is 89.

Actor Michael Caine is 84.

Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 84.

ActorRaymond J. Barry is 78.

Movie directorWolfgang Petersen is 76.

Country singerMichael Martin Murphey is 72. 

Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 72.

Actor Steve Kanaly is 71.

Comedian Billy Crystal is 69.

Former Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla is 69.

Actor-writer-comedian-radio personality Rick Dees is 66.

Country singerJann Browne is 63.

Actor Adrian Zmed is 63.

Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, is 59.