Today in History for March 14, 2013

Today is Thursday, March 14, the 73rd day of 2013. There are 292 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On March 14, 1923, President Warren G. Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax return, paying a tax of $17,990 on his $75,000 salary.

On this date:

In 1743, a memorial service was held at Faneuil Hall in Boston honoring Peter Faneuil, who had donated the building bearing his name.

In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America’s cotton industry.

In 1885, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera “The Mikado” premiered at the Savoy Theatre in London.

In 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.

In 1932, photography pioneer George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Co., died by his own hand at age 77 in Rochester, N.Y.

In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation of Czech areas and the separation of Slovakia.

In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul.

In 1962, Democrat Edward M. Kennedy officially launched in Boston his successful candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts once held by his brother, President John F. Kennedy. (Edward Kennedy served in the Senate for nearly 47 years.)

In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, and sentenced him to death. (Both the conviction and death sentence were later overturned, but Ruby died before he could be retried.)

In 1967, the body of President John F. Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1980, a LOT Polish Airlines jet crashed while attempting to land in Warsaw, killing all 87 people aboard, including 22 members of a U.S. amateur boxing team.

In 1991, a British court overturned the wrongful convictions of the “Birmingham Six,” who had spent 16 years in prison for a 1974 Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released.

Ten years ago: Actor Robert Blake was released from jail on $1.5 million bail, 11 months after he was arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley. (Blake was later acquitted at trial.) Christopher Boyce, whose Cold War spying was immortalized on film in “The Falcon and the Snowman,” was released from a halfway house in San Francisco after about a quarter-century in prison.

Five years ago: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama denounced inflammatory remarks from his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Protests led by Buddhist monks in Tibet turned violent, leading to an extensive crackdown by China’s military. A tornado ripped into the Georgia Dome during the Southeastern Conference tournament, sending debris tumbling from the ceiling and prompting fans to flee. Lindsey Vonn completed the first American sweep of the overall World Cup titles in 25 years, a day after Bode Miller won his second overall crown in Bormio, Italy.

One year ago: President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, hosted a White House state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha. Earlier, the two leaders announced that NATO forces would hand over the lead combat role in Afghanistan to Afghan forces in 2013 as the U.S. and its allies aimed to get out by the end of 2014.

Today’s birthdays: Former astronaut Frank Borman is 85. Singer Phil Phillips is 82. Actor Michael Caine is 80. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 80. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 79. Actor Raymond J. Barry is 74. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 72. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 68. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 68. Actor Steve Kanaly is 67. Comedian Billy Crystal is 65. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is 65. Country singer Jann Browne is 59. Actor Adrian Zmed is 59. Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, is 55. Actress Laila Robins is 54. Actress Tamara Tunie is 54. Actress Penny Johnson Jerald is 52. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 48. Actor Gary Anthony Williams is 47. Actress Megan Follows is 45. Rock musician Michael Bland is 44. Country singer Kristian Bush is 43. Rock musician Derrick (Jimmie’s Chicken Shack) is 41. Actress Betsy Brandt is 40. Actress Grace Park is 39. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 34. Actor Chris Klein is 34. Actress Kate Maberly is 31. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 30. Actor Jamie Bell is 27.

Thought for today: “The man who does his work, any work, conscientiously, must always be in one sense a great man.” — Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, English novelist (1826-1887).