March 18th, 1965. Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space. The cosmonaut from what’s then the Soviet Union leaves his Voskhod 2 capsule secured by a tether. Astronaut Ed White makes the first American space walk months later.

 

1922. In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to prison for civil disobedience. It’s part of his long struggle for Indian independence from British colonial rule. Gandhi is released after serving 2 years behind bars. 

 

1940. Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italia’s Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps bordering Austria and Italy. That’s where Mussolini agrees that his country will enter WWII on Germany side and against Britain and France. 

 

2005. Doctors in Florida acting on a state judges order remove the feeding tube of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo. George Felos is the attorney for Terri’s husband Michael who fought with Schiavo’s parents in court over removing the tube. “It was an emotional occasion; prayers were said at that time.” Schiavo dies 13 days later.

 

And 2001. “California dreaming, on such a winter’s day…”Musician John Philips of the 60s group the Mamas and Papas, dies in Los Angeles. He was 65.

 

Today in History, March 18th. Sandy Kozel, the Associated Press.