Years Ago

Today is Monday, March 12, the 72nd day of 2012. There are 294 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1664: England’s King Charles II grants an area of land in present-day North America known as New Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York.

1864: Ulysses S. Grant is promoted to the rank of general-in-chief of the Union armies in the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln.

1912: The Girl Scouts of the USA has its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founds the first American troop of the Girl Guides, a movement which had originated in Britain along with the Boy Scouts.

1913: Canberra is officially designated the future capital of Australia.

1932: The so-called “Swedish Match King,” Ivar Kreuger, is found shot dead in his Paris apartment, an apparent suicide, leaving behind a financial empire that turns out to be worthless.

1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers the first of his 30 radio “fireside chats,” telling Americans what is being done to deal with the nation’s economic crisis.

1938: The Anschluss merging Austria with Nazi Germany takes place as German forces cross the border between the two countries.

1947: President Harry S. Truman establishes what becomes known as the “Truman Doctrine” to help Greece and Turkey resist Communism.

1951: “Dennis the Menace,” created by cartoonist Hank Ketcham, makes its syndicated debut in 16 newspapers.

1968: President Lyndon B. Johnson wins the New Hampshire Democratic primary, but Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota places a strong second.

The African island of Mauritius becomes independent of British rule. (On this date in 1992, Mauritius becomes a republic.)

1971: Hafez Assad is confirmed as president of Syria in a referendum.

1980: A Chicago jury finds John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys. (The next day, Gacy is sentenced to death; he was executed in May 1994.)

1987: The musical play “Les Miserables” opens on Broadway.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Joan Tims, executive director of the Youngstown/Mahoning County Convention and Visitors Bureau, tells the North Side Citizens Coalition that downtown Youngstown is a “hidden jewel” waiting to be developed to attract tourist dollars.

1972: Niles has been virtually assured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development of funding for the second year of its $3 million urban renewal development program.