@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Wednesday, March 10, the 69th day of 2010. There are 296 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1496, Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed US minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

In 1848, the US Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War.

In 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson — come here — I want to see you."

In 1880, the Salvation Army arrived in the United States from England.

In 1910, luggage maker Samsonite Corp. had its beginnings as the Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co. was founded in Denver by Jesse Shwayder.

In 1922, Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist leader, was arrested by the British Government of India for sedition, for which he was to be sentenced to six years in prison.

In 1945, 300 US B-29 bombers devastated Japan's capital in what became known as the Great Tokyo Air Raid. The resulting firestorm killed 100,000 people.

In 1948, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk apparently killed himself by jumping from a window into a garden at the foreign ministry in Czernin Palace in Prague, shortly after Soviet-backed Communists took power.

In 1949, Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C. of treason. She served 12 years in prison.

In 1952, former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista overthrew the government and began his dictatorship, which ended in 1959 when he was toppled by Fidel Castro.

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.

In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, who was the Soviet Union's leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.

In 2005, Michael Jackson, clad in pyjamas and walking gingerly, arrived one hour late to his child molestation trial after the judge threatened to have him arrested him for tardiness; a back injury was blamed. Jackson was acquitted.

Thought for Today

"Show me a man who claims he is objective and I'll show you a man with illusions." — Henry R. Luce, American magazine publisher (1898-1967).