Today's Highlight in History:
On March eleventh, 1942, as Japanese forces continued to advance in the Pacific during World War Two, General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines for Australia, vowing: "I shall return." (He kept that promise nearly three years later.)
On this date:
In 1810, Emperor Napoleon of France was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.

In 1861, the Confederate convention in Montgomery, Alabama, adopted a constitution.

In 1888, the famous "Blizzard of '88" struck the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

In 1930, former President and US Chief Justice Taft was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1941, President Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.

In 1954, the US Army charged that Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and his subcommittee's chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Private G. David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee.

In 1959, the Lorraine Hansberry drama "A Raisin in the Sun" opened at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater.

In 1965, the Reverend James J. Reeb, a white minister from Boston, died after being beaten by whites during civil rights disturbances in Selma, Alabama.

In 1977, more than 130 hostages held in Washington DC by Hanafi Muslims were freed after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.

In 1985, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed the late Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko.

Ten years ago: The Lithuanian parliament voted to break away from the Soviet Union and restore its independence.

Five years ago: President Clinton nominated Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch to be CIA director. Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party, arrived in the United States for a St. Patrick's Day visit.

One year ago: The House voted 219-to-191 to conditionally support President Clinton's plan to send US troops to Kosovo if a peace agreement was reached.