Today is the 78th day of 2016 and the 88th day of winter.
TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1850, the American Express Company was founded.
In 1852, Henry Wells, William G. Fargo and a group of investors founded Wells, Fargo and Co.
In 1965, Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov made the first spacewalk.
In 1974, members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) ended a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
In 1990, two men stole 13 pieces valued at $300 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), 22nd and 24th U.S. president; Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer; Peter Graves (1926-2010), actor; George Plimpton (1927-2003), author/actor; John Updike (1932-2009), author/critic; Charley Pride (1938- ), singer-songwriter; Bonnie Blair (1964- ), Olympic speed-skater; Queen Latifah (1970- ), actress/singer; Dane Cook (1972- ), comedian/actor; Adam Levine (1979- ), singer-songwriter/TV personality.
TODAY'S FACT: Among the 13 works stolen in Boston's Gardner Museum art theft in 1990 was "The Concert," a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It is considered the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting in the world, with an estimated value of $200 million.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1991, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers retired Wilt Chamberlain's No. 13 jersey.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea." -- John Updike
TODAY'S NUMBER: 3 -- number of NATO member countries that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, France and the United Kingdom.
TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).