Today is Thursday, March 28th, the 87th day of the year.There are 278 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1799, New York State abolished slavery.
In 1881, Barnum and Bailey formed their "Greatest Show On Earth."
In 1958, blues legend W.C. Handy died at the age of 84.He is known as the "Father of the Blues."
In 1969, former President Dwight Eisenhower died at the age of 78.
In 1972, Wilt Chamberlain retired from professional basketball.
In 1979, residents in and around Middletown, Pennsylvania, were evacuated following a nuclear meltdown inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.It is remembered as the country's worst commercial nuclear disaster.
In 1984, the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.
In 1996, Congress passed the line-item veto, giving the president the power to cut government spending by scrapping specific items.
In 2002, Hollywood producer/director Billy Wilder died at the age of 95."The Lost Weekend, "The Apartment," and "Sunset Boulevard" are among Wilder's best known films.
In 2006, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger died.He was 88.Weinberger served as Secretary of Defense under President Reagan from 1981 to 1987.He's best remembered for his roles in the Iran-Contra Affair and a massive buildup in defense spending.Weinberger was indicted by a special counsel in the Iran-Contra scandal.He was later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
In 2006, riot police and protestors clashed in Paris as hundreds of thousands of people participated in a one-day strike to protest a new labor law in France.The law allowed employers to dismiss young workers without reason during a two-year trial period.
In 2016, the FBI was able to crack the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook and "no longer required" Apple's help.The Justice Department withdrew its legal action against the company.Apple fought a court order demanding it create a way to break into the phone, saying doing so would damage users' privacy.