March

Listed below by calendar day is a list of important events and people in US and world history.

March Page Wiki Guidelines:
 * Feel free to add important events that you feel are missing.
 * Add any lesson plans in PDF format regarding an important event or person under the appropriate date

**March 1**

1790 - President George Washington signed a measure authorizing the first U.S. Census. 1872 - President Ulysses S. Grant signed an act creating Yellowstone National Park. 1890 - J.P. Lippincott published the first U.S. edition of the Sherlock Holmes mystery " A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle. 1940 - The novel "Native Son" by Richard Wright was first published by Harper and Brothers. 1954 - Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives, wounding five congressmen. 2003 - Suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was captured by Pakistani and CIA agents.
 * St. David's Day - **Feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales.
 * 1781 ** - Formal ratification of the Articles of Confederation was announced by Congress. Under the Articles, Congress was the sole governing body of the new American national government, consisting of the 13 original states. The Articles remained in effect through the Revolutionary War until 1789, when the current U.S. Constitution was adopted.
 * 1932 ** - The 20-month-old son of aviation pioneer Charles A. Lindbergh was kidnapped from his home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The Lindberghs then paid a $50,000 ransom. However, on May 12, the boy's body was found in a wooded area a few miles from the house.
 * 1961 ** - President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, an organization sending young American volunteers to developing countries to assist with health care, education and other basic human needs.
 * 1974 ** - Seven former high-ranking officials of the Nixon White House were indicted for conspiring to obstruct the investigation into the Watergate break-in. Among those indicted; H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and former attorney general John Mitchell.
 * Birthday ** - American band leader Glenn Miller (1904-1944) was born in Carilinda, Iowa. His music gained enormous popularity during the 1940s through recordings such as Moonlight Serenade and //String of Pearls//. On December 15, 1944, his plane disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris where he was scheduled to perform.

**March 2**

1877 - Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote. 1917 - Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship as President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones Shafroth Act. Birthday - **Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev** (born in1931) was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991. Gorbachev was born into a peasant family, and in his teens operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. Gorbachev's attempts at reform as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
 * 1836 -** The Republic of Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico.
 * 1943** - During World War II in the Pacific, a Japanese convoy was attacked by 137 American bombers as the Battle of Bismarck Sea began. The convoy included eight destroyers and eight transports carrying 7,000 Japanese soldiers heading toward New Guinea. Four destroyers and all eight transports were sunk, resulting in 3,500 Japanese drowned, ending Japanese efforts to send reinforcements to New Guinea.
 * Birthday ** - American soldier and politician Sam Houston (1793-1863) was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia. As a teenager he ran away and joined the Cherokee Indians who accepted him as a member of their tribe. He later served as a Congressman and Governor of Tennessee. In 1832, he became commander of the Texan army in the War for Texan Independence, defeating the larger Mexican army in 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto. He then served as Senator and Governor of the new state of Texas but was removed in 1861 after refusing to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.

**March 3**

1931 - President Herbert Hoover signed a measure making the "Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of the United States. 1991 - Motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video. 2000 - Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian college, said it was lifting its ban on interracial dating (University president Bob Jones III made the announcement on CNN's "Larry King Live").
 * 1849 -** The U.S. Department of the Interior was established.
 * 1913** - A women's suffrage march in Washington D.C. was attacked by angry onlookers while police stood by. The march occurred the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. Many of the 5,000 women participating were spat upon and struck in the face as a near riot ensued. Secretary of War Henry Stimson then ordered soldiers from Fort Myer to restore order.
 * Birthday ** - Railroad car builder George Pullman (1831-1897) was born in Brocton, New York. He improved railroad sleeping accommodations, developing the folding upper berth and lower berth designs. His company went on to become the biggest railroad car building organization in the world.
 * Birthday ** - Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bell and his father were involved in teaching deaf persons to speak. Bell developed an interest in the vibrating membrane as a method of electrically transmitting sounds. His very first sentence spoken on the newly invented telephone on March 10, 1876, was to his assistant, "Mister Watson, come here, I want you."

**March 4**

1989 - Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. announced plans for a huge media merger.
 * 1681 ** - King Charles II of England granted a huge tract of land in the New World to William Penn to settle an outstanding debt. The area later became Pennsylvania.
 * 1789 ** - The first meeting of the new Congress under the new U.S. Constitution took place in New York City.
 * 1830 ** - Former President John Quincy Adams returned to Congress as a representative from Massachusetts. He was the first ex-president ever to return to the House and served eight consecutive terms.
 * 1933 ** - Newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and delivered his first inaugural address attempting to restore public confidence during the Great Depression, stating, "...let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself..." [|( .wav 74K)] His cabinet appointments included the first woman to a Cabinet post, Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins.
 * Birthday ** - Revolutionary war hero Casimir Pulaski (1747-1779) was born in Poland. Before aiding in the American Revolution, he was a military leader in Poland's struggle against Russia. He joined the Americans in 1777 and fought alongside General Washington at Brandywine, then served at Germantown and Valley Forge. He was mortally wounded during a heroic charge in the Siege of Savannah, Georgia.
 * Birthday ** - American football legend Knute Rockne (1888-1931) was born in Voss, Norway. He coached the Notre Dame football team for 13 seasons, amassing an overall record of 105 wins, 12 losses and 5 ties. He became famous for his locker room pep talks and the saying, "Win one for the Gipper." He was killed in an airplane crash on March 31, 1931, in Kansas.

**March 5**

1933 - In German parlimentary elections, the Nazi Party won 44 percent of the vote; the Nazis joined with a a conservative nationalist party to gain a slender majority in the Reichstag. 1953 - Soviet dictator Josef Stalin died after three decades in power. 2009 - President Barack Obama hosted a White House summit where he pumped allies and skeptics alike for ways to overhaul the nation's costly and frustrating health care system.
 * 1770 ** - The Boston Massacre occurred as a group of rowdy Americans harassed British soldiers who then opened fire, killing five and injuring six. The first man killed was Crispus Attucks, an African American. British Captain Thomas Preston and eight of his men were arrested and charged with murder. Their trial took place in October, with colonial lawyer John Adams defending the British. Captain Preston and six of his men were acquitted. Two others were found guilty of manslaughter, branded, then released.
 * 1868 ** - The U.S. Senate convened as a court to hear charges against President Andrew Johnson during impeachment proceedings. The House of Representatives had already voted to impeach the President. The vote followed bitter opposition by the Radical Republicans in Congress to Johnson's reconstruction policies in the South. However, the effort to remove him failed in the Senate by just one vote and he remained in office.
 * 1933 ** - Amid a worsening economic depression, newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a four-day "Bank Holiday" to stop panic withdrawals by the public and the possible collapse of the American banking system.
 * 1946 ** - The "Iron Curtain" speech was delivered by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill used the term to describe the boundary in Europe between free countries of the West and nations of Eastern Europe under Soviet control.

March 6

1857 - The United States Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sanford that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.
 * 1836 ** - Fort Alamo fell to Mexican troops led by General Santa Anna. The Mexicans began the siege of the Texas fort on February 23, ending it with the killing of the last defender. "Remember the Alamo" became a rallying cry for Texans who went on to defeat Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto in April.
 * Birthday ** - Renaissance genius Michelangelo (1475-1564) was born in Caprese, Italy. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and visionary best known for his fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his sculptures //David// and //The Pieta//.

**March 7**

1936 - Adolf Hitler ordered his troops to march into the Rhineland, thereby breaking the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact. 1965 - State troopers and a sheriffs's possee broke up a march by civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Ala. 1975 - The U.S. Senate revised its filibuster rule allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases instead of two-thirds of senators present. 1994 - The Supreme Court, in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., ruled that a parody that pokes fun at original work can be considered "fair use" that doesn't require permission from the copyright holder.
 * 1876 -** Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.
 * Birthday** - Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the state's colonial governor and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

**March 8**

1854 - U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese. 1862 - During the Civil War, the ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and heavily damaged the USS Congress, both frigates, off Newport News, Va. 1917 - Russia's February Revolution" (so called because of the Old Style calendar being used by the Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in Petrograd. 1965 - The United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines were brought in to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang. 2000 - President Bill Clinton submitted to Congress legislation to establish permanent normal trade relations with China (the U.S. and China signed a trade pact that November).
 * 1782 -** The Gnadenhutten massacre took place as more than 90 Indians were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.
 * 1863** - During the U.S. Civil War, Confederate Col. John Mosby, leader of Mosby's Rangers, captured Union Gen. E.H. Stoughton at his headquarters in Fairfax County Courthouse, Virginia.

**March 9**
 * 1864** - Ulysses S. Grant was commissioned as a Lieutenant General and became commander of all of the Union armies.
 * Birthday ** - Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512) was born in Florence, Italy. He explored South America and the Amazon River, believing he had discovered a new continent. In 1507, a German mapmaker first referred to the lands discovered in the New World as America.
 * Birthday ** - Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) was born in Gzhatsk, USSR. On April 12, 1961, he became the first man in space, orbiting in a capsule 187 miles above the Earth's surface in a flight lasting 108 minutes. His space flight caused a worldwide sensation and marked the beginning of the space race as the U.S. worked to catch up to the Soviets and launch an American into space. President John F. Kennedy later asserted the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s.

**March 10**

1876 - The first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's telephone took place in Boston as his assistant heard Bell say, "Mr. Watson - come here - I want to see you." 1969 - Jame Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tenn., to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (Ray later repudiated that plea, maintaining his innocence until his death).
 * 1862 ** - The first issue of U.S. government paper money occurred as $5, $10 and $20 bills began circulation.
 * 1880 ** - The Salvation Army was founded in the United States. The social service organization was first founded in England by William Booth and operates today in 90 countries.
 * Birthday ** - Politician and playwright Claire Boothe Luce (1903-1987) was born in New York City. She served in the House of Representatives from 1943 to 1947 and then became the first woman appointed as U.S. ambassador to a major country (Italy).

**March 11**


 * 1888 -** The famous Blizzard of "88" began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths**.**
 * 1918** - The 'Spanish' influenza first reached America as 107 soldiers become sick at Fort Riley, Kansas. One quarter of the U.S. population eventually became ill from the deadly virus, resulting in 500,000 deaths. The death toll worldwide approached 22 million by the end of 1920.
 * 1941 ** - The Lend-Lease program began allowing Britain to receive American weapons, machines, raw materials, training and repair services. Ships, planes, guns and shells, along with food, clothing and metals went to the embattled British while American warships began patrolling the North Atlantic and U.S troops were stationed in Greenland and Iceland. "We must be the great arsenal of democracy," President Roosevelt stated concerning the fight against Hitler's Germany. The initial appropriation was $7 Billion, but by 1946 the figure reached $50 Billion in aid from the U.S. to its Allies.
 * 1985** - Mikhail Gorbachev was chosen to suceed the late Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko.
 * 2004** - 10 bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 2,000 in an attack linked to al-Qaida inspired militants.
 * 2011** - A 9.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east of Japan, killing over 15,000 and leaving another 8,000 missing. Tsunami warnings are issued in 50 countries and territories. Emergencies are declared at four nuclear power plants affected by the quake
 * Birthday ** - British prime minster and statesman Harold Wilson (1916-1995) was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. As a young boy he once posed for a photo in front of 10 Downing Street, the residence he occupied 40 years later as head of the Labour government.

**March 12**

1930 - Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi began a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt. 1980 - A Chicago jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys (the next day, Gacy was sentenced to death and he was executed in May 1994. 2009 - Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history.
 * 1609 ** - The island of Bermuda was colonized by the British after a ship on its way to Virginia was wrecked on the reefs.
 * 1664 -** England's King Charles II granted an area of land in present day North America known as new Netherland to his brother James, the Duke of York.
 * 1888 ** - The Great Blizzard of '88 struck the northeastern U.S. The storm lasted 36 hours with snowfall totaling over 40 inches in New York City where over 400 persons died from the surprise storm.
 * 1938 ** - Nazis invaded Austria, then absorbed the country into Hitler's Reich.
 * 1994 ** - The Church of England ordained 32 women as its first female priests. In protest, 700 male clergy members and thousands of church members left the church and joined the Roman Catholic Church which does not allow women priests.
 * 1999 ** - Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic became full-fledged members of NATO, less than ten years after exchanging communist rule for democracy and ending their Cold War military alliance with the Soviet Union.
 * Birthday ** - The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) was born in Salonika, Greece. Following World War I, he led the Turkish revolution and became Turkey's first president.

**@March 13**

1925 - The Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution (Gov. Austin Peay signed the measure March 21.
 * 1781 -** The seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, was discovered by Sir William Herschel.
 * 1943** - A plot to kill Hitler by German army officers failed as a bomb planted aboard his plane failed to explode due to a faulty detonator.
 * Birthday ** - Scientist and clergyman Joseph Priestly (1733-1804) was born in Yorkshire, England. He discovered oxygen and advanced the religious theory of Unitarianism.

**March 14**

1883 - German political philospher Karl Marx died in London at age 64.
 * 1794 -** Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America's cotton industry.
 * Birthday** - Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Ulm, Germany. His theory of relativity led to new ways of thinking about time, space, matter and energy. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 and emigrated to the U.S. in 1933 where he was an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany. Believing the Nazis might develop an atomic bomb, he warned President Roosevelt and urged the development of the U.S. atomic bomb.
 * Birthday ** - The first female dentist, Lucy Hobbs (1833-1910) was born in New York state. She received her degree in 1866 from the Ohio College of Dental Surgery and was a women's rights advocate.

March 15 media type="youtube" key="y1yXa9k2Mx0" height="385" width="480"

1493 - Christopher Columbus returned to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere. 1913 - President Woodrow Wilson met with reporters for what has been described as the first presidential press conference. 2005 - Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers was convicted in New York of engineering the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history (He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison). 2009 - A chorus of outrage greeted news that about $165 million in executive bonuses were being paid by baile-out insurance giant American International Group.
 * 44 B.C. ** - Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Brutus and fellow conspirators. After first trying to defend himself against the murderous onslaught, Caesar saw Brutus with a knife and asked "Et tu, Brute?" (You too, Brutus?) Caesar then gave up the struggle and was stabbed to death.
 * Birthday ** - [|Andrew Jackson] (1767-1845) the 7th U.S. President was born in a log cabin in Waxhaw, South Carolina. As a boy he volunteered to serve in the American Revolution. Captured by the British, he refused an order to clean an officer's boots and was slashed by his sword. Jackson later gained fame as a hero during the War of 1812. In politics he helped form the new Democratic Party and became the first man from an impoverished background to be elected President, serving from 1829 to 1837.

March 16media type="youtube" key="lrdW1i9Tz0A" height="385" width="480"
 * 1926 -** Rocket science pioneer Robert H. Goddard successfully tested the first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Mass.
 * 1968** - During the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre occurred as American soldiers of Charlie Company murdered 504 Vietnamese men, women, and children. Twenty-five U.S. Army officers were later charged with complicity in the massacre and subsequent coverup, but only one was convicted, and later pardoned by President Richard Nixon.
 * 1968 ** - New York Senator Robert Kennedy announced his intention to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
 * Birthday ** - [|James Madison] (1751-1836) the 4th U.S. President was born in Port Conway, Virginia. He played an important role in the formation of the new U.S. Constitution following the [|American Revolutionary War]. During the War of 1812, President Madison was forced to flee Washington D.C. while the British attacked and burned the White House and other important public buildings.

March 17media type="youtube" key="wQze2o67DpQ" height="385" width="480" ** Saint Patrick's Day** commemorating the patron saint of Ireland. 1950 - Scientists at UC Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, "californium". 2000 - Smith & Wesson signed an unprecedented agreement with the Clinton administration to include safety locks with all of its handguns to make them more childproof; in return the agreement called for federal, state and city lawsuits against the gunmaker to be dropped. 2005 - Baseball players told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport, stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn't used them while Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had (McGwire owned up to steroid use in January 2010).
 * 1776 ** - Early in the American Revolutionary War the British completed their evacuation of Boston following a successful siege conducted by Patriots. The event is commemorated in Boston as Evacuation Day.
 * Birthday ** - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney (1777-1864) was born in Calvert County, Maryland. He became the 5th Chief Justice in 1836, best known for the Dred Scott decision.

**March 18**

1959 - President Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill (Hawaii became a state on Aug. 21, 1959) 1965 - The first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov went outside his Vosskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
 * 1922 -** Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years imprisonment for civil disobedience (He was released after serving two years).
 * 1974** - The five-month-old Arab oil embargo against the U.S. was lifted. The embargo was in retaliation for American support of Israel during the Yom Kipper War of 1973 in which Egypt and Syria suffered a crushing defeat. In the U.S., the resulting embargo had caused long lines at gas stations as prices soared 300 percent amid shortages and a government ban on Sunday gas sales.
 * Birthday ** - [|Grover Cleveland] (1837-1908) the 22nd and 24th U.S. president was born in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms and was also the only president to be married in the White House.

**March 19**

1917 - The Supreme Court, in Wilson v. New, upheld the eight-hour work day for railroad workers. 1918 - Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time 1931 Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed a measure legalizing casino gambling. 1945 - During World War II, 724 people were killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacked the carrier USS Franklin off Japan: the ship, however, was saved. Adolf Hitler issued his so-called "Nero Decree", ordering the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands. 1953 - The Academy Awards ceremony was televised for the first time. 1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.
 * 2003 ** - The United States launched an attack against Iraq to topple dictator Saddam Hussein from power. The attack commenced with aerial strikes against military sites, followed the next day by an invasion of southern Iraq by U.S. and British ground troops. The troops made rapid progress northward and conquered the country's capital, Baghdad, just 21 days later, ending the rule of Saddam.
 * Birthday ** - William Bradford (1589-1657) was born in Yorkshire, England. He sailed aboard the //Mayflower// during its 66-day voyage from Plymouth, England to Massachusetts in 1620. The small ship carried over 100 passengers and a crew of 30. It was originally bound for Virginia but landed far north on Cape Cod. The Mayflower Compact was then drawn up as a form of government. Bradford became the first governor of the new Plymouth Colony, serving a total of 30 years, and was largely responsible for its success.
 * Birthday ** - Explorer and medical missionary David Livingstone (1813-1873) was born in Blantyre, Scotland. He arrived at Cape Town, Africa, in 1841 and began extensive missionary explorations, often traveling into areas that had never seen a white man. In his later years, he sought the source of the Nile River. He also became the subject of the famous search by news correspondent Henry Stanley who located him in 1871 near Lake Tanganyika in Africa after a difficult search and simply asked, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?"
 * Birthday ** - Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) was born in Monmouth, Illinois. He became a legendary figure in the Wild West as a lawman and gunfighter, best known for the shootout at the O.K. Corral in 1881, in which the Earp brothers (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan) fought and defeated the Ike Clanton gang.
 * Birthday ** - American politician William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was born in Salem, Illinois. He was defeated three times as a candidate for the presidency. He advocated a "free silver" monetary standard through unlimited coinage of silver rather than the gold standard. During a speech at the 1896 Democratic convention he electrified the delegates, stating, "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" In 1925, he was the successful prosecutor in the Scopes 'monkey' trial in which a teacher was convicted of violating Tennessee's Anti-Evolution Bill forbidding the teaching of the theory of evolution. However, he died just 5 days after the verdict.

**March 20**

1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", was first published in book form.
 * 1727 -** Physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London.
 * 1995** - A nerve gas attack occurred on the Tokyo subway system during rush hour resulting in 12 persons killed and 5,000 injured. Japanese authorities later arrest the leader and members of a Japanese religious cult suspected in the attack.
 * Birthday ** - American psychologist B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. He pioneered theories of behaviorism and developed the Skinner box, a controlled environment for studying behavior.

**March 21**

1963 - The Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. 1965 - More then 3,000 civil rights demonstrators led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. began their 3rd march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. media type="youtube" key="XArs06XavlE" width="420" height="315" 2009 - The Oakland Police Department saw its deadliest day when parolee Lovelle Mixon shot and killed two motorcycle officers; Mixon killed two SWAT team members while holed up in an apartment before he was killed by other officers.
 * 1902 -** U.S. Marines arrived in Honduras to protect American lives and interests in the wake of political violence.
 * 1918** - During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme began as German General Erich von Ludendorff launched an all-out drive to win the war. The battle began with a five-hour artillery barrage followed by a rush of German troops. The offensive lasted until April 6 and resulted in the Germans gaining about 35 miles of territory. Allied and German casualty figures for both battles approached 500,000.
 * 1943 ** - A suicide/assassination plot by German Army officers against Hitler failed as the conspirators were unable to locate a short fuse for the bomb which was to be carried in the coat pocket of General von Gersdorff to ceremonies Hitler was attending.
 * Birthday ** - Organist and composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was born in Eissenach, Germany. His output included thousands of compositions, many used in churches. Among his best known works; //The Brandenburg Concertos// for orchestra, //The Well-Tempered Clavier for keyboard//, the //St. John// and //St. Matthew// passions, and the //Mass in B Minor//.

**March 22**


 * 1638 -** Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for defying Puritan orthodoxy.
 * 1882** - President Chester A. Arthur signed a measure outlawing polygamy.
 * 1945** - The Arab League was formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt.
 * 1972** - The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Senate and then sent to the states for ratification. The ERA, as it became known, prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, stating, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," and that "the Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of This article." Although 22 of the required 38 states quickly ratified the Amendment, opposition arose over concerns that women would be subject to the draft and combat duty, along with other legal concerns. The ERA eventually failed (by 3 states) to achieve ratification despite an extension of the deadline to June 1982.

**March 23**

1919 - Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy. 1956 - Pakistan becomes an Islamic republic. 1965 - America's first two person space flight began as Gemini 3 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil Grissom and John W. Young aboard for a nearly 5-hour flight. 1994 - Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexico's leading presidential candidate was assassinated in Tijuana.
 * 1775 ** - Patrick Henry ignited the American Revolution with a speech before the Virginia convention in Richmond, stating, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

**March 24**

1958 - Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn. 1980 - One of El Salvador's most respected Roman Catholic Church leaders, Archbishop Oscar Romero, was shot to death by a sniper as he celebrated mass in San Salvador. 1999 - NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time that it had attacked a sovereign country.
 * 1934 ** - The Philippine Islands in the South Pacific were granted independence by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after nearly 50 years of American control.
 * 1989 ** - The largest oil spill in U.S. History occurred as the oil tanker //Exxon Valdez// ran aground in Prince William Sound off Alaska, resulting in 11 million gallons of oil leaking into the natural habitat over a stretch of 45 miles.
 * Birthday ** - Harry Houdini (1874-1926) was born (as Erik Weisz) in Budapest, Hungary. He came to the U.S. with his family as an infant and lived in New York City. He began as a Coney Island magician, then became a world famous escape artist, known for escaping from chains, handcuffs, straightjackets, locked boxes and milk cans filled with water. He died on Halloween, 1926, from a burst appendix and was buried in Queens, NY.

**March 25**

1911 - 146 people, mostly immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York. 1918 - French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris. 1965 - The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
 * 1634 -** English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.
 * 1807** - The English Parliament abolished the slave trade following a long campaign against it by Quakers and others.

**March 26**


 * 1827** - Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
 * 1892 -** Poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.
 * 1979 -** The Camp David Accord ended 30 years of warfare between Israel and Egypt. Prime Minster Menachem Begin of Israel and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the [|treaty] of mutual recognition and peace, fostered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.[|.]
 * 1992 ** - Soviet Cosmonaut Serge Krikalev returned to a new country (Russia) after spending 313 days on board the Mir Space Station. During his stay in space, the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed and became the Commonwealth of Independent States.
 * Birthday ** - American playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Mississippi. His works featured Southern settings and included //The Glass Menagerie//, //Night of the Iguana//, and two Pulitzer Prize winning plays, //A Streetcar Named Desire// and //Cat on a Hot Tin Roof//.

**March 27**

1790 - The shoelace is invented.. 1866 - Andrew Rankin patents the urinal. 1933 - Polythene discovered by Reginald Gibson and Eric William Fawcett. Japan leaves the League of Nations. 1944 - Forty Jewish policemen in Riga Latvia ghetto are shot by the gestapo. 1952 - Sun Records of Memphis begins releasing records.
 * 1513 -** Spainard Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida.
 * 1977** - The worst accident in the history of civil aviation occurred as two Boeing 747 jets collided on the ground in the Canary Islands, resulting in 570 deaths.

**March 28**

1845 - Mexico drops diplomatic relations with the U.S. 1885 - U.S. Salvation Army is officially organized. 1917 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv and Jaffa by Turkish authorities. 1933 - German Reichstag confers dictatorial powers on Hitler. 1939 - Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to Francisco Franco.
 * 1799 -** New York State abolished slavery.
 * 1979** - Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident occurred in which uranium in the reactor core overheated due to the failure of a cooling valve. A pressure relief valve then stuck causing the water level to plummet, threatening a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. The accident resulted in the release of radioactive steam into the atmosphere, and created a storm of controversy over the necessity and safety of nuclear power plants.

**March 29**

1847 - During the Mexican-American War, victorious forces led by Gen. Winfield Scott occupied the city of Veracruz after Mexican defenders capitulated. 1943 - World War II rationing of meats, fats and cheese began. 1951 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage (they were executed in June 1953). 1971 - Army Lt. William Calley, Jr. was convicted of murdering 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre (Calley served three years under house arrest). 1973 - The last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending American direct involvement in the Vietnam War.
 * 1792 -** Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot and mortally wounded by assassins during a masquerade party.
 * 1979** - In the U.S. Congress, the House Select Committee on Assassinations released its final report regarding the killings of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.
 * Birthday ** - John Tyler (1790-1862) the 10th U.S. President was born in Charles City County, Virginia. He became president upon the death of William H. Harrison and served from 1841 to 1845. In 1861, Tyler was elected to the Confederate Congress, but died before being seated.

**March 30**

2005 - The Supreme Court ruled that federal law allowed people 40 and older to file age bias claims over salary and hiring even if employers never intended any harm.
 * 1882 -** Flor**i**da became a United States territory.
 * 1867 -** U.S Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly".
 * 1981** - Newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest while walking toward his limousine in Washington D.C., following a speech inside a hotel. The president was then rushed into surgery to remove a 22-caliber bullet from his left lung. "I should have ducked," Reagan joked. Three others were also hit including Reagan's Press Secretary, James Brady, who was shot in the forehead but survived. The president soon recovered from the surgery and returned to his duties.
 * Birthday ** - Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Groot Zundert, Holland. He was a Postimpressionist painter, generally considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. During his short (10 year) painting career he produced over 800 oil paintings and 700 drawings, but sold only one during his lifetime. In 1987, the sale of his painting //Irises// brought $53.9 million, the highest price ever paid for a work of art up to that time. During his life, Van Gogh suffered from despair and bouts of mental illness, at one point cutting off part of his own left ear. He committed suicide in 1890 by gunshot.

**March 31**

1995 - Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death by the founder of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
 * 1933 ** - The Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC, was founded. Unemployed men and youths were organized into quasi-military formations and worked outdoors in national parks and forests.
 * 1968 ** - President Lyndon Johnson made a surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election as a result of the Vietnam conflict.
 * 1991 ** - The Soviet Republic of Georgia, birthplace of [|Joseph Stalin], voted to declare its independence from the Soviet Union, after similar votes by Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Following the vote in Georgia, Soviet troops were dispatched from Moscow under a state of emergency.
 * Birthday ** - Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was born in Rohrau, Austria. Considered the father of the symphony and the string quartet, his works included 107 symphonies, 50 divertimenti, 84 string quartets, 58 piano sonatas, and 13 masses. Based in Vienna, Mozart was his friend and Beethoven was a pupil.
 * Birthday ** - Boxing champion Jack Johnson (1878-1946) was born in Galveston, Texas. He was the first African American to win the heavyweight boxing title.