Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali in ‘Fight of the Century’ – Chicago Tribune

Today is Friday, March 8, the 68th day of 2024. There are 298 days left in the year.

Highlights of this day in history:

On March 8, 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier defeated Ali by decision in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York.

On this date:

In 1618, German astronomer Johannes Kepler devised the third law of planetary motion.

Founded in 1792, the New York Securities and Exchange Board was formally organized in 1817; it later became known as the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down voluntary religious education classes in public schools in Champaign, Illinois, saying the program violated the separation of church and state.

In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam when 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the US air base at Da Nang.

In 1971, silent film comedian Harold Lloyd died in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 77.

President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” in his 1983 speech to the National Association of Evangelicals meeting in Orlando, Florida.

In 1988, 17 soldiers died when two Army helicopters collided in flight from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

In 1999, baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Florida, at the age of 84.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton submitted legislation to Congress to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. (The United States and China signed a trade agreement in November 2000.)

In 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council signed a landmark interim constitution.

In 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using simulated strangulation and other coercive interrogation methods to extract information from suspected terrorists.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, disappeared during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, prompting a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.

Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ affable producer who guided the group’s rapid, historic transformation from raucous club acts to musical and cultural revolutionaries, died in 2016 at the age of 90.

In 2017, when International Women’s Day was celebrated with numerous events around the world, including Day Without Women, many American women stayed home from work, attended rallies or He wore red. WE

In 2022, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would ban all oil imports from Russia in retaliation for invading Ukraine over the humanitarian crisis that emerged in the port city of Mariupol, increasing the negative impact on the Russian economy.

Today’s birthdays: Jazz musician George Coleman is 89 years old. Actor Sue Ane (correct) Langdon is 88 years old. College Football Hall of Famer Pete Dawkins is 86. Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager is 80. Actor-director Micky Dolenz (The Monkees) is 79. Pop singer Peggy March is 76. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice is 71. Jazz musician Billy Childs is 67. Singer Gary Numan is 66. NBC news anchor Lester Holt is 65. Actor Aidan Quinn is 65. Actor Camryn Manheim is 63. Actor Leon is 63. Country-rock singer Shawn Mullins 56. Neo-soul singer Van Hunt 54. Actor Andrea Parker 54. Actor Boris Kodjoe 51. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. 48. Actor Laura Main 47. Actor James Van Der Beek 47. R&B singer Kameelah Williams (702) 46. Actor Nick Zano 46. Rock singer Tom Chaplin (Keane) 45. Rock musician Andy Ross (OK Go) 45. Actor Jessica Collins 41. R&B singer Kristinia DeBarge is 34 years old.