Updated March 29, 2012, 2:28 pm
On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.
On March 30, 1880, Sean O’Casey, the noted Irish playwright, was born. Following his death on Sept. 18, 1964, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1822 Florida became a U.S. territory. 1867 Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly.” 1870 The 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect. 1870 Texas was readmitted to the Union. 1945 The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II. 1964 The TV game show “Jeopardy!” premiered on NBC. 1986 Actor James Cagney died at age 86. 1995 Pope John Paul II issued an encyclical condemning abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize. 1999 A jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades. 2002 Britain’s Queen Mother Elizabeth died at age 101. 2006 American reporter Jill Carroll, a freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was released after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq. 2009 President Barack Obama asserted unprecedented government control over the auto industry, rejecting GM and Chrysler’s restructuring plans and engineering the ouster of GM’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner.. 2011 A top Libyan official, Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, defected to Britain, dealing a blow to leader Moammar Gadhafi. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor Warren Beatty turns 75 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Rock musician Eric Clapton turns 67 years old today.
AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato
1926 Peter Marshall, Game show host (“Hollywood Squares”), turns 86 1930 John Astin, Actor (“Addams Family”), turns 82 1940 Jerry Lucas, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 72 1950 Robbie Coltrane, Actor, turns 62 1957 Paul Reiser, Actor, comedian (“Mad About You”), turns 55 1962 Mark Begich, U.S. senator, D-Alaska, turns 50 1963 MC Hammer, Rapper, turns 49 1964 Tracy Chapman, Rock singer, turns 48 1968 Celine Dion, Singer, turns 44 1971 Mark Consuelos, Actor, turns 41 1979 Norah Jones, Rock singer, musician, turns 33
Historic Birthdays
Sean O’Casey 3/30/1880 – 9/18/1964 Irish playwright; contributed to Irish Literary Renaissance.Go to obituary »
69 Moses Maimonides 3/30/1135 – 12/13/1204
Spanish-born Jewish philosopher, jurist and physician82 Francisco de Goya 3/30/1746 – 4/16/1828
Spanish painter; depicted political tyranny in his works83 Juan Manuel de Rosas 3/30/1793 – 3/14/1877
Argentine military and political leader and governor of Buenos Aires (1835-52)58 Anna Sewell 3/30/1820 – 4/25/1878
English author (“Black Beauty”)76 Charles Booth 3/30/1840 – 11/23/1916
English shipowner and sociologist37 Vincent van Gogh 3/30/1853 – 7/29/1890
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter78 Melanie Klein 3/30/1882 – 9/22/1960
Austrian-born English psychoanalyst79 Arthur Herrington 3/30/1891 – 9/6/1970
American engineer and manufacturer; developed the World War II jeep77 McGeorge Bundy 3/30/1919 – 9/16/1996
American educator and presidential advisor on foreign policy
