Today in History.....March 10

On this day in …

* 1964, Gringo Grande, Joe Gringo's brother, was born. Grande as in Big Boy, the folks bred the boys large - 6'3" 220lbs, 6'4" 240 lbs, 6'3" 250 lbs, 6'5" 235 (yours truly)

* 1785, Thomas Jefferson was appointed minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin

* 1848, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the war with Mexico

* 1864, Ulysses S. Grant became commander of the Union armies in the Civil War

* 1876, the first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you."

* 1949, Nazi wartime broadcaster Mildred E. Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally," was convicted in Washington, D.C., of treason. (She served 12 years in prison.)

* 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death.)

* 1980, "Scarsdale Diet" author Dr. Herman Tarnower was shot to death in Purchase, N.Y. (Jean Harris, convicted of murder, served nearly 12 years in prison before being released in January 1993.)

* 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73

* 1996, Hezbollah terrorists, practitioners of that "religion of peace", launched a wave of bomb and rocket attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, accusing China of "reckless" provocations against Taiwan, said on NBC that U.S. warships would move closer to Taiwan

* 2001, President Bush told Americans in his Saturday radio address that he thought support for tax relief was building, while opening the door to considering a different sort of cut than what he had proposed and Democrats deplored

* 2005, Lebanon's president reappointed staunchly pro-Syrian politician Omar Karami as prime minister. ALSO: Former President Clinton underwent surgery in New York to remove scar tissue and fluid from his chest. Michael Jackson, clad in pajamas and walking gingerly, arrived one hour late to trial after the judge threatened to have him arrested him for tardiness; a back injury was blamed.