On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot in the
chest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by a drifter named
John Hinckley Jr.

The president had just finished addressing a labor meeting
at the Washington Hilton Hotel and was walking with his
entourage to his limousine when Hinckley, standing among 
a group of reporters, fired six shots at the president, hitting
Reagan and three of his attendants.

White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the
head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy
McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia
policeman Thomas Delahanty was shot in the neck.

After firing the shots, Hinckley (below) was overpowered
and pinned against a wall, and President Reagan, apparently
unaware that he’d been shot, was shoved into his limousine
by a Secret Service agent and rushed to the hospital. 

Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004)

The former convict will be 70 years old May 29th.

SANDY KOZEL

On March 29, 1982, A 19-year-old North Carolina freshman Michael Jordan makes a 16-foot jump shot with 15 seconds left to give the
Tar Heels a 63-62 win over Georgetown for the NCAA Tournament championship. "To tell the truth," Jordan tells reporters in New
Orleans afterward, "I didn’t see it go in. I didn’t want to look."

The winning shot cements Jordan in the national consciousness,
and he goes on to become one of the greatest basketball players
in history, winning six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (MJ) turned 62 in February.

March 27, 1912: In Washington, D.C., Helen Taft, wife of
President William Taft, and the Viscountess Chinda, wife
of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry
trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River, near
the Jefferson Memorial.

The event commemorated a gift, by the Japanese of some
3,020 cherry trees to the U.S. government.

The planting of Japanese cherry trees along the Potomac
was first proposed by socialite Eliza Scidmore, who raised
money for the endeavor.

After learning of the first lady’s interest, the Japanese
consul in New York suggested making a gift of the trees
to the U.S. government from the city of Tokyo.

Helen and William Taft

The Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki gave the US capital 3,000
cherry blossom trees as a gift to celebrate the friendship between the US and Japan. The cherry blossom is the
national flower of Japan.

On March 28, 1979, one of the worst accidents in the history
of the U.S. nuclear power industry began when a pressure
valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close.

Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the
open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to
dangerously overheat.

The unharmed Unit-1 reactor at Three Mile Island, which was s
hut down during the crisis, did not resume operation until 1985.

Cleanup continued on Unit-2 until 1990, but it was too damaged
to be rendered usable again.        
    

President Jimmy Carter, second from left, visits the nuclear
plant near Harrisburg, Pa., USA, April 4, 1979.