Today's Highlight in History:
On March tenth, 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."
On this date:
In 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.

In 1848, the Senate ratified¹ the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico.

In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the Civil War.

In 1880, the Salvation² Army arrived in the United States from England.

In 1948, the body of the anti-Communist foreign minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Masaryk, was found in the garden of Czernin Palace in Prague.

In 1949, Nazi³ wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis⁴ Sally," was convicted in Washington DC of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)

In 1965, Neil Simon's play "The Odd Couple," starring Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison and Art Carney as Felix Unger, opened on Broadway.

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to the assassination⁵ of Martin Luther King Junior. (Ray later repudiated⁶ that plea, maintaining his innocence⁷ until his death.)

In 1980, "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, New York. (Jean Harris, convicted of murder, served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)

In 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet⁸ leader for just 13 months, died at age 73.

Ten years ago: Haitian ruler Lieutenant⁹ General Prosper¹⁰ Avril resigned during a popular uprising against his military regime.

Five years ago: The Labor¹¹ Department reported the nation's unemployment rate for February dropped to five-point-four percent, down three-tenths of a percentage point from the month before. The Clinton administration released three billion dollars to support Mexico's faltering¹² economy. Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari fled to the United States.

One year ago: During a visit to Guatemala, President Clinton acknowledged the US role in Central America's "dark and painful period" of civil wars and repression¹³.