In 1933, Frances Perkins was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Labor, the first female member of a U.S. Cabinet.
In 1958, the U.S. atomic submarine Nautilus reached the North Pole by passing beneath the Arctic ice cap.
In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan acknowledged his administration swapped arms to Iran for U.S. hostages and said, "It was a mistake."
In 1994, four men were found guilty in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
In 1996, a bombing at a shopping mall in Tel Aviv, Israel, killed 14 people.
In 1999, a U.S. Marine pilot whose plane had snapped a ski-lift cable high in Italy, killing 20 people, was acquitted of charges of involuntary homicide and manslaughter.
In 2002, after more than 40 people died violently in a week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he aimed to kill as many Palestinians as possible to force negotiation.
In 2003, Philippine authorities blamed two bombings on the island of Mindanao on Islamic separatists. Twenty-two people, including a U.S. missionary, were killed and 150 injured in one blast and one died and three were hurt in the other.
In 2004, as U.S. Marines mobilized and patrolled the streets of Port-au-Prince, rebel forces proclaiming themselves Haiti's reinvented military after the president fled said they would lay down their weapons.
In 2005, homemaking guru Martha Stewart returned home after serving five months in a federal prison for conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators and began five months of home confinement.
In 2007, Sunni insurgents killed and wounded hundreds of Shiite Muslim pilgrims traveling to the holy city of Karbala in Iraq. At least 77 died at Hilla in the worst of the four-day series of attacks.
In 2008, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., clinched the Republican nomination for U.S. president with primary wins in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois remained a slim front-runner over Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in the tight Democratic contest.
In 2009, the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir at The Hague, Netherlands, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Western Sudan. It was the first ICC warrant against a sitting president.
In 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $15 billion jobs bill that includes a Social Security tax break for companies hiring new employees.
Also in 2010, more than 100 aftershocks menaced earthquake-ravaged Chile one week after a near record 8.8-magnitude tremor struck off the central coast. However, aid was reported reaching the hardest hit areas. The official death toll topped 800 before being scaled back.
A thought for the day: Thomas Jefferson said, "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."Today is Saturday, March 5, the 64th day of 2011 with 301 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Saturn, Mars and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Flemish mapmaker Gerardus Mercator in 1512; the Rev. William Blackstone, the first settler in what is now Boston, in 1595; Antoine Cadillac, founder of Detroit, in 1658; poet Lucy Larcom and lithographer James Ives, partner of Nathaniel Currier, both in 1824; author Frank Norris in 1870; water treatment pioneer Emmett J. Culligan in 1893; actors Rex Harrison in 1908, Jack Cassidy in 1927, Paul Sand in 1935 (age 76), Dean Stockwell in 1936 (age 75), Samantha Eggar in 1939 (age 72), Michael Warren in 1946 (age 65) and Marsha Warfield in 1954 (age 57); magician Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller in 1955 (age 56); journalist Ray Suarez in 1957 (age 54); and singer Andy Gibb in 1958.On this date in history:In 1770, British troops killed five colonials in the so-called Boston Massacre, one of the events that led to the American Revolution.
In 1933, in German elections, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won nearly half the seats in the Reichstag, the German Parliament.
In 1946, Winston Churchill, speaking in Fulton, Mo., established the Cold War boundary during his famed "Iron Curtain" speech.
In 1953, the Soviet Union announced that dictator Josef Stalin had died at age 73.
In 1984, the Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Chevron, bought Gulf Corp. for more than $13 billion in the largest business merger in U.S. history at the time.
In 1991, rebellions against Saddam Hussein were reported in southeastern Iraq. U.S. military officials predicted the unrest probably would lead to his downfall.
In 1993, Canada's Ben Johnson, once called the world's fastest human, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and was banned for life from track competition.
In 1997, Switzerland announced plans to establish a $4.7 billion government-financed fund, using interest from its gold reserves, to compensate survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and their descendants.
In 1998, NASA announced that ice had been found at the moon's north and south poles.
In 2006, Iran threatened to launch full-scale uranium enrichment if its nuclear program was referred to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions.
In 2008, OPEC turned a deaf ear to U.S. President George W. Bush's request for increased oil production, citing what some members called "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy as a major cause for high oil prices.
In 2009, 10 New Jersey co-workers said they were laying plans to split a $216 million Mega Millions jackpot -- and it only cost $5 a head. The winners, who worked for Chubb Commercial Insurance in Whitehouse Station, N.J., had a news conference after getting word of the win.
In 2010, the U.S. Labor Department said 36,000 jobs were lost in February, fewer than expected, leaving the nation's unemployment rate unchanged at 9.7 percent.
A thought for the day: Winston Churchill said: "It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary."Today is Sunday, March 6, the 65th day of 2011 with 300 to follow.The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening stars are Neptune, Saturn, Mars and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Italian painter and sculptor Michelangelo in 1475; French dramatist Cyrano de Bergerac in 1619; English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1806; Union Army Gen. Philip Sheridan in 1831; humorist and short story writer Ring Lardner in 1885; baseball pitcher Lefty Grove in 1900; Texas swing bandleader Bob Wills in 1905; comic actor Lou Costello (Abbott and Costello) in 1906; one-armed professional baseball player Pete Gray in 1915; television personality Ed McMahon in 1923; symphony conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1924; former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in 1926 (age 85); Mercury Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper in 1927; former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry in 1936 (age 75); actor Ben Murphy in 1942 (age 69); singer Mary Wilson in 1944 (age 67); rock musician David Gilmour in 1946 (age 65); actor/director Rob Reiner and high jumper Dick Fosbury, both in 1947 (age 64); actor Tom Arnold in 1959 (age 52); and basketball star Shaquille O'Neal in 1972 (age 39).On this date in history:In 1820, The Missouri Compromise was enacted allowing Missouri to join the United States as a slave state but leaving the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
In 1836, Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San Antonio killing the last of 187 defenders who had held out in the fortified Texas mission for 13 days. Famous frontiersman Davy Crockett was among those killed on the final day.
In 1853, "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi premiered in Venice, Italy.
In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling that black slave Dred Scott couldn't sue for his freedom in a federal court, even though his white owner had died in a "free" state.
In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers flying from Britain began the first daytime attacks on Berlin.
In 1967, Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin's daughter, defected to the United States.
In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off from the "CBS Evening News" for the final time after 19 years at the anchor's desk.
In 1982, an Egyptian court sentenced five Muslim fundamentalists to death for the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Seventeen others drew prison terms.
In 1987, an earthquake and flood in northeastern Ecuador killed more than 300 people and ruptured a main oil pipeline.
Also in 1987, the British car ferry The Herald of Free Enterprise capsized off Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing at least 189 of some 540 people aboard.
In 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared the Persian Gulf War over.
In 2000, a federal jury convicted three New York City police officers of covering up the 1997 assault on prisoner Abner Louima in a police station men's room.
In 2002, Robert Ray, who succeeded Kenneth Starr as special prosecutor, said there was sufficient evidence to convict U.S. President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinski case. But, he said Clinton had agreed to admit he gave false testimony under oath, thus avoiding prosecution.
In 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States could lead a coalition of nations that would disarm Iraq even without U.N. authority.
Also in 2003, the U.S. Senate approved a U.S.-Russian agreement whereby each country would reduce deployed nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012.
In 2006, officials said the 2005 hurricane season was the costliest disaster in U.S. history with Congress considering another $20 billion in relief. The federal government already had committed $88 billion to help areas devastated by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of lying to FBI agents and to a grand jury in the investigation into who leaked the name of a covert CIA agent to the media.
In 2008, in the deadliest attack on Israeli citizens in two years, a Palestinian gunman fired hundreds of rounds of automatic weapons fire at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem, killing eight students.
Also in 2008, at least 68 people died in a series of coordinated bombings in a mostly Shiite shopping district in Baghdad.
In 2009, U.S. unemployment hit 8.1 percent of the work force in February, the highest point since 1983. The figure represented the loss of 651,000 jobs.
Also in 2009, the White House said President Barack Obama planned to reverse former President George W. Bush's policy limiting federal funding for stem-cell research.
In 2010, several top Taliban leaders were killed when helicopter gunships targeted their hideouts, the Pakistani interior minister reported.
Also in 2010, pilots flocked to support the New York air traffic controller suspended for letting his 9-year-old twins instruct pilots while they were in flight. The Federal Aviation Administration took a different view.
A thought for the day: Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that, "A woman's always younger than a man of equal years."