A Blast from the Past

Today is March 6.

Former President Clinton's legal troubles over the Monica Lewinski incident appeared to finally end on this date in 2002. Special Prosecutor Robert Ray said there was sufficient evidence for a conviction on perjury and obstruction of justice charges but Clinton had agreed to admit he gave false testimony under oath and, with that, avoided prosecution.

It was on this date in 1836 that Mexican forces, under the command of Gen. Santa Ana, overran the Alamo at San Antonio in the most significant battle of Texas' bid for independence, killing the last of the 187 defenders who had held out in the fortified mission for 13 days. Famed frontiersman Davy Crockett was among those who died for the Texas cause that day. It was not a lost cause, though, as Texas forces, rallying behind the war cry "Remember the Alamo," with Gen. Sam Houston at the helm, defeated the Mexicans and captured Santa Ana on April 21 at the battle of San Jacinto. The Mexican leader signed a peace treaty recognizing Texas' independence. A portion of the Alamo still stands as a shrine.

Some 155 years later, on this date in 1991, President Bush declared the Gulf War over. The "Mother of All Battles" between U.S.-led allied troops and Iraqi forces never happened -- America and its allies liberated occupied Kuwait with relative ease -- but getting Iraq to honor the terms of the agreement that ended the war has proven much, much more difficult.

It was on this date in 1857 that the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling that black slave Dred Scott could not sue for his freedom in a federal court -- even though his white master had died in a "free" state.

The long-awaited, much-feared Michelangelo computer virus struck around the world on this date in 1992. But it wasn't the disaster some had predicted. Hmmm, kind of like Y2K, eh?

And it was on this day in 1970 that Awareness Records released an album by "Family" cult leader Charles Manson. However, he was unable to promote it in person, having drawn a life prison sentence for the August 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others.

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