Today in History: March 28, Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident

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Today is Friday, March 28, the 87th day of 2025. There are 278 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On March 28, 1979, America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

Also on this date:

In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled 6-2 that Wong, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen. It was the first Supreme Court decision to rule on the citizenship status of a child born in the United States to noncitizen parents.

In 1935, the notorious Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.

In 1941, author Virginia Woolf, 59, drowned herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.

In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (commonly referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law), which includes the prohibition of classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in some grade levels in Florida schools.

In 2024, FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of the exchange.

Today’s Birthdays: Author Mario Vargas Llosa is 89. Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry is 81. Actor Dianne Wiest is 79. Singer-actor Reba McEntire is 70. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Bart Conner is 67. Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 59. Country musician Rodney Atkins is 56. Actor Vince Vaughn is 55. Sen. Ashley Moody, a Republican from Florida, is 50. Actor Julia Stiles is 44. Singer-actor Lady Gaga is 39. Stylist-TV personality Jonathan Van Ness is 38.