On March 29, 1943, World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began, limiting U.S. consumers to store purchases of an average of about 2 pounds a week for beef, pork, lamb and mutton using a coupon system.

In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.)

In 1971, a jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders.

In 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 2004, President George W. Bush welcomed former Soviet-bloc nations Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia into NATO in a White House ceremony.