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A Blast From The Past

By PENNY NELSON BARTHOLOMEW, United Press International
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Today is March 29.


In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations released its final report on the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The panel concluded JFK had been assassinated as a result of a conspiracy, although no trail of conspiracy could be found. It also concluded that the possibility of conspiracy existed in the cases of Dr. King and Sen. Kennedy, although no specific individuals organizations could be pinpointed as being involved.

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Lt. William Calley was convicted on this date in 1971 for his part in the murders of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what became known as the "My Lai" massacre, the killings of unarmed villagers by U.S soldiers in Vietnam. It was the most publicized atrocity of the Vietnam War. Calley was sentenced to life in prison, although he has since been released.


Also on this day in 1971, cult leader Charles Manson and three followers were sentenced to death in the August 1969 Tate-Labianca slayings in Los Angeles. The death sentences were later overturned and Manson and company re-sentenced to life behind bars. Every couple of years, they make headlines when their bids for parole are denied.

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The last U.S. troops left South Vietnam and the last American prisoners of war acknowledged by the North Vietnamese government were freed on this date in 1973. It would be two more years before Saigon would fall and Vietnam would be united under one Communist government.


The first wedding was performed in the White House on this date in 1812. Mrs. Lucy Payne Washington -- sister-in-law of President James Madison -- married U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thomas Dodd.


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

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