This Day in History – March 21, 2011

CA, closed. 1965 – The U.S. launched Ranger 9. It was the last in a series of unmanned lunar explorations. 1965 – More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began a march from Selma to Montgomery, AL. 1971 – Two U.S. platoons in Vietnam refused their orders to advance. 1972 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not require one year of residency for voting eligibility. 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced to the U.S. Olympic Team that they would not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. 1980 – On the TV show “Dallas”, J.R. Ewing was shot. 1982 – The movie “Annie” premiered. 1982 – The United States, U.K. and other Western countries condemned the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. 1984 – A Soviet submarine crashed into the USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of Japan. 1985 – Larry Flynt offered to sell his pornography empire for $26 million or “Hustler” magazine alone for $18 million. 1991 – 27 people were lost at sea when two U.S. Navy anti-submarine planes collided. 1994 – Wayne Gretzky tied Gordie Howe’s NHL record of 801 goals. 1994 – Bill Gates of Microsoft and Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular Communications announced a $9 billion plan that would send 840 satellites into orbit to relay information around the globe. 1995 – New Jersey officially dedicated the Howard Stern Rest Area along Route 295. 2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had overstepped its regulatory authority when it attempted to restrict the marketing of cigarettes to youngsters. 2001 – Nintendo released Game Boy Advance. 2002 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was charged with murder for his role in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pear. Three other Islamic militants that were in custody were also charged along with seven more accomplices that were still at large. 2002 – In Paris, an 1825 print by French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce was sold for $443,220. The print, of a man leading a horse, was the earliest recorded image taken by photographic means. 2003 – It was reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 235.27 (2.8%) at 8,521.97. It was the strongest weekly gain in more than 20 years.]]]]> ]]>