March 18th

Today's Highlight in History:
On March 18th, 1959, President Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill.

On this date:
In 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act.

In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey.

In 1909, Einar Dessau of Denmark used a shortwave transmitter to converse with a government radio post about six miles away in what's believed to have been the first broadcast by a "ham" operator.

In 1931, Schick Incorporated marketed the first electric razor.

In 1937, more than 400 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas.

In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany's war against France and Britain.

In 1962, France and Algerian rebels agreed to a truce.

In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod Two capsule, secured by a tether.

In 1974, most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States.

In 1979, Iranian authorities detained American feminist Kate Millett, a day before deporting her and a companion for what were termed "provocations."

Ten years ago: An alliance of conservative parties won a surprising victory in East Germany's first free elections. Thieves made off with eleven valuable paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (the crime remains unsolved).

Five years ago: The United States Catholic Conference's administrative board criticized a Republican welfare reform plan, saying it would hurt poor children and could push women to have abortions. Spain's Princess Elena married a banker, Jaime de Marichalar y Saenz de Tejada, in Seville; it was Spain's first royal wedding in 89 years.

One year ago: The Kosovar Albanian delegation signed a US-sponsored peace accord following talks in Paris; the Clinton administration warned NATO would act against Serb targets if Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic didn't accept the agreement.

"No man has a right in America to treat any other man tolerantly, for tolerance is the assumption of superiority."

-- Wendell Willkie, American politician (1892-1944).