A Blast From The Past

Today is March 4.

It was on this date in 1789 that Congress met for the first time under the new U.S. Constitution. Where? In New York City. Remember, Washington, D.C., hadn't been built yet.

11 years later, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.

On another red-letter political date: in 1917, Jeanette Rankin, a Montana Republican, was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives and became the first woman to serve in Congress.

During a nationwide address on this day in 1987, President Reagan admitted that his administration had sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages being held by Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon. In an understatement, Reagan admitted it "was a mistake." We later found out that the money raised from the weapons sales had been funneled to the Contra rebels fighting the leftist government in Nicaragua at a time when such support was forbidden by Congress.

And a controversy erupted on this date in 1966 when John Lennon was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying the Beatles "are more popular than Jesus Christ." The comment touched off international protests and many incidents of Beatles record-smashing and -burning.

We now return you to the present, already in progress.