The Almanac, Celebrity Birthdays, Today in History, March 7 Today is Wednesday, March 7, the 67th day of 2012 with 299 to follow. They include English astronomer John Herschel in 1792; English painter Edwin Henry Landseer in 1802; U.S. newspaper publisher and philanthropist William Rockhill Nelson in 1841; American botanist Luther Burbank in 1849; Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian in 1872; French composer Maurice Ravel in 1875; actor Anna Magnani in 1908; NBC weatherman Willard Scott in 1934 (age 78); race car driver Janet Guthrie in 1938 (age 74); former Disney executive Michael Eisner in 1942 (age 70) and TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in 1942; actors Daniel J. Travanti in 1940 (age 72) and John Heard in 1945 (age 67); musician Townes Van Zandt in 1944; pro football players Franco Harris in 1950 (age 62) and Lynn Swann in 1952 (age 60); Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl in 1960 (age 52); comedienne Wanda Sykes in 1964 (age 48); and actor Rachel Weisz in 1970 (age 42). In 1869, the Suez Canal opened, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea via Egypt. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell granted a patent for the telephone. In 1887, North Carolina State University was founded. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, an estimated 3,000 men rioted at the Detroit plant of the Ford Motor Co. Four were killed. In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered Nazi troops into the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles. In 1945, the U.S. 1st Army crossed the Rhine at Remagen in Germany. The bridge was the only one across the Rhine that hadn't been destroyed. World War II ended in Europe two months later. In 1984, the U.S. Senate confirmed William Wilson as the first U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in 117 years. In 1985: "We Are the World" a song composed by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and recorded by a series of high-profile music stars is released worldwide with the intention of generating funds for the USA for Africa charity. In 1997, a U.S. veto killed an otherwise unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution condemning new Jewish settlements in Arab East Jerusalem. In 2002, More than 600 people were reported dead after several days of Hindu-Muslim violence in the state of Gujarat, India. In 2004, V. Gene Robinson, openly gay and controversial, became the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. In 2006, U.S. prosecutors sought the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to terrorism conspiracy leading to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. In 2007, an Indonesian Garuda Airlines Boeing 737-400 with 140 people aboard crashed and burned on landing in Yogyakarta, killing 49 people. In 2008, a foreign policy aide to Barack Obama apologized for calling Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton a "monster." In 2010, violence marred Iraq's first parliamentary election in five years as two bombs in Baghdad killed at least 38 people. In 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama gave the green light for resumption of tribunals for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on hold since 2009. A reported 170 prisoners were at the facility. Also in 2011, with the American destroyer USS Bulkeley leading the way, the multinational anti-piracy fleet thwarted a pirate takeover of a Bahamian-flagged oil tanker in the Arabian Sea 328 nautical miles southeast of Duqm, Oman. And, Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, thought to be one of the most active in the world, erupted, touching off more than 150 earthquakes but no reported damage. A thought for the day: Franklin D. Roosevelt advised, "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."