Today is Tuesday, March 30, the 89th day of 2021. There are 276 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John W. Hinckley, Jr.; also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and a District of Columbia police officer, Thomas Delahanty.

On this date:

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal ridiculed by critics as “Seward’s Folly.”

In 1870, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

In 1975, as the Vietnam War neared its end, Communist forces occupied the city of Da Nang.

In 1987, at the 59th Academy Awards, “Platoon” was named best picture; Marlee Matlin received best actress for “Children of a Lesser God” and Paul Newman was honored as best actor for “The Color of Money.”

In 2015, German officials confirmed that Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was once diagnosed with suicidal tendencies and received lengthy psychotherapy before receiving his pilot’s license; they believed Lubitz deliberately smashed his Airbus A320 into the French Alps, killing 150 people.

Today’s Birthdays: Game show host Peter Marshall is 95. Actor John Astin is 91. Actor-director Warren Beatty is 84. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 80. Rock musician Eric Clapton is 76. Actor Paul Reiser is 65. Rap artist MC Hammer is 59. Singer Tracy Chapman is 57. TV personality Piers Morgan is 56. Singer Celine Dion is 53. Singer Norah Jones is 42. Actor Tessa Ferrer is 35. Country singer Thomas Rhett is 31.