Milestones

By Harriet Barovick, Tam Gray, Ian Judson, Jodie Morse, Michele Orecklin, Edgar Ortega Barrales, Nina Planck, Anat Shioach and Jessica Yadegaran

SWORN IN. MARTIN LUTHER KING III, 40, eldest son of the late civil rights leader; as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; in Maryland. The younger King, who replaced the Rev. Joseph Lowery, vowed to reinvigorate the group his father helped found in 1957.

APPOINTED. PATRICIA FILI-KRUSHEL, 44; as president of ABC Television; in New York City. Fili-Krushel, formerly an executive at Lifetime Television and HBO, is the first woman to lead a major TV network.

DIED. "BUFFALO BOB" SMITH, 80, revered TV icon and host of the medium's first smash hit, The Howdy Doody Show; in North Carolina. Starting in 1947, the avuncular would-be cowboy (along with his famous marionette) cheerfully presided over Doodyville U.S.A.--home to such goofy characters as Clarabell the Clown and Flubadub. Howdy Doody ran for 13 years, partly a result of Smith's respect for his fans ("You can't kid a kid"). Among the show's contributions to the pop lexicon: the "Peanut Gallery" (his studio audience) and--sorry, Bart Simpson fans--"Cowabunga!"

DIED. LEROY EDGAR BURNEY, 91, Surgeon General from 1956 to 1961 and the first in that office to implicate smoking as a cause of lung cancer; in Arlington Heights, Ill. Burney's pronouncements helped set the stage for the Surgeon General's landmark antismoking report in 1964.

DIED. WILLIAM MCCHESNEY MARTIN JR., 91, even-keeled Chairman of the Federal Reserve for 19 years; in Washington. Martin, who helped define the Federal Reserve as an independent entity, was known for his cautious, if not entirely dire, predictions; he described economic booms as "the party that leads to the hangover." His no-nonsense style--and occasionally unpopular stands--nevertheless managed to inspire the trust of Presidents from Truman to Nixon.