Today in History: March 8, first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam

Boston Globe

08-03-2025

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In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down religious education classes during school hours in Champaign, Ill., public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the US air base at Da Nang.
In 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier defeated Ali by unanimous decision in what was billed as 'The Fight of the Century' at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In 1983, in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Fla., President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire.'
In 1988, 17 soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., collided in mid-flight during a night training mission.
In 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.