March 30th

Today's Highlight in History:
On March 30th, 1867, US Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly."

On this date:
In 1822, Florida became a United States territory.

In 1842, Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.

In 1870, the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.

In 1870, Texas was readmitted to the Union.

In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War Two.

In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for US Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.

In 1970, the musical "Applause" opened on Broadway.

In 1973, Ellsworth Bunker resigned as US ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham A. Martin.

In 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington DC hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.

In 1998, Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.

Ten years ago: Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus vetoed a highly restrictive state abortion measure, saying the bill did not provide a woman and her family any flexibility in cases of rape and incest.

Five years ago: Tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees, fleeing violence in Burundi, began a two-day trek to sanctuary in Tanzania. Pope John Paul the Second issued the eleventh encyclical of his papacy in which he condemned abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize.

One year ago: Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic insisted that NATO attacks stop before he moved toward peace, declaring his forces ready to fight "to the very end." NATO answered with new resolve to wreck his military with a relentless air assault. A jury in Portland, Oregon, ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.

"All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are moveable, and those that move."

-- Arab proverb.