March fourth

Today's Highlight in History:
On March fourth, 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York. (The lawmakers then adjourned for the lack of a quorum.)

On this date:
In 1791, Vermont became the 14th state.

In 1829, an unruly crowd mobbed the White House during the inaugural reception for President Jackson.

In 1837, the Illinois state legislature granted a city charter to Chicago.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president.

In 1902, the American Automobile Association was founded in Chicago.

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge's inauguration was broadcast live on 21 radio stations coast-to-coast.

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated president, pledging to lead the country out of the Great Depression.

In 1933, the start of President Roosevelt's first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins.

In 1952, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis were married in San Fernando Valley, California.

In 1989, Time Incorporated and Warner Communications Incorporated announced plans to merge into the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate.

Ten years ago: Voters in the Soviet republics of Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine participated in local and legislative elections, resulting in notable gains for reformists and nationalists.

Five years ago: President Clinton, in his weekly radio address, said spending cuts proposed by congressional Republicans would gut safe-school and anti-drug programs needed to protect children.

One year ago: Outraging Italian authorities, a military jury in North Carolina cleared a Marine pilot of charges he was flying recklessly when his jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in the Alps, sending 20 people plunging to their deaths. Retired Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who wrote the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, died in Arlington, Virginia, at age 90.

"The world fears a new experience more than it fears anything. Because a new experience displaces so many old experiences."

-- D.H. Lawrence, English author (1885-1930).