Fidel Castro looks up at the Jefferson Memorial on April 16, 1959 during his visit to the United States.
Four months after leading a successful revolution in Cuba, Fidel Castro visits the United States. The visit was marked by tensions between both Castro and the American government.
A major accident occurred at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant on this day in 1979. A nuclear power reactor overheated and suffered a partial meltdown.
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower(October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969)
The Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to Francisco Franco (left) on this day in 1939.
Maria Augusta von Trapp(January 26, 1905 – March 28, 1987)
Baroness von Trapp, as she was also know as, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers and wrote the story about the singers in 1949. It later inspired the Broadway musical The Sound of Music (1959) and the 1965 film of the same name.
The Trapp Family Singers, pictured in 1948, rehearse. From left they are Baroness Maria von Trapp and her daughters, Johanna, Eleanore, Agathe, Hedwig, Rosmary, Martina, and Maria.
Reba Nell McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma. She is 63 years young today.
Multi-platinum singer, musician, and actress Reba McEntire released more than three dozen #1 singles and more than a dozen #1 albums since the 1990s, including Whoever’s in New England. She was in the family singing group "the Singing McEntires" as a child. RedSteagall discovered her during her performance of the National Anthem at a Rodeo in Oklahoma City when she was a sophomore in college.
Reba McCentire (above) as KFC’S first female Colonel Sanders.
U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq from Kuwait on this day in 2003.
On this day in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his escape from Elba and began his "Hundred Days" rule.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," subtitled "Life Among the Lowly," was first published on this day in 1852.
In Tokyo on this day in 1995, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibraltar on this day in 1969. Five days after their wedding, the couple staged a couple of non-violent in-bed protests (below).
On this day in 1965, Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (above) became the first man to spacewalk when he left the Voskhod II space capsule while in orbit around the Earth. He was outside the spacecraft for about 20 minutes.
On this day in 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience in India. He served only 2 years of the sentence.
Adolf Hitler (left) and Benito Mussolini (center) held a meeting at the Brenner Pass on this day in 1940. The Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany’s war against France and Britain during the meeting.
Terri Schiavo before she collapsed in her home from heart failure.
Terri Schindler-Schiavo (above) spent 13 years in a coma, attached to a feeding tube and unable to communicate. She was taken off the tube on this day in 2005.
John Edmund Andrew Phillips (August 30, 1935 – March 18, 2001)
Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the vocal group The Mamas & the Papas. He died of heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 65, just days after completing a recording sessions for a new album.
Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful call with the telephone on this day in 1876. He spoke the words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
On this day in 1969, James Earl Ray pled guilty in Memphis, TN, to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray later repudiated the guilty plea and maintained his innocence until his death in April of 1998.
Police stand with civil rights leaders Ralph Abernathy (2L), Andrew Young (3L), and Jesse Jackson (4L), and others on the balcony of the the Lorraine Motel over body of slain American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King following his assassination in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968.
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (September 24, 1911 – March 10, 1985)
Herman Tarnower (March 18, 1910 – March 10, 1980)
Walter Matthau (left) and Art Carney (right) opened on Broadway in "The Odd Couple" on this day in 1965. It later became a hit on television.