Today in History

Today is Tuesday, March 13, the 73rd day of 2012. There are 293 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 13, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners, effectively superseding the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

On this date:

In 1639, New College was renamed Harvard College for clergyman John Harvard.

In 1781, the seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered by Sir William Herschel.

In 1845, Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, had its premiere in Leipzig, Germany.

In 1901, the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, died in Indianapolis at age 67.

In 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. (Gov. Austin Peay signed the measure on March 21.)

In 1933, banks began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1947, the Lerner and Loewe musical "Brigadoon," about a Scottish village which magically reappears once every hundred years, opened on Broadway.

In 1964, bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her Queens, N.Y. home; the case generated controversy over the supposed failure of Genovese's neighbors to respond to her cries for help.

In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.

In 1980, Ford Motor Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company not guilty of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

In 1992, the U.S. House of Representatives, trying to weather a politically embarrassing firestorm, voted unanimously to publicly identify 355 current and former members who had overdrawn their accounts at the House bank.

In 1996, a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush declared at a news conference that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a menace "and we're going to deal with him," and said Osama bin Laden had been reduced to a marginal figure in the war on terrorism.

Five years ago: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department had handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign. President George W. Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies; but his host, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence. Lance Mackey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, in 9 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes.

One year ago: The estimated death toll from Japan's earthquake and tsunami climbed past 10,000 as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water. The NCAA men's basketball selection committee released its 68-team draw which included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference in the nation.

Today's Birthdays: Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 87. Country singer Jan Howard is 82. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 79. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 73. Actor William H. Macy is 62. Actress Deborah Raffin is 59. Comedian Robin Duke is 58. Actress Glenne Headly is 57. Actress Dana Delany is 56. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 52. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 50. Actor Christopher Collet is 44. Rock musician Matt McDonough (Mudvayne) is 43. Actress Annabeth Gish is 41. Actress Tracy Wells is 41. Rapper-actor Common is 40. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 40. Singer Glenn Lewis is 37. Actor Danny Masterson is 36. Actor Emile Hirsch is 27. Singers Nicole and Natalie Albino (Nina Sky) are 26.

Thought for Today: "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think." -- Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (born 1857, died this date in 1938).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.