Today is Sunday, March 12, the 71st day of 2017. There are 294 days left in the year.
Today’s birthdays: Politician, diplomat and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 85. Actress-singer Liza Minnelli is 71. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is 70. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 69. Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is 68. Actor Jon Provost (TV: ‘‘Lassie’’) is 67. Author Carl Hiaasen is 64. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 57. Actor Titus Welliver is 56. Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 55. CNN reporter Jake Tapper is 48. Rock musician Graham Coxon is 48. Actress Jaimie Alexander is 33. Actor Tyler Patrick Jones is 23. Actress Kendall Applegate is 18.
In 1912, the Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.
In 1925, Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the first of his 30 radio addresses that came to be known as ‘‘fireside chats,’’ telling Americans what was being done to deal with the nation’s economic crisis.
In 1938, the Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany took place as German forces crossed the border between the two countries.
In 1940, Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during World War II. Fighting between the two countries flared again in 1941.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman announced what became known as the Truman Doctrine to help Greece and Turkey resist communism.
In 1951, ‘‘Dennis the Menace,’’ created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, made its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.
In 1967, General Suharto became acting president of Indonesia, replacing President Sukarno.
In 1971, Hafez Assad was confirmed as president of Syria in a referendum.
In 1980, a Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy was sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)
In 1993, Janet Reno was sworn in as the first female US attorney general. A series of bombings in Mumbai, India, killed 257 people. (The explosions were allegedly masterminded by India’s most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim.)
In 2012, hours after the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier, President Obama called the episode ‘‘absolutely tragic and heartbreaking.’’
