Moments in Time – March 20, 2024

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• On April 1, 1988, a federal judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, dismissed a sexual harassment case against President Bill Clinton, stating it had no “genuine issues” worthy of a trial. Although Clinton had denied any wrongdoing, a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1997 allowed the case to proceed, establishing a precedent permitting sitting presidents to be sued for personal conduct that allegedly occurred before they took office.
• On April 2, 1863, a bread riot occurred in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, when angry people demanded bread from a bakery wagon before wrecking nearby shops. The mob only dispersed after Confederate President Jefferson Davis made a personal plea and threatened to use force to break it up.
• On April 3, 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 that African Americans could not be barred from voting in the Texas Democratic primaries. The court stated that discrimination against Blacks violated the 15th Amendment and that political parties were not private associations.
• On April 4, 1802, American social reformer Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine. Dix founded a home for girls in Boston while she was still just a teenager and later passionately campaigned for humane conditions in jails and insane asylums.
• On April 5, 2008, actor Charlton Heston, who won an Oscar for his starring role in “Ben-Hur,” died of Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Beverly Hills. Heston notably played Michelangelo, El Cid, and other heroic figures in Hollywood movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
• On April 6, 1917, following a vote by Congress approving a declaration of war, the U.S. entered World War I in Europe. Four days earlier, President Woodrow Wilson cited Germany’s violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as well as its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against America, as his reasons for requesting the declaration.
• On April 7, 1712, a rebellion of 27 Black slaves took place in New York City, with nine whites shot as they attempted to put out a fire started by the slaves. The state militia was called out to capture the rebels, and 21 were executed while the remaining six committed suicide.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.