Humor Break With An Andy Borowitz Headline & Special: The Complete Wisdom of Dan Quayle

Oh, man!

Do you guys remember when Dan Quayle seemed to have lowered the standards of intelligence for highly ranked government officials? He was elected to be Vice-President of the United States in 1988. Yet the running joke among many Americans - including many Republicans - was that he was completely unqualified, and so we needed to do whatever we could to make sure that he would never actually ascend to the presidency. 

Back then, when a politician like that made dumb comments, it actually compromised his credibility. We really tried to make sure that he would never be regarded as a viable candidate for the nation's highest office.

By contrast, we have someone in the Oval Office now who would make Quayle look like not merely a dignified statesman by way of comparison, but also a rather learned gentleman and scholar.

Guess you don't know how good you've got it until it's gone.

I should note that I earned quite a bit of respect for Dan Quayle when he reminded then Vice-President Mike Pence that he did not have the authority to get in the way of the democratic process, as Trump and MAGA was applying strong pressure to do exactly that. He reminded Pence that he had a duty to the country and the Constitution. 

As much as he might have seemed like a joke to many of us now, I think that I would take Quayle in a heartbeat over the "leadership" that we presently have in the White House.

Anyway, this seemed worth sharing. A look back at Dan Quayle and his wit and wisdom, which actually might seem refreshing nowadays.

Enjoy. 

The Complete Wisdom of Dan Quayle TBR Sunday Read Andy Borowitz Mar 22, 2026

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/the-complete-wisdom-of-dan-quayle

The Complete Wisdom of Dan Quayle - by Andy Borowitz

March 26th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

On this day in 1027, Conrad II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XIX.  In 1147 on this day, the Jewish community in Cologne fasted to commemorate anti-Jewish violence. On this day in 1150, the Tichborne family of Hampshire, England, started the tradition of giving a Gallon of flour to each resident to keep a deathbed promise. In 1484 on this day, William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop's Fables. In 1793 on this day during the French Revolution, there was a pro-royalist uprising in the Vendée region of France. Napolean captured Jaffa, Palestine, in 1799. In 1824 on this day was the first performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis". Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died at the age 56 in Vienna, Austria, on this day in 1827. On this day in 1830, the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York. The Paris Commune was founded on this day in 1871. F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, "This Side of Paradise," was published on this day in 1920, immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune. The first "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz & Birkenau Camps came on this day in 1942. The Salk Polio vaccine, which was developed by Jonas Salk, was announced on this day in 1953. It proved to be a groundbreaking medical advancement which played a central role in eradicating polio worldwide. There was a massive antiwar demonstration in Washington on this day in 1969. On this day in 1979, the Camp David peace treaty between Israel & Egypt was signed with a ceremony at the White House, with American President Jimmy Carter presiding, which marked what appeared to be the first major breakthrough for peace in the Middle East. In 1989 on this day was held the first free elections in USSR.  Boris Yeltsin won the presidential election with 190 million votes cast. On this day in 1997, following an anonymous tip, 39 Heaven's Gate cult members were found dead of mass suicide at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California. 

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• On this day in 1027, Conrad II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XIX.  

• In 1147 on this day, the Jewish community in Cologne fasted to commemorate anti-Jewish violence

• On this day in 1150, the Tichborne family of Hampshire, England, started the tradition of giving a Gallon of flour to each resident to keep a deathbed promise.

• In 1484 on this day, William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop's Fables.

1526 - King Francois I returns Spanish captivity to France

1534 - Lubeck accept free Dutch ships into East Sea

1552 - Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.

1636 - University of Utrecht opening ceremony

1668 - England takes control of Bombay India

1692 - King Maximilian installed as land guardian of South Netherlands

1780 - 1st British Sunday newspaper appears (Brit Gazette & Sunday Monitor)

1790 - Congress passes Naturalization Act, requires 2-year residency

• In 1793 on this day during the French Revolution, there was a pro-royalist uprising in the Vendée region of France.

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

• Napolean captured Jaffa, Palestine, in 1799.

1804 - Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana

1804 - Territory of Orleans organizes in Louisiana Purchase

1808 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.

1812 - Earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas Venezuela; about 20,000 die

1821 - Franz Grillparzer's "Das Goldene Vliess," premieres in Vienna

Bust of iconic German composer and musician Ludwig van Beethoven

• In 1824 on this day was the first performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis"

• Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died at the age 56 in Vienna, Austria, on this day in 1827. 

• On this day in 1830, the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York.

1839 - 1st Henley Royal Regatta

1845 - Joseph Francis, NYC, patents a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat

1845 - Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precusor of bandaid

1852 - Decree regarding streets of Paris passed

1856 - NSW's 1st 1st-class game, v Victoria at Melbourne NSW won

1859 - 1st sighting of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit inside Mercury

• 1862 - Battle of La Glorieta Pass, NM Terr (Apache Canyon, Pigeon's Ranch)

• 1863 - Voters in West Virginia approve gradual emancipation of slaves

A picture of a book by Stewart Edwards about the Paris Commune, with the cover photo showing the barricades of the revolutionary movement.

•  The Paris Commune was founded on this day in 1871.

1872 - 7.8 earthquake shakes Owens Valley, California

1872 - Thomas J Martin patents fire extinguisher

1878 - Hastings College of Law founded

1878 - Sabi Game Reserve, world's 1st official designated game reserve, opens

1881 - Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again.

1885 - Eastman Film Co manufactures 1st commercial motion picture film

1885 - Louis Riel's forces defeat Canadian forces at Duck Lake, Sask

1886 - 1st cremation in England

1889 - Bernard Tancred carries bat for 26* out of 47! South Africa v England

1889 - Johnny Briggs took 15-26 (7-17 & 8-11) v South Africa at Newlands

1889 - South Africa all out 47, then follow-on all out 43 v England

• 1895 - King Alfonso plants pine sapling in Madrid, starts Spain's Arbor Day

• 1900 - 1st edition The (Free) People (Neth, probably Amsterdam)

1903 - American Hotel opens in Amsterdam

1909 - August Strindberg's "Bjalb-jarle-ti," premieres in Stockholm

1910 - US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick

1910 - William H Lewis appointed asst attorney general of US

1913 - Bulgaria captures Adrianople, ending the 1st Balkan War

1913 - Dayton, Ohio almost destroyed when Scioto, Miami, & Muskingum River reach flood stage simultaneously

1915 - Stanley Cup: Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA) sweep Ottawa Senators

1916 - Birdman of Alcatraz receives solitary

1917 - Stanley Cup: Seattle Metropolitans (PCHA) beat Montreal Canadiens (NHL), 3 games to 1 - Seattle is 1st US team to win Stanley Cup

• F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, "This Side of Paradise," was published on this day in 1920, immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune.    Fitzgerald, named for his ancestor Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star Spangled Banner," was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a once well-to-do family that had descended in wealth and influence. With the funding of a well-off aunt, Fitzgerald was sent to boarding school in New Jersey in 1911 and attended Princeton University two years later. Although Fitzgerald engaged actively in theater, arts, and other campus activity, his financial background was considerably poorer than those of his classmates, and his outsider status, whether real or imaginary, left a sting. He left Princeton after three years and joined the army during World War I.    While in the military, he was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama, where he developed a romance with the privileged, pampered Zelda Sayre, daughter of a State Supreme Court justice. Like the heroine of The Great Gatsby, she rejected the young man, fearing he would not be able to support her, and like Gatsby, Fitzgerald vowed to win her back. He moved to New York, rewrote a novel about Princeton he had started in college, and promptly became the youngest author ever published by Scribner's. His fame and fortune secure for the moment, he convinced Zelda to marry him, and the two began a whirlwind life of glamorous parties and extravagant living in New York.    Unfortunately, the Fitzgeralds lived far beyond their means and soon found themselves deeply in debt. They moved to Europe, hoping to cut back on expenses, where they befriended other expatriate writers, including Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. While in Europe, Fitzgerald finished his masterpiece The Great Gatsby (1925).    Unfortunately, the Fitzgeralds failed to cut back on their extravagant ways. Although Fitzgerald published dozens of short stories-178 in his lifetime, for which he was amply paid-the couple's debts mounted. Fitzgerald plunged into alcoholism, and his wife became increasingly unstable. In 1930, she suffered the first of several breakdowns and was institutionalized. She spent the rest of her life in a sanitarium. Fitzgerald's next novel, Tender Is the Night, failed to resonate with the American public, and Fitzgerald's fortune's plummeted. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood to try screenwriting. He fell in love with a Hollywood gossip columnist, stopped drinking, and began renewed literary efforts but died of a heart attack in 1940, at the age of 44.

1923 - Stanley Cup: Ott Senators beat Vanc Millionaires (PCHA), 3 games to 1

1924 - Premiere of Bernard Shaw's "Saint Joan," in London

1926 - ACD de Graeff appointed gov-gen of Dutch East-Indies

1926 - The 1st lip-reading tournament held in America

1927 - Alfred Hugenberg purchases German film company UFA

1927 - Gaumont-British Film Corporation forms

1930 - Congress appropriates $50,000 for Inter-American highway

1931 - Iraq & Trans-Jordan sign peace treaty

1931 - Leo Bentley bowls 3 consecutive perfect games in Lorain, Ohio

1931 - New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies

1934 - Driving tests introduced in Britain

1935 - "RvJ" Mitchell & Mjr Sorley discuss armament of Spitfire

1936 - 1st parliamentary debate on NZ radio

1936 - 200" telescope lens shipped, Corning Glass Works, NY-Cal Tech

1936 - Mary Joyce ends a 1,000 mile trip by dog in Alaska

1937 - Joe DiMaggio takes Ty Cobb's advice & replace his 40 with 36 oz bat

1937 - Spinach growers of Crystal City, Tx, erect statue of Popeye

1937 - William H Hastie becomes 1st black federal judge (Virgin Islands)

1938 - NBC radio performance of Howard Hanson's 3rd Symphony

1938 - Herman Goering warned all Jews to leave Austria. 

Busts of American writer Ernest Hemingway

1940 - Ernest Hemingway & Benjamin Glazer premiere in NYC

Auschwitz

• The first "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz & Birkenau Camps came on this day in 1942.

1942 - 1st 700 Jews from Polish Lvov-district reach concentration camp Belzec

1942 - 20 tons of gelignite in a stone quarry at Easton Pa, kills 21

1942 - German offensive in North-Africa under Col-general Rommel

1943 - 1st woman to receive air medal (US army nurse Elsie S Ott)

1943 - Battle of Komandorski Islands, Pacific Ocean

1943 - Elsie S Ott becomes 1st woman awarded US Air Force Medal

1944 - 705 British bombers attack Essen

Statue of soldier, author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London

• 1945 - British premier Churchill looks over at the Rhine (near Ginsberg)

1945 - De Paul wins NIT basketball championship, George Mikan scores 34

1945 - Generals Eisenhower/Bradley/Patton attack at Remagen the Rhine

Miniature of the Iwo Jima Monument in Washington, D.C.

• 1945 - Japanese resistance ends on Iwo Jima

1945 - Kamikaze attack on US battle fleet near Kerama Retto

1945 - US 7th Army crosses Rhine at Worms

US General George S. PattonUS General George S. Patton 1945 - Venray soccer team forms

1949 - 11th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Oklahoma State 46-36

1951 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Sandhills Women's Golf Open

1951 - USAF flag approved

1952 - 14th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kansas beats St Johns 80-63

1952 - F Durrenmatt's "Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi," premieres in Munich

1953 - Dr Jonas Salk announces vaccine to prevent polio[myelitis]

• The Salk Polio vaccine, which was developed by Jonas Salk, was announced on this day in 1953. It proved to be a groundbreaking medical advancement which played a central role in eradicating polio worldwide. 

1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island

1955 - "Ballad of Davy Crockett," becomes the #1 record in US

1956 - Medic Alert Foundation forms

1956 - Red Buttons debuts on TV in Studio One

1958 - 30th Academy Awards-"Bridge over River Kwai," Woodward & Guinness win

1958 - Army launches 3rd successful US satellite, Explorer III

1958 - US Army launched America's third successful satellite, "Explorer III"

1958 - The African Regroupment Party (PRA) is launched at a meeting in Paris.

1959 - Test debut for Mushtaq Mohammad v WI age 15 yrs 124 days

1960 - Iraq executes 30 after attack on Pres Kassem

1960 - Orioles-Reds series for Havana, is moved to Miami

1960 - USC captures NCAA swimming title

1961 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Golden Circle of Golf Festival

1962 - Supreme Court backs 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in state leg

1964 - "Funny Girl" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 1,348 performances

1965 - A truck loses control down Moosic Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania, killing the driver. This accident later inspired the 1974 Harry Chapin song, "30,000 Pounds of Bananas."

1967 - 21st Tony Awards: Homecoming & Cabaret win

1967 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Venice Ladies' Golf Open

1967 - Pope Paul VI publishes encyclical Populorum progressio

• There was a massive antiwar demonstration in Washington on this day in 1969.  A group called Women Strike for Peace demonstrate in Washington, D.C., in the first large antiwar demonstration since President Richard Nixon's inauguration in January. The antiwar movement had initially given Nixon a chance to make good on his campaign promises to end the war in Vietnam. However, it became increasingly clear that Nixon had no quick solution. As the fighting dragged on, antiwar sentiment against the president and his handling of the war mounted steadily during his term in office.

1969 - Marcus Welby MD, a TV movie is shown on ABC-TV

1969 - Nuclear reactor Dodewaard Neth goes into use

1969 - Soviet weather satellite Meteor 1 launched

1970 - "Minnie's Boys" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 80 performances

1970 - 500th nuclear explosion announced by the US since 1945

1970 - Golden Gate Park Conservatory made city landmark

1970 - Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) plead guilty to "taking immoral liberties" with a 14 year old girl

1971 - "Benny Hill Show" tops TV ratings

1971 - "Cannon" with William Conrad premieres on CBS-TV

1971 - Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares its independence

1972 - "Only Fools Are Sad" closes at Edison Theater NYC after 144 perfs

1972 - Betsy Cullen wins LPGA Sears Women's World Golf Classic

1972 - LA Lakers broke NBA record by winning 69 of 82 games (69-13)

1973 - 35th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Memphis 81-76

1973 - Soap "Young & Restless" premieres

1973 - Susan Shaw, is 1st woman in 171 years in London's Stock exchange

1973 - UCLA wins their 7th straight NCAA basketball title

Boxing Champ George ForemanBoxing Champ George Foreman 1974 - George Foreman TKOs Ken Norton in 2 for heavyweight boxing title in Caracas, Venezuela

1974 - Romanian communist party names party leader Ceausescu president

1975 - "Tommy" premieres in London

1975 - Washington Capitals play record NHL 37th road game without a win & NHL record of 17 straight loses

1975 - The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force.

1976 - AL approves purchase of Toronto franchise by LaBatt Brewing for $7M

1976 - Wings release "Wings at the Speed of Sound" album

1976 - Queen Elizabeth II sent out the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.

1977 - Elvis Costello releases his 1st record "Less Than Zero"

1977 - Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson

1979 - 41st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Mich State beats Indiana St 75-64

American President Jimmy Carter

• On this day in 1979, the Camp David peace treaty between Israel & Egypt was signed with a ceremony at the White House, with American President Jimmy Carter presiding, which marked what appeared to be the first major breakthrough for peace in the Middle East.  In a ceremony at the White House, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign a historic peace agreement, ending three decades of hostilities between Egypt and Israel and establishing diplomatic and commercial ties.    Less than two years earlier, in an unprecedented move for an Arab leader, Sadat traveled to Jerusalem, Israel, to seek a permanent peace settlement with Egypt's Jewish neighbor after decades of conflict. Sadat's visit, in which he met with Begin and spoke before Israel's parliament, was met with outrage in most of the Arab world. Despite criticism from Egypt's regional allies, Sadat continued to pursue peace with Begin, and in September 1978 the two leaders met again in the United States, where they negotiated an agreement with U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland. The Camp David Accords, the first peace agreement between the state of Israel and one of its Arab neighbors, laid the groundwork for diplomatic and commercial relations. Seven months later, a formal peace treaty was signed.    For their achievement, Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace. Sadat's peace efforts were not so highly acclaimed in the Arab world--Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, and on October 6, 1981, Muslim extremists assassinated Sadat in Cairo. Nevertheless, the peace process continued without Sadat, and in 1982 Egypt formally established diplomatic relations with Israel.  

1979 - Michigan State Spartans snaps Indiana State's 33-game win streak

1979 - Padres & Giants announce plans to play exhibition series in Tokyo but Giant players reject it

1980 - Bombay gets its 1st rock concert in 10 years (The Police)

Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II 1981 - Police & Albanian demonstrators battle in Kosovo Yugoslavia

1981 - Soyuz T-4 lands

1982 - Ground-breaking in Washington, DC for Vietnam Veterans Memorial

1982 - Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder release "Ebony & Ivory" in the UK

1982 - Soap opera "Capitol" premieres

1983 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1986 - Geffen records signs Guns & Roses

1987 - August Wilson's "Fences," premieres in NYC

1987 - Hyderabad beat Delhi on 1st innings to win Ranji Trophy

1987 - NASA launches Fltsatcom-6, it failed to reach orbit

1987 - Natl Fed of High School adopts college 3 point shot (21 feet)

1988 - Janet B Evans swims 1500m freestyle female world record (15:52.10)

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• In 1989 on this day was held the first free elections in USSR.  Boris Yeltsin won the presidential election with 190 million votes cast.

1989 - Allison Finney wins LPGA Standard Register Turquoise Golf Classic

1990 - 62nd Academy Awards - "Driving Miss Daisy," D Day-Lewis, J Tandy win

Russian President Boris YeltsinRussian President Boris Yeltsin 1991 - Fuel pipe explodes under 58th street & Lexington Ave, NYC

1991 - Marc Camoletti's "Don't Dress for Dinner," premieres in London

1991 - Orlando Thunder beats San Antonio Riders in their 1st WLAF game 35-34

1991 - Victoria beat NSW by 7 wickets to win Sheffield Shield Final

1992 - Mike Tyson sentenced to 10 years in rape of Desiree Washington

1992 - NHL NY Rangers clinch 1st NHL regular season championship in 50 years

1994 - Bonnie Blair skates world record 500 m ladies (38.99 sec)

1994 - Gunda Niemann skates world record 5 km ladies (7:03.26)

1994 - Gunda Niemann skates un-official world record 10 km ladies (14:22.60)

1994 - Yuka Sato of Japan wins world figure skating championship in Tokyo

1995 - "Defending the Caveman," opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 671 perf

1995 - "Moliere Comedies" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 56 perfs

1995 - 15th Golden Raspberry Awards: Color of Night wins

1995 - 24th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Nanci Bowen

1995 - Mashonaland beat Mashonaland U-24 by 165 runs to win Logan Cup

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1995 - The Schengen Treaty goes into effect.

1996 - Last day of 1st-class cricket for Allan Border (Qld v Vic)

1996 - The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan for Russia.

1997 - "Annie," opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC

1997 - NHL announce Might Ducks & Vancouver Canucks to open 1998 in Japan

1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

• On this day in 1997, following an anonymous tip, 39 Heaven's Gate cult members were found dead of mass suicide at a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California. The deceased--21 women and 18 men of varying ages--were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers and had no noticeable signs of blood or trauma. It was later revealed that the men and women were members of the "Heaven's Gate" religious cult, whose leaders preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily "containers" and enter an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet.    The cult was led by Marshall Applewhite, a music professor who, after surviving a near-death experience in 1972, was recruited into the cult by one of his nurses, Bonnie Lu Nettles. In 1975, Applewhite and Nettles persuaded a group of 20 people from Oregon to abandon their families and possessions and move to eastern Colorado, where they promised that an extraterrestrial spacecraft would take them to the "kingdom of heaven." Nettles, who called herself "Ti," and Applewhite, who took the name of "Do," explained that human bodies were merely containers that could be abandoned in favor of a higher physical existence. As the spacecraft never arrived, membership in Heaven's Gate diminished, and in 1985 Bonnie Lu Nettles, Applewhite's "sexless partner," died.    During the early 1990s, the cult resurfaced as Applewhite began recruiting new members. Soon after the 1995 discovery of the comet Hale-Bopp, the Heaven's Gate members became convinced that an alien spacecraft was on its way to earth, hidden from human detection behind the comet. In October 1996, Applewhite rented a large home in Rancho Santa Fe, explaining to the owner that his group was made up of Christian-based angels. Applewhite advocated sexual abstinence, and several male cult members followed his example by undergoing castration operations.    In 1997, as part of its 4,000-year orbit of the sun, the comet Hale-Bopp passed near Earth in one of the most impressive astronomical events of the 20th century. In late March 1997, as Hale-Bopp reached its closest distance to Earth, Applewhite and 38 of his followers drank a lethal mixture of phenobarbital and vodka and then lay down to die, hoping to leave their bodily containers, enter the alien spacecraft, and pass through Heaven's Gate into a higher existence. 

1998 - Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.

1999 - The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world.

1999 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.

2000 - 72nd Academy Awards - "American Beauty," Kevin Spacey & Hilary Swank win

• 2005 - The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the walk.

2006 - In Scotland, the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places comes into force.

2006 - The military junta ruling Burma officially named Naypyidaw, a new city in Mandalay Division, as the new capital. Yangon had formerly been the nation's capital.

2012 - Macky Sall elected as President of Senegal

2012 - Canadian Film maker, James Cameron, becomes the first person to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth in over 50 years

1026 - Conrad II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XIX.   1799 - Napoleon captured Jaffa Palestine.   1780 - The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor was published for the first time. It was the first Sunday newspaper in Britain.   1793 - The Holy Roman Emperor formally declared war on France.   1804 - The U.S. Congress ordered the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi to Louisiana.   1804 - The Louisiana Purchase was divided into the District of Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans.   1854 - Charles III, duke of Parma, was attacked by an assassin. He died the next day.   1871 - The Paris Commune was formally set up.   1878 - Hastings College of Law was founded.   1885 - Eastman Kodak (Eastman Dry Plate and Film Co.) produced the first commercial motion picture film in Rochester, NY.   1898 - In South Africa, the world's first game reserve, the Sabi Game reserve, was designated.   1909 - Russian troops invaded Persia to support Muhammad Ali as shah in place of the constitutional government.   1910 - The U.S. Congress passed an amendment to the 1907 Immigration Act that barred criminals, paupers, anarchists and carriers of disease from settling in the U.S.   1913 - During the Balkan War, the Bulgarians took Adrianople.   1917 - At the start of the battle of Gaza, the British cavalry withdrew when 17,000 Turks blocked their advance.   1937 - Spinach growers in Crystal City, TX, erected a statue of Popeye.    1942 - The Germans began sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.   1945 - The battle of Iwo Jima ended.   1945 - In the Aleutians, the battle of Komandorski began when the Japanese attempted to reinforce a garrison at Kiska and were intercepted by a U.S. naval force.   1951 - The U.S. Air Force flag was approved. The flag included the coat of arms, 13 white stars and the Air Force seal on a blue background.   1953 - Dr. Jonas Salk announced a new vaccine that would prevent poliomyelitis.   1956 - Red Buttons made his debut as a television actor in "Studio One" on CBS television.   1958 - The U.S. Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer III.   1962 - The U.S. Supreme Court supported the 1-man-1-vote apportionment of seats in the State Legislature.   1969 - The TV movie "Marcus Welby" was seen on ABC-TV. It was later turned into a series.   1971 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared East Pakistan to be the independent republic of Bangladesh.   1971 - "Cannon" premiered on CBS-TV as a movie. It was turned into a series later in the year.   1972 - The Los Angeles Lakers broke a National Basketball Association (NBA) record by winning 69 of their 82 games.   1973 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took over the premiership and said "the stage of total confrontation (with Israel) has become inevitable."   1973 - Women were allowed on the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time.   1979 - The Camp David treaty was signed by Israel and Egypt that ended the 31-year state of war between the countries.   1981 - In Great Britain, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) gained official recognition.   1982 - Ground breaking ceremonies were held in Washington, DC, for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.   1983 - The U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.   1989 - The first free elections took place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin was elected.   1991 - The presidents of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay signed an agreement that established the Southern Cone Common Market, a free-trade zone, by January 1, 1995.   1992 - In Indianapolis, heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was found guilty of rape. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He only served three.   1995 - Seven of the 15 European Union states abolished border controls.   1996 - The International Monetary Fund approved a $10.2 billion loan for Russia to help the country transform its economy.   1997 - The 39 bodies of Heaven's Gate members are found in a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. The group had committed suicide thinking that they would be picked up by a spaceship following behind the comet Hale-Bopp.   1998 - In the U.S., the Federal government endorses new HIV test that yields instant results.   1998 - Unisys Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. pay a $3.15 million fine for selling spare parts at inflated prices to the U.S. federal government.   1999 - The macro virus "Melissa" was reported for the first.   1999 - In Michigan, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder for giving a terminally ill man a lethal injection and putting it all on videotape on September 17, 1998 for "60 Minutes."   2000 - The Seattle Kingdome was imploded to make room for a new football arena.   2000 - In Russia, acting President Vladimir Putin was elected president outright. He won a sufficient number of votes to avoid a runoff election.   2007 - The design for the "Forever Stamp" was unveiled by the U.S. Postal Service.

1827 Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died at age 56 in Vienna, Austria. 1945 The battle of Iwo Jima ended; about 22,000 Japanese troops were killed or captured in the fighting and more than 4,500 U.S. troops were killed. 1971 East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh. 1979 In a ceremony at the White House, President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel signed a peace treaty ending 30 years of war between the two countries. 1982 Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial took place in Washington, DC. 2000 Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar26.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

Wednesday Funny: Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award

The news has felt admittedly darker in recent weeks and months than I remember it ever feeling before in my lifetime.

And that's saying something.

We Americans are fighting yet another war in the Middle East, that region which our leaders keep fixating on, time and time again. Even someone who loudly and proudly proclaimed "no more forever wars" and who blasted President George W. Bush for the Iraq war - once even suggesting that he should have been impeached for getting the United States into that war - now has gotten the nation into this ridiculous war with Iran. If the logical inconsistencies and lies which led to Bush invading Iraq back in early 2003 seemed preposterous, Trump is predictably outdoing him greatly with the lies, inconsistencies, and absurd propaganda in leading the United States to just this latest conflict in the Middle East.

Most Americans - and almost everyone around the rest of the world - want no part of this damn war. Especially since Trump has "handled" the war in exactly the same way that he got us into it in the first place. Namely, with lies and deceit and glaring inconsistencies and mindless propaganda that only his most brainwashed supporters accept.

Yet here we are, fighting another war in the Middle East. If George W. Bush's pursuit of the Iraq invasion seemed less than credible, and the American public's general acceptance of those overly convenient arguments seemed like a shocking wakeup call back then, Donald Trump's pursuit of war with Iran with conflicting rationales and an absence of any clear military objectives seems like a convenient tool to distract from all of the bad news facing this administration domestically. That seems particularly true with the unpopularity of ICE and especially with how compromised the Epstein Files have made Donald Trump before the entire world. It sure seems clear now that he went to all those lengths to keep the list hidden for a reason, and that reason has nothing to do with his innocence.

With all of this dark news and grim realities, it seemed to me a good time to try and take a step back and get a breather. And how better to do that than with a good laugh.

So this seems like the opportune time to share this latest headline from The Onion (see the link below).

Enjoy.

Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award Andy Borowitz Mar 04, 2026

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/trump-boasts-that-international-criminal-657

Trump Boasts That International Criminal Court in The Hague Has Invited Him to Receive Award

Constant 'Bait and Switch' Tendencies By the Trump White House May Just Be Compromising GOP's Hopes to Remain in Power

This is a picture of a magnet that was being sold at Strand's Book Store in New York City a few years ago. No, I did not buy it, but I liked it and took a picture, which I am sharing here now. 

If there is a chance for what remains of our American democracy to be saved and/or restored, you know that it is not going to happen with the Republican party in power, as it has been now for well over a year.  You know that they are not likely to grow a spine all of a sudden, since they have shown no signs of a spine, collectively, in over a decade now. This trend has become particularly blatant in the decade and change since Trump first rose to political power.

And while I am aware that Trump and MAGA are likely to make every effort to cheat in the upcoming election, it still offers the best chance in the immediate future to curtail and seriously challenge the unchecked power of the Trump White House. After all, we can clearly see that the Republicans are just not capable of doing it for the last....oh, ten years or so.

What do you need as further evidence? Another ten years for Trump and MAGA to erode American democracy and destroy the nation's reputation around the world, possibly flirting with World War III in the process? Another ten years of lies and inconsistency and secret police and bullying the world and propaganda to make it all seem normal and/or necessary?

It's time. Hell, it's way past time to get Trump out of office. At the very least, to make sure that his power does not remain unchecked. The case he made for why he cannot be trusted with such power could not be any clearer.

Fortunately, Trump is not smart enough, despite his claims of being a "very stable genius," to not get in his own way from time to time. He can always be counted on to say or do something utterly reprehensible, which will put limits on his options. Except that even then, obviously we cannot count on the Mindless MAGA Moron cult to ever question their loyalty to such an undeserving and, quite frankly, unimpressive man. They still seem to worship him, which continues to give him leverage which he neither deserves nor can be trusted with.

However, we have to keep reminding ourselves that Trump is not all-powerful, and certainly also not all-popular. 

Nevertheless, it does seem like Trump, this time, might just be compromising his Republican party to the point where they face some serious losses in this election year. And while I am skeptical as to how much change this will actually bring to the country - it's not like a Democratic majority in either chamber of Congress did much to keep him in check during his first term, and he is more out of control than ever before now in his second term - we nonetheless need something to try and limit his power. We really are at that breaking point.

Admittedly, I have been quite skeptical of the Democrats. They stopped being impressive to me sometime while Bill Clinton was still in the Oval Office. But at this point, we need something other than the Trump MAGA cult holding all of the reins of power in this country.

To that end, Trump himself, with his idiotic, irrational, and inconsistent behavior and words and actions, might prove to be the greatest asset to his own undoing.

Let us hope that this is the case.

Trump’s 'bait and switch' pushing GOP to desperation Story by Alex Henderson • 18h 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-bait-and-switch-pushing-gop-to-desperation/ar-AA1ZdClf?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=69c22b9b57204a99927166e816973d5b&ei=16

Trump’s 'bait and switch' pushing GOP to desperation

March 25th: This Day in History

 

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Origin of Dionysian Incarnation of the Word was on this day in the year 1. On this day in the year 31 was the first Easter, according to the calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus. The city of Venice was founded on this day in 421 at 12 PM. In 1598 on this day, Cornelis de Houtman's fleet departed for the second expedition to the East-Indies. On this day in 1647, Cape of Good Hope the tour ship Haerlem was wrecked and stranded in Tafel Bay at the Cape of Good Hope, which proved to be a catalyst for the Dutch establishing a station in Cape Town a few years later. Voltaire left the court of Frederik II of Prussia on this day in 1753. On this day in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Ac, closing the port of Boston and demanding that the city's residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth (in today's money) of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. In 1776 on this day, the Continental Congress authorized a medal for George Washington. On this day in 1821, the Greek group Filike Etaireia ( “Friendly Brotherhood”) launched a series of revolts across Greece in revolt against Ottoman rule. This day is now celebrated as Greek Independence Day, a national holiday. On this day in 1918, the Belarusian Peoples' Republic was established. Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact and thus joined the Axis powers on this in 1941 during World War II, despite an early declaration of neutrality. This meant that they joined an alliance with the Axis powers Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Soviets announced their withdrawal from Iran on this day in 1946. In 1959 on this day, French President Charles De Gaulle formally acknowledged the Oder-Neisse boundary between Germany and Poland. In 1965 on this day, Martin Luther King Jr led 25,000 to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1967 on this day, Martin Luther King led a protest march in Chicago against the war in Vietnam. In 1976 on this day, an Argentine military junta banned leftist political parties. On this day in 1993 during the waning days of white-minority rule during apartheid in South Africa, President F.W. de Klerk admitted that South Africa had built six nuclear bombs, but said that they had since been dismantled. 

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

• Origin of Dionysian Incarnation of the Word was on this day in the year 1.

• On this day in the year 31 was the first Easter, according to the calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus

• The city of Venice was founded on this day in 421 at 12 PM.

708 - Constantine begins his reign as Catholic Pope

1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6.

1306 - Robert the Bruce crowned King of Scots

1409 - Council of Pisa opens

1571 - Catholic Italian businessman Roberto Ridolfi leaves Enngeland

1581 - Portugese Cortes calls Philip II king of Portugal

1584 - Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America

• In 1598 on this day, Cornelis de Houtman's fleet departed for the second expedition to the East-Indies

1609 - Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co

1634 - Under charter granted to Lord Baltimore and led by his brother Leonard Calvert first settlers found Catholic colony of Maryland

The Cape of Good Hope, which is the southwestern most point on the continent of Africa.

• On this day in 1647, Cape of Good Hope the tour ship Haerlem was wrecked and stranded in Tafel Bay at the Cape of Good Hope, which proved to be a catalyst for the Dutch establishing a station in Cape Town a few years later. 

1655 - Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, (Saturn's largest satellite)

1668 - 1st horse race in America takes place

1669 - Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000

1700 - England, France & Netherlands ratify 2nd Extermination treaty

Bust of French Enlightenment Philosopher Voltaire at New York's Met Museum

• Voltaire left the court of Frederik II of Prussia on this day in 1753.

• On this day in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Boston Port Ac, closing the port of Boston and demanding that the city's residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth (in today's money) of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773.    The Boston Port Act was the first and easiest to enforce of four acts that together were known as the Coercive Acts. The other three were a new Quartering Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Massachusetts Government Act.    As part of the Crown's attempt to intimidate Boston's increasingly unruly residents, King George III appointed General Thomas Gage, who commanded the British army in North America, as the new governor of Massachusetts. Gage became governor in May 1774, before the Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony's 1691 charter and curtailed the powers of the traditional town meeting and colonial council. These moves made it clear to Bostonians that the crown intended to impose martial law.    In June, Gage easily sealed the ports of Boston and Charlestown using the formidable British navy, leaving merchants terrified of impending economic disaster. Many merchants wanted to simply pay for the tea and disband the Boston Committee of Correspondence, which had served to organize anti-British protests. The merchants' attempt at convincing their neighbors to assuage the British failed. A town meeting called to discuss the matter voted them down by a substantial margin.    Parliament hoped that the Coercive Acts would isolate Boston from Massachusetts, Massachusetts from New England and New England from the rest of North America, preventing unified colonial resistance to the British. Their effort backfired. Rather than abandon Boston, the colonial population shipped much-needed supplies to Boston and formed extra-legal Provincial Congresses to mobilize resistance to the crown. By the time Gage attempted to enforce the Massachusetts Government Act, his authority had eroded beyond repair.

• In 1776 on this day, the Continental Congress authorized a medal for George Washington

1802 - France, Netherlands, Spain & Britain sign Peace of Amiens

1807 - 1st railway passenger service began in England

1807 - British Parliament abolishes slave trade

1807 - George Canning becomes British minister of Foreign affairs

1811 - Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.

1813 - 1st US flag flown in battle on the Pacific, frigate Essex

1814 - Netherlands Bank established

1817 - Tsar Alexander I recommends formation of Society of Israeli Christians

Flag of Greece

• On this day in 1821, the Greek group Filike Etaireia ( “Friendly Brotherhood”) launched a series of revolts across Greece in revolt against Ottoman rule. This day is now celebrated as Greek Independence Day, a national holiday.

1847 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland"

1851 - Yosemite Valley discovered in California

1852 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Agnes Bernauer" premieres in Munich

First US President George WashingtonFirst US President George Washington 1856 - A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine

1857 - Frederick Laggenheim takes 1st photo of a solar eclipse

1863 - 1st Army Medal of Honor awarded

1863 - Skirmish at Brentwood Tennessee

1864 - Battle of Paducah, KY (Forrest's raid)

1865 - Battle of Bluff Spring, FL

1865 - Battle of Fort Stedman, VA - in front of Petersburg

1865 - Battle of Mobile, AL (Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan, Fort Blakely)

1865 - SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras catches fire & sinks, killing 400

1876 - Glasgow 1st soccer match Scotland-Wales (4-0)

1882 - 1st demonstration of pancake making (Dept store in NYC)

1888 - Socialist leader Domela Nieuwenhuis elected to Dutch 2nd chamber

1889 - 1st Test Cricket match played at Newlands, Cape Town v England

1894 - Coxey's Army of the unemployed sets out from Massillon Oh for Wash

1895 - Italian troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

1896 - Modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece [NS=Apr 6]

1898 - Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association formed in NYC

1900 - US Socialist Party forms in Indianapolis

1901 - 55 die as Rock Island train derailed near Marshalltown Iowa

1902 - Irving W Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine

1903 - Racing Club de Avellaneda, one of the big five of Argentina, is founded.

1905 - Rebel battle flags captured during war are returned to South

1907 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Wanderers lose to Kenora Thistles but outscore them in 2 game set but outscore them 12-8 and win cup

1908 - Clube Atletico Mineiro, Founded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

1910 - Chalmers Auto Co offers a new car to each leagues' batting champ

1911 - L D Swamikannu publishes "Manual of Indian Chronology" in Bombay

1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory catches fire 145 die, all but 13 girls

1913 - Great Dayton Flood

1913 - Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (NYC) starring Ed Wynn

1915 - 1st submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21

1915 - German U boat torpedoes Neth merchant ship Medea

1916 - Heavyweight Jess Willard & Franc Moran fight to no decision in NYC

1916 - Jess Willard fights Frank Moran to no decision in 10 for boxing title

1916 - Women are allowed to attend a boxing match

• On this day in 1918, the Belarusian Peoples' Republic was established.  Less than three weeks after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk formally brought an end to Russia's participation in the First World War, the former Russian province of Belarus declares itself an independent, democratic republic on this day in 1918.    Modern-day Belarus—also known as Belorussia—was formerly part of Poland, its neighbor to the west, until a series of wars in the late 18th century ended with the partition of Poland and with Belarus in Russian hands. In 1917, Belarus capitalized on Russian weakness and disorder resulting from its participation in World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution of that year and proclaimed its independence, after more than a century of occupation by the czarist empire. At the time, Belarus was occupied by the German army, according to the terms formalized at Brest-Litovsk on March 3.    On March 25, a Rada (or council) pronounced the creation of the Belarussian People's Republic. Eight months later, however, with the defeat of the Central Powers at the hands of the Allies in World War I, Brest-Litovsk was invalidated and the German army was forced to pull out of Belarus and the former Russian territories. This left the fledgling republic vulnerable to a new Russian invasion—that of the Bolshevik Red Guard, who entered the Belarussian capital city of Minsk on January 5, 1919, and crushed the republic's government.    With the Rada in exile, the Bolsheviks declared the establishment of the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Poland, determined to reestablish its historical dominance over the region, promptly invaded the new soviet state; the Treaty of Riga of 1921 gave Poland the western part of Belarus. The rest of it became a constituent of the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), founded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 1922. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the USSR took the opportunity to annex the part it had lost in 1921. These borders were confirmed in a treaty signed by the USSR and Poland at the end of World War II.    The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and Belarus became one of the founding members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an association of 12 former republics of the USSR formed to help regulate foreign affairs, as well as military and economic policy among the member states. On March 25, 1993, the anniversary of the proclamation of Belarusian independence was openly celebrated for the first time in Minsk and other cities in the republic.

1923 - British government grants Trans-Jordan autonomy

1924 - Greek parliament selects admiral Paul Koundouriotis as premier

1924 - Stanley Cup: Mont Canadiens (NHL) sweep Calgary Tigers (WCHL) in 2

1931 - Hal Kemp & his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis

1931 - Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama

1934 - 1st Golf Masters Championship: Horton Smith wins, shooting a 284

1935 - 1st Belgium government of Van Zealand resigns

1936 - 200" mirror blank leaves for California to be ground

1936 - Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Maroons in NHL longest game (2h56m30s)

Baseball Great Babe RuthBaseball Great Babe Ruth 1937 - It's revealed Quaker Oats pays Babe Ruth $25,000 per year for ads

1937 - Italy & Yugoslavia sign no-attack treaty (Pact of Belgrade)

1937 - Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot

1937 - Wash Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page

1938 - 1st US bred and owned horse (Battleship) to win British Grand National Steeplechase

1939 - Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart

1941 - Carolina Paprika Mills in Dillon SC, incorporated

• Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact and thus joined the Axis powers on this in 1941 during World War II, despite an early declaration of neutrality. This meant that they joined an alliance with the Axis powers Germany, Italy, and Japan.    A unified nation of Yugoslavia, an uneasy federation of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, was a response to the collapse of the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires at the close of World War I, both of which had previously contained parts of what became Yugoslavia. A constitutional monarchy, Yugoslavia built friendships with France and Czechoslovakia during the years between the world wars. With the outbreak of World War II, and the Anschluss ("union") between Austria and Germany, pressure was placed on Yugoslavia to more closely ally itself Germany, despite Yugoslavia's declared neutrality. But fear of an invasion like that suffered by France pushed Yugoslavia into signing a "Friendship Treaty"—something short of a formal political alliance—on December 11, 1940.    With the war spreading to the Balkans after the invasion of Greece by Italy, it was important to Hitler that the Axis powers have an ally in the region that would act as a bulwark against Allied encroachment on Axis territory. Meeting on February 14, 1941, Adolf Hitler proved unable to persuade Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisa Cvetkovic to formally join the Axis. The next day, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill contacted the Yugoslav regent, Prince Paul, in an effort to encourage him to remain firm in resisting further German blandishments. It was essential to the Allies that Yugoslavia cooperate with Anglo-Greek forces in fending off an Axis conquest of Greece.    But with King Boris of Bulgaria caving into Germany, Prince Paul felt the heat of the Nazis, and on March 20 he asked the Yugoslav Cabinet for their cooperation in allowing the Germans access to Greece through Yugoslavia. The Cabinet balked, and four ministers resigned in protest at the suggestion. This gesture failed to prevent Prime Minister Cvetkovic from finally signing the Tripartite Pact in Vienna on March 25, 1941.    Within two days, the Cvetkovic government was overthrown by a unified front of peasants, the church, unions, and the military—an angry response to the alliance with Germany. Prince Paul was thrown from his throne in favor of his son, King Peter, only 17 years old. The new government, led by Air Force Gen. Dusan Simovic, immediately renounced the Tripartite Pact. In less than two weeks, Germany invaded the nation and occupied it by force.

1942 - 700 Jews of Polish Lvov-district reach Belzec Concentration camp

1943 - 97% of all Dutch physicians strike againt nazi registration

1943 - Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio

1944 - Germany troop executes 335 residents of Rome

1944 - RAF Sgt Nickolas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute

1945 - US 1st army breaks out bridgehead near Remagen

1945 - US 4th Armored div arrives at Hanau & Aschaffenburg

1945 - US Northern Tractor Flotilla departs Ulithi to Okinawa

Composer Igor StravinskyComposer Igor Stravinsky 1946 - 1st performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto"

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• The Soviets announced their withdrawal from Iran on this day in 1946.  In conclusion to an extremely tense situation of the early Cold War, the Soviet Union announces that its troops in Iran will be withdrawn within six weeks. The Iranian crisis was one of the first tests of power between the United States and the Soviet Union in the postwar world.    The Iranian crisis began during World War II. In 1942, Iran signed an agreement by which British and Soviet troops were allowed into the country in order to defend the oil-rich nation from possible German attack. American troops were also soon in Iran. The 1942 treaty stated that all foreign troops would withdraw within six months after the end of the war. In 1944, however, both Great Britain and the United States began to press the Iranian government for oil concessions and the Soviets thereupon demanded concessions of their own. By 1945, the oil situation was still unsettled, but the war was coming to an end and the American attitude toward the Soviet Union had changed dramatically.    The new administration of Harry S. Truman, which came to power when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in April 1945, decided that the Soviets were not to be trusted and were bent on expansion. Therefore, a policy of "toughness" was adopted toward the former wartime ally. Iran came to be a test case for this new policy. The Soviets had decided to take action in Iran. Fearing that the British and Americans were conspiring to deny Russia its proper sphere of influence in Iran, the Soviets came to the assistance of an Iranian rebel group in the northern regions of the country. In early 1946, the United States complained to the United Nations about the situation in Iran and accused the Soviets of interfering with a sovereign nation. When the March 2, 1946 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iran passed and the Soviets were still in place, a crisis began to develop.    A major diplomatic confrontation was avoided when the Soviets announced on March 25, 1946, that they would be withdrawing their forces within six weeks. President Truman bragged that his threats of a possible military confrontation had been the deciding factor, but that seems unlikely. The Soviet Union and Iran had reached an agreement that gave the Soviets an oil concession in Iran. With this promise in hand, the Soviets kept their part of the bargain and moved their troops out of Iran in April 1946. Almost immediately, the Iranian government reneged on the oil deal and, with U.S. aid and advice, crushed the revolt in northern Iran. The Soviets were furious, but refrained from reintroducing their armed forces into Iran for fear of creating an escalating conflict with the United States and Great Britain. The Iranian crisis, and the suspicion and anger it created between the United States and the Soviet Union, helped set the tone for the developing Cold War.

1947 - 9th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Holy Cross beats Oklahoma 58-47

1947 - Agreement of Linggadjati ratified in Batavia

1947 - Coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill, claims 111

1947 - Last day of Test cricket for Walter Hammond (v NZ, Christchurch)

1949 - SS police chief Rauter request for a pardon, denied

1951 - 5th Tony Awards: Guys & Dolls & Rose Tattoo win

1951 - E Purcell & EM Ewen detect 21-cm radiation at Harvard physics lab

1954 - 26th Academy Awards - "From Here to Eternity", Anthony Holden & Audrey Hepburn win

1954 - Pope Pius XII encyclical "Sacra virginitas" (On consecrated virginity)

1954 - RCA manufactures 1st color TV set (12½" screen at $1,000)

1955 - E Germany granted full sovereignty by occupying power, USSR

1955 - United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.

1957 - NBA modifies the free-throw rule

1957 - Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (Common Mkt)

Middle/welterweight championship boxer Sugar Ray RobinsonMiddle/welterweight championship boxer Sugar Ray Robinson 1958 - Sugar Ray Robinson is 1st boxing champ to win 5 times

1958 - West German parliament desires German atomic weapons

1959 - Bill White traded to St Louis for pitchers Sam Jones & Don Choate

French President Charles De Gaulle

• In 1959 on this day, French President Charles De Gaulle formally acknowledged the Oder-Neisse boundary between Germany and Poland.

1960 - 1st guided missile launched from nuclear powered sub (Halibut)

1960 - DH Lawrence' "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (NYC)

1960 - Ford Frick voids Indians-Red Sox deal as Sam White retires

1960 - Italian government Tambroni forms

1961 - "13 Daughters" closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 28 performances

1961 - "Gypsy" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 702 performances

1961 - 23rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Cin beats Ohio State 70-65 (OT)

1961 - Elvis Presley performs live on the USS Arizona

1961 - Explorer 10 launched into elongated Earth orbit (177/181,000 km)

1961 - Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered

1961 - 3rd place game is one of the wildest contests in NCAA Tournament history as St Joseph's defeats Utah 127-120 in 4 overtimes

Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis PresleySinger & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1962 - "Family Affair" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 65 performances

1962 - French OAS-leader ex-general Jouhaud arrested

1963 - KWHY TV channel 22 in Los Angeles, CA (IND) begins broadcasting

• 1964 - Britain sets memorial for the late President John F Kennedy

• 1964 - Egypt ends state of siege (1952-64)

• In 1965 on this day, Martin Luther King Jr led 25,000 to the state capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.

Flag of Germany (formerly West Germany during the Cold War)

1965 - West German Bondsdag extends war crimes retribution

1966 - US Supreme court rules "poll tax" unconstitutional

    

• 1966 - Beatles pose with mutilated dolls & butchered meat for the cover of the "Yesterday & Today" album, It is later pulled

1967 - 29th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Dayton 79-64

1967 - The Turtle's "Happy Together" goes #1

1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1967 - Who & Cream make US debut at Murray the K's Easter Show

Statue of Martin Luther King Jr in Denver, Colorado

• In 1967 on this day, Martin Luther King led a protest march in Chicago against the war in Vietnam.     The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march of 5,000 antiwar demonstrators in Chicago. In an address to the demonstrators, King declared that the Vietnam War was "a blasphemy against all that America stands for." King first began speaking out against American involvement in Vietnam in the summer of 1965. In addition to his moral objections to the war, he argued that the war diverted money and attention from domestic programs to aid the black poor. He was strongly criticized by other prominent civil rights leaders for attempting to link civil rights and the antiwar movement.

1968 - KLVX TV channel 10 in Las Vegas, NV (PBS) begins broadcasting

1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr.Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. 1969 - Andes Pact signed in Peru

1969 - John & Yoko stage their 1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)

1969 - Pakistan Gen Agha Mohammed Jagja Khan succeeds Ayub Chan as pres

1970 - Concorde makes its 1st supersonic flight (700 MPH/1,127 KPH)

1971 - Boston Patriots become New England Patriots

1971 - European council accepts Mansholt plan laying off 5 million farmers

1971 - Tom Jones, "She's a Lady," goes gold

1972 - "Selling of the President" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 5 perfs

1972 - 34th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Florida 81-76

1972 - America's LP "America" goes #1

1972 - Bobby Hull becomes the 2nd NHLer to score 600 goals

1972 - UCLA wins its 6th consecutive national basketball title

1973 - 27th Tony Awards: That Championship Season & Little Night Music win

1973 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Sears Women's Golf Classic

1973 - Majid Khan & Mushtaq Mohammad both out for 99 in Test v Eng

Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1974 - Barbra Streisand records the album "Butterfly"

1976 - "My Fair Lady" opens at St James Theater NYC for 384 performances

1976 - "Rex" opens at Lunt-Fontaine Theater NYC for 48 performances

Flag of Argentina

• In 1976 on this day, an Argentine military junta banned leftist political parties.

1979 - Major riot at Bourda prevents day's play in WSC Supertest

1985 - Edwin Meese III becomes US Attorney General

1986 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Geneva won by Brian Boitano (USA)

1986 - Supreme Court rules Air Force could ban wearing of yarmulkes

1987 - Supreme Court rules women/minorities may get jobs if less qualified

1988 - "Les Miserables" opens at Chunichi Theatre, Nagoya Japan

1988 - NASA launches space vehicle S-206

1988 - Robin Givens demands full access to husband Mike Tyson's money

1989 - "Les Miserables" opens at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago

1990 - "Lettice & Lovage" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 284 performances

1990 - 10th Golden Raspberry Awards: Star Trek V wins

1990 - Fire in illegal NYC social club, kills 87

1990 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA Standard Register Turquoise Golf Classic

1991 - 63rd Academy Awards - "Dance with Wolves", Kathy Bates & Jeremy Irons win

1991 - Allan Border takes 5-68 v WI at Bourda (!), Georgetown

1992 - British scientists find new largest perfect # (2 756839 -1 * 2 756839)

1992 - Imran Khan scores 72 & takes 1-43 off 6 2 overs in last ODI

1992 - Pakistan defeats England by 22 runs to win World Cup

1992 - Russian manned space craft TM-14, lands

Actress Kathy BatesActress Kathy Bates 1992 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station.

Statue of South African President & Nobel Peace Prize Recipient F.W. de Klerk in Cape Town

• On this day in 1993 during the waning days of white-minority rule during apartheid in South Africa, President F.W. de Klerk admitted that South Africa had built six nuclear bombs, but said that they had since been dismantled. 

1993 - "Candida" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances

1994 - Gunda Niemann skates ladies world record 3 km (4:09.32)

1994 - Yasunori Miyabe skates world record 1000 m (1:12.37)

1995 - Boxer Mike Tyson released from jail after serving 3 years

1996 - 68th Academy Awards - "Braveheart", Nicholas Cage & Susan Sarandon win

1996 - Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) approaches within 0.1018 AUs of Earth

1996 - Freedom Shoemakers on Maryport's Solway Estate closes

1996 - Ice Dance Championship at Edmonton won by Gritshuk & Platov (RUS)

1996 - Ice Pairs Championship at Edmonton won by Eltsova & Bushkov (RUS)

1996 - Ladies Fig Skating Championship in Edmonton won by Michelle Kwan (USA)

1996 - Men's Fig Skating Championship in Edmonton won by Todd Eldredge (USA)

1996 - US issues newly-redesigned $100 bill

1996 - The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (BSE).

1997 - "Barrymore" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 240 performances

1997 - Indians trade Lofton and Embree to Braves for Grissom & Justice

1999 - 13th Soul Train Music Awards: Luther Vandross, R. Kelly & Lauryn Hill win

2000 - 20th Golden Raspberry Awards: Wild Wild West wins

2001 - 73rd Academy Awards - "Gladiator", Russell Crowe & Julia Roberts win

2006 - Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

2006 - Protesters demanding a re-election in Belarus following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006 clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.

2012 - Peter Cruddas, treasurer of Britain's Conservative Party, resigns after being caught on film selling access to British Prime Minister David Cameron

2013 - Golfer Tiger Woods returns to his world number one ranking

0421 - The city of Venice was founded.   0708 - Constantine began his reign as Catholic Pope.   1306 - Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland.   1409 - The Council of Pisa opened.   1609 - Henry Hudson left on an exploration for Dutch East India Co.   1634 - Lord Baltimore founded the Catholic colony of Maryland.   1655 - Puritans jailed Governor Stone after a military victory over Catholic forces in the colony of Maryland.   1655 - Christian Huygens discovered Titan. Titan is Saturn's largest satellite.   1668 - The first horse race in America took place.   1669 - Mount Etna in Sicily erupted destroying Nicolosi. 20,000 people were killed.   1700 - England, France and Netherlands ratify the 2nd Extermination Treaty.   1753 - Voltaire left the court of Frederik II of Prussia.   1774 - English Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill.   1776 - The Continental Congress authorized a medal for General George Washington.   1802 - France, Netherlands, Spain and England signed the Peace of Amiens.   1807 - The first railway passenger service began in England.   1807 - British Parliament abolished the slave trade.   1813 - The frigate USS Essex flew the first U.S. flag in battle in the Pacific.   1814 - The Netherlands Bank was established.   1820 - Greece freedom revolt against anti Ottoman attack   1821 - Greece gained independence from Turkey.   1856 - A. E. Burnside patented Burnside carbine.   1857 - Frederick Laggenheim took the first photo of a solar eclipse.   1865 - The SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras caught fire and sank. 400 people were killed.   1865 - During the American Civil War, Confederate forces captured Fort Stedman in Virginia.   1879 - Japan invaded the kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) Islands, formerly a vassal of China.   1895 - Italian troops invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).   1898 - The Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association was formed in New York City.   1900 - The U.S. Socialist Party was formed in Indianapolis.   1901 - 55 people died when a Rock Island train derailed near Marshalltown, IA.   1901 - The Mercedes was introduced by Daimler at the five-day "Week of Nice" in Nice, France.   1901 - It was reported in Washington, DC, that Cubans were beginning to fear annexation.   1902 - Irving W. Colburn patented the sheet glass drawing machine.   1902 - In Russia, 567 students were found guilty of "political disaffection." 95 students were exiled to Siberia.   1904 - E.D. Morel and Roger Casement formed the Congo Reform Association in Liverpool.   1905 - Rebel battle flags that were captured during the American Civil War were returned to the South.   1905 - Russia received Japan's terms for peace.   1907 - Nicaraguan troops took Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.   1908 - Wilhelm II paid an official visit to Italy's king in Venice.   1909 - In Russia, revolutionary Popova was arrested on 300 murder charges.   1911 - In New York City, 146 women were killed in fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City. The owners of the company were indicted on manslaughter charges because some of the employees had been behind locked doors in the factory. The owners were later acquitted and in 1914 they were ordered to pay damages to each of the twenty-three families that had sued.   1913 - The Palace Theatre opened in New York City.   1915 - 21 people died when a U.S. F-4 submarine sank off the Hawaiian coast.   1919 - The Paris Peace Commission adopted a plan to protect nations from the influx of foreign labor.   1923 - The British government granted Trans-Jordan autonomy.   1931 - Fifty people were killed in riots that broke out in India. Gandhi was one of many people assaulted.   1931 - The Scottsboro Boys were arrested in Alabama.   1936 - The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Maroons in the longest hockey game to date. The game lasted for 2 hours and 56 minutes.   1940 - The U.S. agreed to give Britain and France access to all American warplanes.   1941 - Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers.   1941 - The first paprika mill was incorporated in Dollon, SC.   1947 - A coalmine explosion in Centralia, IL, killed 111 people.   1947 - John D. Rockefeller III presented a check for $8.5 million to the United Nations for the purchase of land for the site of the U.N. center.   1953 - The USS Missouri fired on targets at Kojo, North Korea.   1954 - RCA manufactured its first color TV set and began mass production.   1957 - The European Economic Community was established with the signing of the Treaty of Rome.   1960 - A guided missile was launched from a nuclear powered submarine for the first time.   1965 - Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of 25,000 to the state capital in Montgomery, AL.   1966 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "poll tax" was unconstitutional.   1970 - The Concorde made its first supersonic flight.   1971 - The Boston Patriots became the New England Patriots.   1972 - Bobby Hull joined Gordie Howe to become only the second National Hockey League player to score 600 career goals.   1975 - King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew. The nephew, with a history of mental illness, was beheaded the following June.   1981 - The U.S. Embassy in San Salvador was damaged when gunmen attacked using rocket propelled grenades and machine guns.   1981 - The Down Jones industrial avarage of selected stocks on the New York Stock Exchanged closed at its highest level in more than eight years.   1982 - Wayne Gretzky became the first player in the NHL to score 200 points in a season.   1983 - The U.S. Congress passed legislation to rescue the U.S. social security system from bankruptcy.   1985 - It was reported that a U.S. Army Major stationed in East Germany had been shot and killed by a Soviet Border Guard.   1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered emergency aid for the Honduran army. U.S. helicopters took Honduran troops to the Nicaraguan border.   1988 - Robert E. Chambers Jr. pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. The case was known as New York City's "preppie murder case."   1989 - In Paris, the Louvre reopened with I.M. Pei's new courtyard pyramid.   1990 - A fire in Happy Land, an illegal New York City social club, killed 87 people.   1990 - Estonia voted for independence from the Soviet Union.   1991 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launched a major counter-offensive to recapture key towns from Kurds in northern Iraq.   1992 - Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth after spending 10 months aboard the orbiting Mir space station.   1993 - President de Klerk admitted that South Africa had built six nuclear bombs, but said that they had since been dismantled.   1994 - United States troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.   1995 - Boxer Mike Tyson was released from jail after serving 3 years.   1996 - An 81-day standoff by the antigovernment Freemen began at a ranch near Jordan, MT.  1996 - The U.S. issued a newly redesigned $100 bill for circulation.   1998 - A cancer patient was the first known to die under Oregon's doctor-assisted suicide law.   1998 - The FCC nets $578.6 million at auction for licenses for new wireless technology.   1998 - Quinn Pletcher was found guilty on charges of extortion. He had threatened to kill Bill Gates unless he was paid $5 million.   2002 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dismissed complaints against Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network broadcast of a Victoria's Secret fashion show in November 2001.   2004 - The U.S. Senate voted (61-38) on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 1997) to make it a separate crime to harm a fetus during the commission of a violent federal crime.

1634 Maryland was founded by settlers sent by the late Lord Baltimore. 1894 Jacob Sechler Coxey and his "army" of unemployed men began their march from Ohio to Washington, DC. 1911 A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York City killed 145 workers. 1931 The Scottsboro boys were arrested in Alabama. 1934 Horton Smith won the first Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Georgia. 1957 The European Economic Community was established by the Treaty of Rome. 1965 The 25,000-person Alabama Freedom March to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks, led by Martin Luther King Jr., ended its journey from Selma on the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. 1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot and killed by his nephew. 1994 U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia.

The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/mar25.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory