Today Is the Vernal (Spring) Equinox Today - March 20, 2023 at 10:46 AM EST

 

 

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

Today at 10:46 EST will be the spring equinox, officially. This was a rough winter for many of sus, but it has now finally yielded to the more moderate winds of the spring season.

When I was younger, I hardly ever paid attention to the first day of spring, or the Vernal Equinox. It was only once a member of the Environmental Club at Bergen Community College back in 1993 mentioned something that I began to truly pay attention, and understand the significance of it, truly. These days, I enjoy this unofficial holiday, celebrating the arrival of this season.

Spring is, of course, the season of new life. Soon, the grass and leaves on the trees will be bright green, and vegetation will bloom. Duck and geese will have marching little chicks behind them, and new life will be in evidence everywhere.

This was a bizarre winter that we had once again. It was incredibly mild for most of the winter, with little spurts of winter cold and snowstorms scattered, mostly during the first half of the winter. Again, this feels like it reinforces the reality of climate change, because this just was not normal.

Many winters in the past were far more punishing. It appears that this trend is changing due to climate change. Still, winter is a time of shorter daylight and cold weather. Many people feel it drags on, and most of us are more than ready once spring finally rolls around. 

Indeed, winter can produce a great degree of stress and annoyances, which is why the spring equinox in particular always feels especially welcome. The rigors and annoyances of the winter at least can make you appreciate the mildness of the warmer spring season, when the arrival of the next winter season is still as far away as one can get. 

And so, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge this wonderful, natural event. It is perhaps not a holiday, although we will have Earth Day soon. But right now, we should feel good about the arrival of the season of life.

Today was the first day of spring officially in the northern hemisphere. Tomorrow, of course, will be the first full day of spring. So even though this comes a day late - and technically not late at all for all the time zones west of the Eastern Standard Time Zone - it seemed worth posting about it. 

Not sure about anywhere else. But here in northern New Jersey, it feels like we went back to winter a little bit in recent days. 

March 20th: 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 141, the sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet was recorded. The Black Death was allegedly created on this day in 1345, according to scholars at the University of Paris, from what they call "a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius, occurring on the 20th of March 1345". In 1598 on this day, French King Henri IV & Duke van Mercour signed a treaty. Walter Raleigh was released from the Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana on this day in 1616. In 1739 on this day, Nadir Shah occupied Delhi in India and sacked the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne. The Great Fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings on this day in 1760. In 1800 on this day, the French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis & advanced to Cairo, Egypt. On this day in 1815, Napoleon entered Paris after escaping from Elba, and then began his final period of ruling France, which would ultimately last 100 days. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published in Boston on this day in 1852. On this day in 1854 in the United States, the Republican Party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, by former members of the Whig Party. They met to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. In 1890 on this day, German Emperor Wilhelm II fires republic Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. On this day in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev began his rise to power, as the Soviet government announced that he had been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. On this day in 1965, American President Lyndon B. Johnson pledged federal troops to Alabama civil-rights march after sending a telegram to Governor George Wallace of Alabama in which he agreed to send federal troops to supervise a planned African-American civil-rights march in Wallace's home state. There was a poison nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on this day in 1995, killing 12 and injuring thousands.

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

• On this day in 141, the sixth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet was recorded.

• The Black Death was allegedly created on this day in 1345, according to scholars at the University of Paris, from what they call "a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius, occurring on the 20th of March 1345". The Black Death, also known as the Plague, swept across Europe, the Middle East and Asia during the 14th century, leaving an estimated 25 million dead in its wake.    Despite what these scholars claimed, it is now known that bubonic plague, the most common ailment known as the Black Death, is caused by the yersinia pestis bacterium. The plague was carried by fleas that usually traveled on rats, but jumped off to other mammals when the rat died. It most likely first appeared in humans in Mongolia around 1320. Usually, people who came down with the plague first complained of headaches, fever and chills. Their tongues often appeared a whitish color before there was severe swelling of the lymph nodes. Finally, black and purple spots appeared on the skin of the afflicted; death could follow within a week. Later, a pneumonic form of the plague developed that was less common but killed 95 percent of the people who contracted it.    After the nomadic tribes of Mongolia were devastated by the plague, it moved south and east to China and India. Wherever it went, the death toll was high. It is thought that the disease made its way to Europe in 1346. In one famous incident, the Tatars, a group of Turks, were battling Italians from Genoa in the Middle East when the Tatars were suddenly stuck down by the plague. Reportedly, they began catapulting dead bodies over the Genoans' walls toward their enemy, who fled back to Italy with the disease. Although this account may not be true, it is certain that rats carrying the plague hitched rides on ships from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. In port cities everywhere, the Black Death began to strike. In Venice, 100,000 people died in total, with as many as 600 dying every day at the peak of the outbreak.    In 1347, the disease worked its way to France and Paris lost an estimated 50,000 people. The following year, Britain fell victim. Typically, countries would believe themselves to be superior and immune to infection when their neighbors came down with the plague, but soon found they were mistaken as the Black Death traveled across Eurasia, spreading devastation in its wake. By the time the worst was over in 1352, one third of the continent's population was dead.    Devastation on this scale brought out the worst in people. Often, it was not the movement of stars that was blamed for the disease, but the minorities in the community. Witches and gypsies were frequent targets. Jewish people were tortured and burned to death by the thousands for supposedly causing the Black Death. Preachers claimed that the disease was God's punishment for immorality. Many turned to prayer and those that did survive ascribed their good luck to their devotion, resulting in the rise of splinter religions and cults in the aftermath of the plague's destruction. Alternatively, some resorted to useless home cures to try to avoid the disease, bathing in urine or menstrual blood in an attempt to deter it.    The plague popped up periodically until the 1700s, but never again reached epidemic proportions after the 14th century.

• 1413 - Henry V took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry IV.   

• 1525 - Paris' parliament began its pursuit of Protestants.   

• 1569 - Duke van Alva leads "tenth penning" in Ponts the Cé

Bust of French King Henri IV

• In 1598 on this day, French King Henri IV & Duke van Mercour signed a treaty

• 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.

• On this day in 1602 the United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) was formed. 

The Tower of London

• Walter Raleigh was released from the Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana on this day in 1616. 1616 - Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana. 

• 1627 - France & Spain sign accord for fighting protestantism

• 1697 - Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"

• In 1739 on this day, Nadir Shah occupied Delhi in India and sacked the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.

• The Great Fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings on this day in 1760.

• In 1800 on this day, the French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis & advanced to Cairo, Egypt.

• 1814 - Prince Willem Frederik becomes monarch of Netherlands

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

• On this day in 1815, Napoleon entered Paris after escaping from Elba, and then began his final period of ruling France, which would ultimately last 100 days.

• 1816 - US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions

• 1833 - US & Siam sign commercial treaty

Picture of a doll of Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published in Boston on this day in 1852.

• On this day in 1854 in the United States, the Republican Party was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, by former members of the Whig Party. They met to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. The Whig Party, which was formed in 1834 to oppose the "tyranny" of President Andrew Jackson, had shown itself incapable of coping with the national crisis over slavery.    With the successful introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, an act that dissolved the terms of the Missouri Compromise and allowed slave or free status to be decided in the territories by popular sovereignty, the Whigs disintegrated. By February 1854, anti-slavery Whigs had begun meeting in the upper midwestern states to discuss the formation of a new party. One such meeting, in Wisconsin on March 20, 1854, is generally remembered as the founding meeting of the Republican Party.    The Republicans rapidly gained supporters in the North, and in 1856 their first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, won 11 of the 16 Northern states. By 1860, the majority of the Southern slave states were publicly threatening secession if the Republicans won the presidency. In November 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president over a divided Democratic Party, and six weeks later South Carolina formally seceded from the Union. Within six more weeks, five other Southern states had followed South Carolina's lead, and in April 1861 the Civil War began when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay.    The Civil War firmly identified the Republican Party as the party of the victorious North, and after the war the Republican-dominated Congress forced a "Radical Reconstruction" policy on the South, which saw the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution and the granting of equal rights to all Southern citizens. By 1876, the Republican Party had lost control of the South, but it continued to dominate the presidency until the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.  

Flag of Argentina

• 1861 - An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.

• 1863 - Battle of Pensacola FL -evacuated by Federals

• 1865 - 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville NC

1865 - Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives

Outlaw Jesse JamesOutlaw Jesse James 1868 - Jesse James Gang robs bank in Russelville, Kentucky, of $14,000

1883 - Unity treaty of Paris signed: protects industrial property

1885 - John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine

1885 - Yiddish theater opens in NY with Golldfaden operetta

1886 - 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Mass

1888 - Start of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure "A Scandal in Bohemia"

1888 - The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta staged in Moscow, Russia.

1890 - General Federation of Womans' Clubs founded

Bust of German statesman & Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck

• In 1890 on this day, German Emperor Wilhelm II fires republic Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck.

• 1896 - Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens

• 1896 - Uprising in Matabeleland

• 1897 - 1st US orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in NY

1897 - 1st known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10

1897 - France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia

1906 - George Bernard Shaw's "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" premieres in London

Playwright George Bernard ShawPlaywright George Bernard Shaw 1911 - National Squash Tennis Association forms (NYC)

1911 - Winter Garden Theater opens at 1634 Broadway NYC

1914 - 1st international figure-skating tournament held in US, New Haven

1916 - Allies attack Zeebrugge Belgium

1920 - 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (took 1½ months)

1922 - USS Langley is commissioned, US Navy's 1st aircraft carrier

1922 - WIP-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions

1923 - Bavarian minister of interior refuses to forbid Nazi Sturm Abteilung

1923 - Belgian Senate rejects Dutch University in Ghent

1924 - Finnair begins scheduled flight of Helsinki-Tallinn

1924 - Stanley Cup: Mont Canadiens (NHL) sweep Vanc Millionaires (PCHA) in 2

1930 - Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph

1931 - Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin

1932 - Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kara-Kalpak ASSR

1933 - Dachau, 1st Nazi concentration camp, completed

1934 - Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany

1934 - Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Phila A's in exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers

1935 - "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio

Spanish Dictator and General Francisco FrancoSpanish Dictator and General Francisco Franco 1937 - Franco offensive at Guadalajara, Spain

1939 - 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania

1940 - Paul Reynoud becomes French premier

1941 - Nazi-German/Yugoslav pact drawn

1942 - Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia

• 1942 - Gen MacArthur vows, "I shall return"

• 1942 - Major German assault on Malta

1943 - German U-384 bombed & sinks

1944 - Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16

• 1944 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy, explodes

1945 - US 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar

1946 - Belgian government of Spaak resigns

1947 - 180 tonne blue whale (record) caught in South Atlantic

1948 - 1st live televised musical Eugene Ormandy on CBS followed in 90

1948 - 20th Academy Awards - "Gentleman's Agreement", L Young, R Colman win minutes by 2nd live televised musical Arturo Toscvanni on NBC

WW2 General Douglas MacArthurWW2 General Douglas MacArthur 1951 - Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java

• 1951 - Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.

1952 - 24th Academy Awards - "American in Paris", Humphrey Bogart & Vivian Leigh win

• 1952 - Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan

1952 - US senate ratifies peace treaty with Japan

1953 - Senator Edwin C Johnson offers a bill to give clubs the sole

The flag of the USSR (Soviet Union)

• On this day in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev began his rise to power, as the Soviet government announced that he had been selected as one of five men named to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. Khrushchev's selection was a crucial first step in his rise to power in the Soviet Union—an advance that culminated in Khrushchev being named secretary of the Communist Party in September 1953, and premier in 1958.    The death of Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953 created a tremendous vacuum in Soviet leadership. Stalin had ruled the Soviet Union since the 1920s. With his passing, the heir apparent was Georgi Malenkov, who was named premier and first secretary of the Communist Party the day after Stalin's death. This seemingly smooth transition, however, masked a growing power struggle between Malenkov and Nikita Khruschev. Khrushchev had been active in the Russian Communist Party since joining in 1918. After Stalin took control of the Soviet Union following Lenin's death in 1924, Khrushchev became an absolutely loyal follower of the brutal dictator. This loyalty served him well, as he was one of the few old Bolsheviks who survived Stalin's devastating political purges during the 1930s.    In the 1940s Khrushchev held a number of important positions in the Soviet government. Yet, when Stalin died in March 1953, Khrushchev was overlooked in favor of Malenkov. It did not take long for Khrushchev to take advantage of the mediocre Malenkov. First, he organized a coalition of Soviet politicians to force Malenkov to relinquish the post of first secretary—the more important post, since it controlled the party apparatus in the Soviet Union. Malenkov publicly stated that he was giving up the position to encourage the sharing of political responsibilities, but it was obvious that Khrushchev had gained a crucial victory. To replace Malenkov, the party announced the establishment of a new position, a five-man Secretariat. Even Western journalists noted that in announcing the five-person position, Khrushchev's name was always listed first, while the others were in alphabetical order. It was soon apparent that Khrushchev was the driving power in the Secretariat, and in September 1953, he secured enough backing to be named secretary of the Communist Party. In February 1955, he and his supporters pushed Malenkov out of the premiership and replaced him with a Khrushchev puppet, Nikolai Bulganin. In March 1958, Khrushchev consolidated his power by taking the office of premier himself.    Officials in the United States, including Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, badly underestimated Khrushchev. Initially, they considered him a lackey of Malenkov, but soon came to learn that the blunt and unsophisticated Khrushchev was a force to be reckoned with in Soviet politics. Despite their concern, Khrushchev's rise to power did initiate a period in which tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began slightly to ease, as he called for "peaceful coexistence" between the two superpowers. 

1954 - "King & I" closes at St James Theater NYC after 1246 performances

1954 - 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76

1954 - 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)

1955 - KXTV TV channel 10 in Sacramento, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting

1956 - 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends

1956 - E Ochab succeeds Beirut as 1st secretary of Polish CP

1956 - Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes

1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France

1956 - USSR performs nuclear test

1956 - Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp

• 1957 - Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it

1958 - 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon line

1958 - Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting

1958 - Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission

1962 - Sjoukje Dijkstra becomes world champion figure skater

1963 - 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)

1964 - ESRO established, European Space Research Organization

1965 - 27th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Michigan 91-80

1965 - Venkataraghavan takes 8-72 v NZ at Delhi

Bust of American President Lyndon B. Johnson

• On this day in 1965, American President Lyndon B. Johnson pledged federal troops to Alabama civil-rights march after sending a telegram to Governor George Wallace of Alabama in which he agreed to send federal troops to supervise a planned African-American civil-rights march in Wallace's home state.    Later that day, from his ranch in Texas, LBJ read the telegram to reporters at a news conference. He told the press that he supported the constitutional rights of the marchers to walk peaceably and safely without injury or loss of life from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and expressed dismay at the governor's refusal to provide them the protection of the Alabama police.    Earlier that month, civil-rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. had led two attempts to march to Montgomery but both ended when the marchers encountered tear gas and billy-club attacks by Alabama police. On March 18, Wallace, who epitomized southern opposition to integration, phoned Johnson for advice after learning King had planned a third march for March 21. Johnson, a civil rights advocate who in 1964 passed the Civil Rights Bill, did not want to alienate any more southern voters and told Wallace he would support his decision to call out the Alabama National Guard to maintain order. However, Wallace appeared on television that evening and demanded that Johnson send in federal troops instead. Wallace's demand was a calculated ploy--he excused Alabama state police from their duty and left the responsibility to keep the peace in Johnson's lap. If Johnson's federal troops got involved in a violent altercation between marchers and white segregationists, Johnson, not Wallace, would appear as the bad guy. Johnson reacted to Wallace's double-cross by calling him a no-good son of a b----! during a taped phone conversation at the White House.    Johnson's March 20 telegram to Wallace contained a plea to all parties for civil order as well as a public warning to Wallace that over the next several days the eyes of the nation will be upon Alabama. Johnson told the governor that the march should be allowed to proceed in a manner honoring our heritage and honoring all for which America stands. In his closing comments to reporters, he urged Wallace to heed Abraham Lincoln's advice to cater to the better angels of our nature on the day of the march. Hundreds of people joined what turned out to be a peaceful 54-mile march under the guard of Alabama state troopers and federal soldiers, as the conflict between Johnson and Wallace turned an even brighter spotlight on the need to address American race relations, particularly in the southern states.

1966 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf Open

1967 - The Supremes release "The Happening"

1967 - WOET (now WPTD) TV channel 16 in Dayton, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting

36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson36th US President Lyndon B. Johnson 

• 1968 - LBJ signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money

1968 - Military intervene in South-Yemen (leftist ministers resign)

• 1969 - Abebe Bikila's auto-accident, near Addis Ababa

• 1969 - US president Nixon proclaims he will end Vietnam war in 1970

• 1972 - 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche

1972 - S Mansholt succeeds Malfatti as chairman of European Committee

1976 - Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.70)

1976 - Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery

1977 - Communists/socialists win French municipal elections

1977 - Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as 1st mayor in a century

1977 - Premier Indira Gandhi loses election in India

1978 - Flyers' Rick MacLeash scores on 6th penalty shot against Islanders

1979 - Columbia flies on Shuttle carrier aircraft to Kennedy Space Center

Baseball Player Roberto ClementeBaseball Player Roberto Clemente 1980 - The Mi Amigo ship containing England's pirate Radio Caroline sinks

1980 - US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran

• 1981 - Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron sentenced to 8 years

1981 - Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Dr

1982 - 1st-class debut of Richie Richardson, Leeward Is v Barbados

1982 - France performs nuclear test

1982 - Joan Jett & Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" goes #1 for 7 wks

• 1982 - Rev A Treurnicht forms Conservative Party of South Africa

1983 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open

1984 - Andy Kaufman & Fred Blassie's "My Breakfast With Blassie" premieres

1984 - Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools

1985 - Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race

1986 - 228 KPH gust of wind strikes Cairngorm (UK record)

• 1986 - Jacques Chirac forms French government

1987 - FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)

1987 - NASA launches Palapa B2P

1987 - Soap opera "Capitol" final episode

1987 - Soviet filmmakers arrive in Hollywood for an entertainment summit

1987 - Yvonne van Gennip skates ladies' world record 5 km (7:20.36)

1988 - David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly," premieres in NYC

1988 - Laura Davies wins Circle K LPGA Tucson Golf Open

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1988 - Mike Tyson KOs Tony Tubbs in 2 for heavyweight boxing title

1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.

1989 - Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation

1989 - Richard J Kerr replaces Robert M Gates as deputy director of CIA

1990 - LA Lakers retires Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's #33

1990 - Singer Gloria Estefan breaks her collarbone in a bus accident

1991 - Court awards Peggy Lee $3 million in suit against Disney

1991 - Michael Jackson signs $65M 6 album deal with Sony records

• 1991 - Supreme Court rules unanimously employers can't exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage fetus

1991 - US forgives $2 billion in loans to Poland

1992 - Janice Pennington is awarded $1.3M for accident on Price is Right set

1992 - Noriega's wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses

1993 - Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)

1993 - IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England

1994 - "Cyrano - The Musical" closes at Neil Simon NYC after 137 perfs

King of Pop Michael JacksonKing of Pop Michael Jackson 1994 - "Flowering Peach" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 41 performances

1994 - "No Man's Land" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 61 performances

1994 - 14th Golden Raspberry Awards: Indecent Proposal wins

1994 - Brett Hart wins WWF championship at Wrestlemania X

• 1994 - El Salvador's 1st pres election following 12-year-old civil war

1994 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Standard Register Ping Golf Tournament

1994 - Mashonaland U-24 beat Matabeleland on 1st inn to win Logan Cup

1994 - Wrestlemania X at Madison Square Garden NY, Bret Hart pins Yokozuna

• 1994 - Zulu-king Goodwill Zwelithini founds realm in South Africa

1995 - Dow-Jones hits 4083.68 (record)

• There was a poison nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system on this day in 1995, killing 12 and injuring thousands.  At the height of the morning rush hour in Tokyo, Japan, five two-man terrorist teams from the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, riding on separate subway trains, converge at the Kasumigaseki station and secretly release lethal sarin gas into the air. The terrorists then took a sarin antidote and escaped while the commuters, blinded and gasping for air, rushed to the exits. Twelve people died, and 5,500 were treated in hospitals, some in a comatose state. Most of the survivors recovered, but some victims suffered permanent damage to their eyes, lungs, and digestive systems. A United States Senate subcommittee later estimated that if the sarin gas had been disseminated more effectively at Kasumigaseki station, a hub of the Tokyo subway system, tens of thousands might have been killed.    In the attack's aftermath, Japanese police raided Aum Shinrikyo headquarters and arrested hundreds of members, including the cult's blind leader, Shoko Asahara. The cult, which combined Buddhism and yoga with apocalyptic Christian philosophy, was already under investigation for a 1994 sarin attack that killed seven, and for the murder of several political opponents.    During the 1980s, Asahara, a self-styled Buddhist monk, began winning numerous converts to his Aum Shinrikyo cult, whose name translates roughly to the "Supreme Teachings of Om." Asahara exploited the spiritual vacuum left by Japan's economic boom years and promised religious rebirth and supernatural powers to young Japanese who felt uncomfortable within their country's rigidly homogenous society. In 1989, Aum was recognized as a religious corporation in Japan, and by 1995 it had a worldwide following of more than 40,000 people and assets in excess of $1 billion.    In the early 1990s, Asahara added Christian apocalyptic beliefs to his Buddhist teachings and proclaimed that he was the reincarnation of both Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha. Aum became militant, stockpiling weapons and recruiting brilliant young scientists to help him accumulate an arsenal of biochemical weapons, including advanced nerve agents such as VX and killer diseases such as Q-fever and anthrax. These weapons, Asahara promised, would lead Aum Shinrikyo to victory in the coming Armageddon.    More than a dozen political opponents to the cult were murdered, their bodies incinerated in specially built microwave ovens, and in June 1994 Aum staged its first sarin gas attack in Matsumoto, west of Tokyo. A car, modified to strategically release the lethal gas, was driven near a dormitory where judges and court officials conducting a case against Aum were staying. Seven people died, and 150 people were injured. Japan's authorities, hindered by constitutional protection of religious organizations, failed to arrest Asahara or suppress his cult, though they were the prime suspects in the attack. In early 1995, Asahara told his followers that World War III had begun, and a second sarin attack was planned for the Tokyo subway system, which carries some four million riders a day.    In the years since the 1995 attack, five Aum members have been sentenced to die for the murderous acts committed by the cult at Kasumigaseki station and elsewhere, and others have been sentenced to varying prison terms. Shoko Asahara, was sentenced to death by hanging in February 2004, but continues to appeal the decision.    Aum Shinrikyo was stripped of its legal status and tax privileges as a religious organization, but the Japanese government concluded it was no longer a threat and stopped short of using an anti-subversion law to ban it. Aum has changed its name to Aleph, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and meant to signify renewal, and maintains an impressive following.

    

• 1995 - Beatles song, "Baby It's You", with late John Lennon as lead singer, is released, 1st Fab Four single in more than 30 years

1996 - "Love Thy Neighbor" opens at Booth Theater NYC

1996 - Erik & Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents

1996 - UK admits humans can catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease)

1997 - "Play On!" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 61 performances

1997 - Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive

1997 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Elvis Stojko (CAN)

1999 - Legoland California, the first and only Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California.

1999 - 19th Golden Raspberry Awards: An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn wins

2000 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after a gun battle that leaves a Georgia sheriff's deputy dead.

Singer-songwriter Alicia KeysSinger-songwriter Alicia Keys 2002 - 16th Soul Train Music Awards: The O'Jays, Dr. Dre & Alicia Keys wins

2004 - Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, becoming the party's first leader.

2004 - 18th Soul Train Music Awards: R. Kelly, Janet Jackson, Outkast & Beyoncé win

2005 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years. One person is killed, hundreds are injured and evacuated.

2006 - Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop.

2006 - Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Deby.

2012 - 50 people are killed and 240 injured in a wave of terror attacks across 10 cities in Iraq

2012 - Disney movie John Carter records one of the largest losses in cinema history with a $200 million dollar write down

2013 - Pierre Deligne wins the 2013 Abel Prize in mathematics

 1616 - Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.   1627 - France and Spain signed an accord for fighting Protestantism.   1739 - In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupied Delhi and took possession of the Peacock throne.   1760 - The great fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings.   1792 - In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.   1800 - French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis, Turkey, and advanced into Cairo.   1814 - Prince Willem Frederik became the monarch of Netherlands.   1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his escape from Elba and began his "Hundred Days" rule.   1816 - The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed its right to review state court decisions.   1833 - The U.S. and Siam signed a commercial treaty.   1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," subtitled "Life Among the Lowly," was first published.   1865 - A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ruined when Lincoln changed his plans and did not appear at the Soldier’s Home near Washington, DC.   1868 - Jesse James Gang robbed a bank in Russelville, KY, of $14,000.   1883 - The Unity treaty of Paris was signed to protect industrial property.   1885 - John Matzeliger of Suriname patented the shoe lacing machine.   1886 - The first AC power plant in the U.S. began commercial operation.   1888 - The Sherlock Holmes Adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia," began.   1890 - The General Federation of Womans' Clubs was founded.   1891 - The first computing scale company was incorporated in Dayton, OH.   1896 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens in the wake of a revolution.   1897 - The first U.S. orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary was incorporated in New York.   1897 - The first intercollegiate basketball game that used five players per team was held. The contest was Yale versus Pennsylvania. Yale won by a score of 32-10.   1899 - At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was put to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.   1900 - It was announced that European powers had agreed to keep China's doors open to trade.   1902 - France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance. They also asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.   1903 - In Paris, paintings by Henri Matisse were shown at the "Salon des Independants".   1906 - In Russia, army officers mutiny at Sevastopol.   1911 - The National Squash Tennis Association was formed in New York City.   1914 - The first international figure skating championship was held in New Haven, CT.   1915 - The French called off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.   1918 - The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union asked for American aid to rebuild their army.   1922 - U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.   1922 - The USS Langley was commissioned. It was the first aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy.   1932 - The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, made the first flight to South America on regular schedule.   1933 - The first German concentration camp was completed at Dachau.   1934 - Rudolf Kuhnold gave a demonstration of radar in Kiel Germany.   1940 - The British Royal Air Force conducted an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.   1943 - The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.   1947 - A blue whale weighing 180-metric tons was caught in the South Atlantic.   1952 - The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan.   1956 - Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) exploded.   1956 - Tunisia gained independence from France.   1963 - The first "Pop Art" exhibit began in New York City.   1964 - The ESRO (European Space Research Organization) was established.   1965 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson orders 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.   1967 - Twiggy arrived in the U.S. for a one-week stay.   1969 - U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S. to close all bases in Taiwan.   1972 - 19 mountain climbers were killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche.   1976 - Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.   1980 - The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.   1981 - Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron was sentenced to eight years in a convent.   1982 - U.S. scientists' return from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.   1984 - The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.   1985 - For the first time in its 99-year history, Avon representatives received a salary. Up to that time they had been paid solely on commissions.   1985 - CBS-TV presented "The Romance of Betty Boop."   1985 - Libby Riddles won the 1,135-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog race becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod.   1986 - Fallon Carrington and Jeff Colby were wed on the TV drama "The Colby’s". "The Colby’s" was an offshoot of "Dynasty".   1987 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AZT. The drug was proven to slow the progress of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).   1989 - A Washington, DC, district court judge blocked a curfew imposed by Mayor Barry and the City Council.   1989 - In Belfast, two policemen were killed. The IRA claimed responsibility.   1989 - It was announced that Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was under investigation.   1990 - The Los Angeles Lakers retired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's #33.   1990 - Namibia became an independent nation ending 75 years of South African rule.   1990 - Imelda Marcos, widow of ex-Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went on trial for racketeering, embezzlement and bribery.   1990 - In Rumania, tanks were sent to the town of Tirgu Mures to quell ethnic riots.   1991 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers could not exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage a fetus.   1991 - The U.S. forgave $2 billion in loans to Poland.   1992 - Janice Pennington was awarded $1.3 million for accident on the set of the "Price is Right" TV show.   1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared emergency rule. He set a referendum on whether the people trusted him or the hard-line Congress to govern.   1993 - An Irish Republican Army bomb was detonated in Warrington, England. A 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were killed.   1995 - About 35,000 Turkish troops crossed the northern border of Iraq in pursuit of the separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).   1995 - In Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.   1996 - In Los Angeles, Erik and Lyle Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of their parents.   1996 - The U.K. announced that humans could catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease).   1997 - Brian Grazer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.   1997 - Liggett Group, the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes, settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry marketed cigarettes to teenagers and agreed to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive.   1998 - India's new Hindu nationalist-led government pledges to "exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons."   1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first men to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon. The non-stop trip began on March 3 and covered 26,500 miles.   2000 - Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured following a shootout that left a sherriff's deputy dead.   2002 - Actress Pamela Anderson disclosed that she had hepatitis C.   2002 - Arthur Andersen pled innocent to charges that it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to the energy company Enron.   2003 - Cisco Systems Inc. announced it was buying The Linksys Group INc. for $500 million in stock.   2003 - U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq from Kuwait.

1602 The Dutch East India Company was established. During its 196-year history, it became one of the world's most powerful companies. 1727 English physicist/astronomer Sir Isaac Newton died in London at age 84. 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was published. 1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar. 1985 Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the Iditarod. 1990 Namibia becomes an independent nation. 1995 Two members of the Japanese cult Aum Sinrikyo released poisonous gas in a Tokyo subway stop during rush hour, killing 12 people and sending over 5,000 to the hospital for treatment. 1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first to fly a hot-air balloon nonstop around the world. 2003 Ground troops entered Iraq and a second round of air strikes against Baghdad was launched.

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/mar20.htm

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

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

March 19th: 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

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of one of the biggest mistakes in American foreign policy. Of course, I am talking about the war in Iraq, which the Bush White House promised us was absolutely necessary. They claimed that on the grounds that Saddam's Iraq posed an immediate threat to world peace, that somewhere in that country, there was a mass arsenal of "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMD's). Remember those? 

Well, turns out that they didn't find the WMD's, even though they claimed to know where they were. Listening to them, you got the impression that they had these huge, irrefutable files and photographs and other concrete proof that Iraq had all of those WMD's. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then serving Secretary of State Colin Powell showed some photographic evidence to the world at the United Nations. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld assured us that American intelligence knew very well the precise location of the WMD's:

"They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."

Iraq was regarded as a truly critical threat to world peace. There was serious mention in the same breath of mushroom clouds hovering over American skies. Also, Saddam Hussein was supposed to have a 45-minute response time, which seemed to place his nation almost as having a superpower status on par with the United States or the former Soviet Union, in terms of military capability.

And yet, we were promised, rather paradoxically, a quick and decisive victory. Rumsfeld kept opening his mouth and making the wrong kinds of headlines in those days. And one of the things which he promised was that the war would be won quickly by the United States. Here again are some of his words of assurance:

"It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."

Ah, yes. A quick, convincing, seemingly painless military victory, with few if any frills or complications. We would go in, be embraced as heroes and liberators, and then waltz out, victorious, conquering heroes. Beloved as always by the world.

Sure enough, Saddam Hussein was removed. His regime collapsed quickly, and he was on the run. In fact, he would be found in a literal hole on the ground. Meanwhile, Bush had flown to an aircraft carrier anchored near San Diego with a huge banner reading "Mission Accomplished!" There, he gave a speech, assuring the United States that victory had indeed been achieved.

Yet, it wound up being a quagmire, and quite possibly is a strong contender for being the worst foreign policy disaster in American history. The war was not over in six days or six weeks. In fact, it lasted a whole lot longer than six months, even. The war began on this day in 2003, and we were still there until the first Trump administration. To put it another way, we were there for over a decade and a half, qualifying it as one of the longest wars in American history. Second longest, in fact, to the Afghanistan war, which we fought simultaneously. 

Meanwhile, we began the process of burning our bridges among our allies. All of the things which Americans are acting absolutely shocked to see now - our national anthem being booed in Canada, European allies questioning our intentions and our president being intensely unpopular among many of our traditional allies - first started right then and there. Almost the entire world stood opposed to the Iraq invasion and subsequent war. In fact, pretty much the only nation that was convinced by the Bush administration's claims that Iraq had a mass arsenal of WMD's and that it posed an immediate threat to world peace which needed to be dealt with immediately and with absolutely no delay was the United States. Even our closest ally in our efforts, Great Britain, seemed lukewarm in their response, as polls showed that most British people were opposed to the invasion. 

So in some ways, those times foreshadowed what was to come. Right now, the Trump administration has provoked allies and consistently belittled their status as independent nations. That is particularly true of Canada, which he insists will be the "51st state." But it is also true of Panama, where he claims he will militarily take over the Canal. It is true of Denmark and Greenland, which he also has suggested the United States will take over with military force (even in his State of the Union). He also claimed that he was going to use American military forces to take over Gaza and send the Palestinian people there packing. He warned that boots on the ground might be necessary to straighten things out in Mexico. And he has of course accused our allies in Europe of not pulling it's own weight in regards to Ukraine, and seemingly leaning towards pulling the United States out of NATO. 

All of this might feel shocking right now. Yet we had a foretaste of things to come during the years of George W. Bush, and especially during the Iraq War, which began with the invasion. That invasion was, in retrospect, a sort of crossing of the Rubicon for American foreign policy, one in which we were no longer regarded by the outside world in the heroic, or at least responsible, manner in which we felt entitled to be viewed, and began to actively flirt with playing a more villainous role. And it was 22 years ago on this day when we took the plunge by going ahead and invading Iraq.

Below are the sources for the quotes used above:

Rumsfeld’s Revisionist History: ‘We Know Where The WMD Suspect Sites Are’ by Faiz Shakir , Aaron Rupar May 26, 2006:

https://archive.thinkprogress.org/rumsfelds-revisionist-history-we-know-where-the-wmd-suspect-sites-are-72ccf0f2d8a0/

Over in six days: Who said what published in The Guardian, Sat 29 Mar 2003:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/30/iraq4

On this day in 1227, Count Ugolino of Segna was elected Pope Gregory IX. In 1279 on this day, a Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ended the Song Dynasty in China. Frederick III of the Hapsburgs was crowned Roman German Emperor on this day in 1452. Giovanni de Varrazano of France caught sight of land around the area of the Carolinas on this day in 1524. French writer Honore de Balzac's play "Les Ressources de Quinola" opened to an empty house thanks to a failed publicity stunt on this day in 1842. In 1942 on this day, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered men between 45 & 64 to register for non military duty. On this day in 1945 with the war going very badly by then for the Axis powers, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler issued the Nero Decree to destroy all German factories. Also on this day in 1945, General Fromm was executed for his role in the plot against Hitler. In 1949 on this day, East Germany approved its new constitution, which was effectively a precursor to the establishment of a separate, Soviet-dominated East Germany, the People's Council of the Soviet Zone of Occupation approves a new constitution. On this day in 1970, a national emergency was declared in Cambodia. Also on this day in 1970, the West German Chancellor & East German Premier met. On this day in 2003, the invasion of Iraq by American and British led coalition forces began without United Nations support and in defiance of the vast majority of world opinion.

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

• On this day in 1227, Count Ugolino of Segna was elected Pope Gregory IX

• In 1279 on this day, a Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ended the Song Dynasty in China.

• Frederick III of the Hapsburgs was crowned Roman German Emperor on this day in 1452. 

• Giovanni de Varrazano of France caught sight of land around the area of the Carolinas on this day in 1524.

• 1540 - Court of Holland names Amsterdam sheriff John Hubrechtsz a "heretic"

• 1563 - Peace of Amboise: Rights for Huguenots

• 1571 - Spanish troops occupy Manila

• 1628 - Massachusetts colony founded by Englishmen

• 1644 - 200 members of Peking imperial family/court commit suicide in loyalty to the Emperor

• 1682 - Nationally Council accept independence of French church

1687 - French explorer La Salle was murdered by his own men while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, in the Gulf of Mexico.  

• 1687 - Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.

• 1702 - James II's daughter Anne Stuart becomes queen of England

• 1748 - English Naturalization Act passes granting Jews right to colonize US

• 1775 - 4 people buried by avalanche for 37 days, 3 survive (Italy)

• 1775 - Poland & Prussia sign trade agreement

• 1799 - Joseph Haydn's "Die Schopfung," premieres in Vienna

• 1803 - Friedrich Schiller's "Die Braut von Messina," premieres in Weimar

• 1822 - Boston, Mass incorporated as a city

• 1831 - 1st US bank robbery (City Bank, NY/$245,000)

Bust of Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright

• French writer Honore de Balzac's play "Les Ressources de Quinola" opened to an empty house thanks to a failed publicity stunt on this day in 1842. Hoping to create a buzz for the play, the writer circulated a rumor that tickets were sold out. Unfortunately, most of his fans stayed home.    By this time, Balzac was already a well-known literary figure. Born in Tours, France, Balzac was educated in Paris, where he started writing plays at the age of 20 while working as a lawyer's apprentice. His plays bombed, and he took to writing thrillers under an assumed name. Needing money, he launched disastrous ventures in printing and silver mining and went bankrupt. While struggling under his debts, he resumed writing, and by 1929 he was publishing under his own name, convinced he was a genius. By 1830, he had become a celebrated writer who frequented literary salons. Balzac drove himself ruthlessly, working 14 to 16 hours at a stretch, aided by some 50 cups of coffee a day. He completed 90 novels, all part of a single series, "La Comedie Humaine," and died in Paris in 1850.

• 1853 During the Taiping Rebellion in China, the rebels captured Nanking and renamed it T'en-ching (Heavenly Capital). 

• 1859 - Opera "Faust" by Charles Gounod premieres in Paris

• 1861 - The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.

1863 - The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000. The wreck was discovered on the same day and month, exactly 102 years later by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.

1864 - Opera "Mireille" premieres in Paris

1865 - Battle of Bentonville-Confederates retreat from Greenville NC

1866 - Immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sinks in Liverpool; 738 die

1870 - The opera "Guarany," premieres in Milan

1877 - Australia beat England by 45 runs in very 1st Test match

1883 - Jan Matzeliger invents 1st machine to manufacture entire shoes

1885 - Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government, Sask

1892 - 3 brothers Hearne play in same Test Cricket Eng v SA (Cape Town)

1895 - Los Angeles Railway established to provide streetcar service

1897 - Yale defeated Penn, 30-10 in 1st major college basketball game

1906 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's "Quattro Rusteghi," premieres in Munich

1907 - 18.8 cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch, Nevada (state record)

1914 - Stanley Cup: Tor Blueshirts (NHA) sweep Vict Capitals (PCHA) in 3 game

1915 - Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)

1917 - US Supreme Court upheld 8-hr work day for railroad employees

1918 - Congress authorizes time zones & approves daylight saving time

1918 - S Potter becomes 1st US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane

1920 - US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles for 2nd time refusing to ratify League of Nations' covenant (maintaining isolation policy)

1921 - Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded.

262nd Pope John XXIII262nd Pope John XXIII 1925 - Angelo G Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) becomes a bishop

1927 - Bloody battles between communists & nazis in Berlin

1928 - "Amos & Andy" debuts on radio (NBC Blue Network-WMAQ Chicago)

1930 - Nakagawa Soen accepted as a student of Katsube Keigaku Roshi

1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling

1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.

1937 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism

1938 - Toronto Maple Leafs score 8 goals in 5 minutes

1940 - Failed British air raid on German base at Sylt

1940 - French government of Daladier, falls

1941 - Jimmy Dorsey & orchestra record "Green Eyes" & "Maria Elena"

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• In 1942 on this day, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered men between 45 & 64 to register for non military duty.

1942 - Thoroughbred Racing Association of US formed in Chicago

1943 - Airship Canadian Star torpedoed & sinks

1943 - Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.

32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 

1944 - Tippett's oratorium "Child of Our Time," premieres in London

1945 - 800 killed as Kamikaze attacked USS Franklin off Japan

• On this day in 1945 with the war going very badly by then for the Axis powers, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler issued the Nero Decree to destroy all German factories.

• Also on this day in 1945, General Fromm was executed for his role in the plot against Hitler. On this day, the commander of the German Home Army, Gen. Friedrich Fromm, is shot by a firing squad for his part in the July plot to assassinate the Fuhrer. The fact that Fromm's participation was half-hearted did not save him.    By 1944, many high-ranking German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and they believed that assassination was the only way to stop him. According to the plan, coup d'etat would follow the assassination, and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete destruction at the hands of the Allies. All did not go according to plan, however. Col. Claus von Stauffenberg was given the task of planting a bomb during a conference that was to be held at Hitler's holiday retreat, Berchtesgaden (but was later moved to Hitler's headquarters at Rastenburg). Stauffenberg was chief of staff to Gen. Friedrich Fromm. Fromm, chief of the Home Army (composed of reservists who remained behind the front lines to preserve order at home), was inclined to the conspirators' plot, but agreed to cooperate actively in the coup only if the assassination was successful.    On the night of July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg planted an explosive-filled briefcase under a table in the conference room at Rastenburg. Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern Front as Colonel Heinz Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing. At 12:42 p.m. the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded, charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm—but was very much alive.    Meanwhile, Stauffenberg had made his way to Berlin to meet with his co-conspirators to carry out Operation Valkyrie, the overthrow of the central government. Once in the capital, General Fromm, who had been informed by phone that Hitler was wounded but still alive, ordered Stauffenberg and his men arrested, but Fromm was located and locked in an office by Nazi police. Stauffenberg and Gen. Friedrich Olbricht began issuing orders for the commandeering of various government buildings. Then the news came through from Herman Goering that Hitler was alive. Fromm, released from confinement by officers still loyal to Hitler, and anxious to have his own association with the conspirators covered up quickly, ordered the conspirators, including two Stauffenberg aides, shot for high treason that same day. (Gen. Ludwig Beck, one of the conspiracy leaders and an older man, was allowed the "dignity" of committing suicide.)    Fromm's last-ditch effort to distance himself from the plot failed. Within the next few days, on order of Heinrich Himmler, who was now the new head of the Home Army, Fromm was arrested. In February 1945, he was tried before the People's Court and denigrated for his cowardice in refusing to stand up to the plotters. But because he went so far as to execute Stauffenberg and his partners on the night of July 20, he was spared the worst punishment afforded convicted conspirators—strangulation on a meat hook. He was shot by a firing squad on March 19.

1945 - British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine)

1945 - US Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure

1946 - Fr Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique & Reunion become overseas depts

1946 - Nicolai Schwernik succeeds Kalinin as president of USSR

1947 - Belgian government of Spaak, forms

1947 - Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek conquers Jenan

1948 - Lee Savold KOs Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds at Madison Square Garden, NYC

1949 - 1st museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy, Oak Ridge, Tn

Flag of East Germany

• In 1949 on this day, East Germany approved its new constitution, which was effectively a precursor to the establishment of a separate, Soviet-dominated East Germany, the People's Council of the Soviet Zone of Occupation approves a new constitution. This action, together with the U.S. policy of pursuing an independent pathway in regards to West Germany, contributed to the permanent division of Germany.    The postwar status of Germany had become a bone of contention between the United States and the Soviet Union even before World War II ended. The Soviet Union wanted assurances that Germany would be permanently disarmed and demanded huge reparations from the postwar German government. The United States, however, was hesitant to commit to these demands. By 1945, many U.S. officials began to see the Soviet Union as a potential adversary in the postwar world and viewed a reunified-and pro-West-Germany as valuable to the defense of Europe. When the war ended in May 1945, Russian forces occupied a large portion of Germany, including Berlin. Negotiations between the United States, Russia, Britain, and France resulted in the establishment of occupation zones for each nation. Berlin was also divided in zones of occupation. While both the United States and Russia publicly called for a reunified Germany, both nations were coming to the conclusion that a permanently divided Germany might be advantageous.    For the United States, West Germany, with its powerful economy and potential military strength, would make for a crucial ally in the developing Cold War. The Soviets came to much the same conclusion in regards to East Germany. When, in 1949, the United States proposed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (a military and political alliance between America and several European states) and began to discuss the possible inclusion of a remilitarized West Germany in NATO, the Soviets reacted quickly. The new constitution for East Germany, approved by the People's Council of the Soviet Zone of Occupation (a puppet legislative body dominated by the Soviets), made clear that the Russians were going to establish a separate and independent East Germany. In October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was declared. Months earlier, in May, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) had been formally proclaimed. Germany remained a divided nation until the collapse of the communist government in East Germany and reunification in 1990.

1950 - 5th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Babe Didrikson-Zaharias

1950 - City College of NY defeats Bradley to win the NIT

1951 - Herman Wouk's "Caine Mutiny," published

1953 - Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real," premieres in NYC

Playwright Tennessee WilliamsPlaywright Tennessee Williams 1953 - 25th Academy Awards - "Greatest Show on Earth," Gary Cooper & Shirley Booth win (1st time televised)

1954 - 1st color telecast of a prize fight, Giardello vs Troy in Madison Square Garden, NYC

1954 - 1st rocket-driven sled on rails was tested in Alamogordo, NM

1954 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright

1954 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A Jenkins

1954 - Weekes, Worrell & Walcott complete tons in innings v England

1955 - 17th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: SF beats La Salle 77-63

1956 - Biggest NBA margin of victory - Minn Lakers-133, St Louis Hawks-75

1957 - Indians reject Boston's offer of $1 million for Herb Score

1958 - Britain's 1st planetarium opens at Madame Tussaud's in London

1958 - Sobers completes a century in each innings v Pakistan

1959 - "1st Impressions" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 84 performances

1960 - "Redhead" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 455 performances

1960 - 22nd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Ohio State beats California 75-55

1962 - "All American" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 80 performances

1962 - Archbishop Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels appointed cardinal

Actor Sean ConneryActor Sean Connery 1964 - Sean Connery's 1st day of shooting on "Goldfinger"

• 1965 - Indonesia nationalizes all foreign oil companies

• 1965 - Rembrandt's "Titus" sells for then record 7,770,000 gulden

1965 - Stoica becomes president & Ceausescu party leader of Romania

• 1965 - The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, was discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.

1966 - "Pousse Cafe" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 3 performances

1966 - 28th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Texas Western beats Ky 72-65

1966 - Belgium government of Vanden Boeynants begins

1967 - Fr Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association with France

1967 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St Petersburg Orange Golf Classic

1968 - Howard University students seize administration building

• 1969 - British invade Anguilla

1969 - Chicago 8 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention

1969 - The 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build- up.

• On this day in 1970, a national emergency was declared in Cambodia. The National Assembly grants "full power" to Premier Lon Nol, declares a state of emergency, and suspends four articles of the constitution, permitting arbitrary arrest and banning public assembly. Lon Nol and First Deputy Premier Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak had conducted a bloodless coup against Prince Norodom Sihanouk the day before and proclaimed the establishment of the Khmer Republic.    Between 1970 and 1975, Lon Nol and his army, the Forces Armees Nationale Khmer (FANK), with U.S. support and military aid, fought the communist Khmer Rouge for control of Cambodia. When the U.S. forces departed South Vietnam in 1973, both the Cambodians and South Vietnamese found themselves fighting the communists alone. Without U.S. support, Lon Nol's forces succumbed to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975. The victorious Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh and began reordering Cambodian society, which resulted in a killing spree and the notorious "killing fields." Eventually, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were murdered or died from exhaustion, hunger, and disease. During the five years of bitter fighting, approximately 10 percent of Cambodia's 7 million people died.

• Also on this day in 1970, the West German Chancellor & East German Premier met.

1971 - Phila 76ers outscore Cincinnati Royals 90-8 in 1 half

1972 - "To Live Another Summer" closes at Helen Hayes NYC after 173 perfs

1972 - Carol Mann wins LPGA Orange Blossom Golf Classic

1972 - India & Bangladesh sign friendship treaty

1972 - LA Lakers beat Golden State Warriors, 162-99, by then record 63 pts

• 1973 - Dean tells Nixon, "There is a cancer growing on the Presidency"

1974 - Jefferson Starship begins their 1st tour

1975 - "Dr Jazz" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 5 performances

1975 - Penn is 1st state to allow girls to compete with boys in HS sports

1977 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

1977 - Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.33)

1978 - 50,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against neutron bomb

1978 - Sally Little wins LPGA Kathryn Crosby/Honda Civic Golf Classic

1979 - House of Reps begins live TV broadcasts via C-SPAN

1981 - -21] Emmy 8th Daytime Awards - Susan Lucci loses for 2nd time

1981 - 2 workers killed in space shuttle Columbia accident

1981 - Buffalo Sabres beat Toronto Maple Leafs 14-4

1982 - National Guard jet tanker crashes killing 27

• 1982 - Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the U.K..

1984 - "Kate & Allie," premieres

1984 - John J O'Connor named 8th archbishop of NY

1984 - KSD-AM in St Louis MO changes call letters to KUSA

1984 - Mobil oil tanker spills 200,000 gallons into Columbia River

1984 - Pitcher Denny McLain, indicted on various charges of racketeering

1984 - STS 41-C vehicle moves to launch pad

1985 - "Spin Magazine" begins publishing

1985 - NSW wins cricket Sheffield Shield by beating Queensland by 1 wicket

1985 - Senate votes 55-45, to authorize production of the MX missile

1987 - Bonnie Blair skates ladies world record 500 m (39.43 sec)

1987 - Fred Currey acquires Greyhound Bus Company

1987 - Hassanali inaugurated as president of Trinidad & Tobago

• 1987 - PTL leader Jim Bakker resigns after sex scandal with Jessica Hahn

1987 - Yvonne van Gennip skates ladies world record 3 km (4:16.85)

1988 - 2 British soldiers lynched in Belfast North Ireland

1988 - Yvonne van Gennip skates un-official world record 10 km (15:25.25)

1989 - Boeing B-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft makes maiden flight

1989 - Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by M Klimova & S Ponomarenko (USR)

1989 - Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by E Gordeeva & S Grinkov (USSR)

1989 - Lori Garbacz wins Circle K LPGA Golf Open Tucson

1989 - Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Kurt Browning (CAN)

1989 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Midori Ito (Japan)

1990 - 1st world ice hockey tournament for women held (Ottawa)

1991 - KC Royals announce they are putting Bo Jackson on waivers

1991 - Sacramento Kings set NBA record of 29 consecutive road loses

1991 - St Louis Blue Brett Hull is 3rd NHLer to score 80 goals in a season

Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr.Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

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1991 - NFL owners strip Phoenix of 1993 Super Bowl game due to Arizona Not recognizing Martin Luther King Day

1992 - "Master Builder" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances

1992 - British Prince Andrew & Princess Sarah Ferguson announce separation

1993 - Ice Dance Championship at Prague won by M Usova & A Zhulin (RUS)

1993 - Ice Pairs Championship at Prague won by I Brasseur & L Eisler (CAN)

1993 - Supreme Court Justice Byron R White announced plans to retire

1994 - 2500 kilograms of cocaine intercepted in Zeewolde Neth

1994 - Lara scores 167 for WI v England at Georgetown

1994 - Largest omelet (1,383sq ft) made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama Japan

1994 - NJ Devils club record 41st win of the season

1995 - "Translations" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 25 performances

1995 - "Uncle Vanya" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 29 performances

1995 - 5 die by poison gas in Japanese subway

1995 - Arizona outside of Phoenix begins using new area code 520

1995 - Bonnie Blair skates female world record point total (156.450)

1995 - Finland Social-Democratic Party wins parliamentary election

1995 - Laura Davis wins LPGA Standard Register PING Golf Tournament

Basketball Superstar Michael JordanBasketball Superstar Michael Jordan 1995 - Michael Jordan rejoins Chicago Bulls after 17 months, beats Pacers

1995 - NBA NY Knicks beat NY Nets in 100th meeting (Knicks 53 Nets 47)

1995 - Neil Marshall skates world record 3 km (3:54.08)

Nelson Mandela

• 1996 - Winnie Mandela divorces Nelson after 38 years of marrage

1997 - Ice Pairs won by Mandy Woetzel & Ingo Steuer (GER)

1997 - Major League Baseball announces 5 year/$50M deal with Pepsi

1997 - Supreme Court hears Internet indecency arguments

1998 - "Ah Wilderness!," opens at Vivian Beaumont theater

2001 - The Bank of Japan issued a monetary policy known as quantitative easing, which stimulated the Japanese economy after the burst of the dot-com bubble.

• 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.

2003 - Invasion of Iraq by American and British led coalition begins without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion

• On this day in 2003, the invasion of Iraq by American and British led coalition forces began without United Nations support and in defiance of the vast majority of world opinion. Mar 19, 2003: War in Iraq begins  On this day in 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq's capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address, "At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger." President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction.    Hostilities began about 90 minutes after the U.S.-imposed deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face war passed. The first targets, which Bush said were "of military importance," were hit with Tomahawk cruise missiles from U.S. fighter-bombers and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf. In response to the attacks, Republic of Iraq radio in Baghdad announced, "the evil ones, the enemies of God, the homeland and humanity, have committed the stupidity of aggression against our homeland and people."    Though Saddam Hussein had declared in early March 2003 that, "it is without doubt that the faithful will be victorious against aggression," he went into hiding soon after the American invasion, speaking to his people only through an occasional audiotape. Coalition forces were able to topple his regime and capture Iraq's major cities in just three weeks, sustaining few casualties. President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1, 2003. Despite the defeat of conventional military forces in Iraq, an insurgency has continued an intense guerrilla war in the nation in the years since military victory was announced, resulting in thousands of coalition military, insurgent and civilian deaths.    After an intense manhunt, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. He did not resist and was uninjured during the arrest. A soldier at the scene described him as "a man resigned to his fate." Hussein was arrested and began trial for crimes against his people, including mass killings, in October 2005.    In June 2004, the provisional government in place since soon after Saddam's ouster transferred power to the Iraqi Interim Government. In January 2005, the Iraqi people elected a 275-member Iraqi National Assembly. A new constitution for the country was ratified that October. On November 6, 2006, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. After an unsuccessful appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006.    No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

2004 - Äänekoski bus disaster: A semi-trailer truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.

2004 - A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in the 1950s is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew are left in place, pending further investigations.

2004 - 3-19 Shooting Incident: Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.

2008 - GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed on this day.

2012 - Wendy's overtakes Burger King to become the second best selling hamburger chain

2013 - 27 people are killed and 14 are injured in a bus crash in Maharashtra, India

2013 - 16 people are killed by mudslides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2013 - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity discovers further evidence of water-bearing minerals

1571 - Spanish troops occupied Manila.   1628 - The Massachusetts colony was founded by Englishmen.     1702 - Upon the death of William III of Orange, Anne Stuart, the sister of Mary, succeeds to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.   1748 - The English Naturalization Act passed granting Jews right to colonize in the U.S.   1775 - Poland & Prussia signed a trade agreement.   1822 - The city of Boston, MA, was incorporated.   1831 - The first bank robbery in America was reported. The City Bank of New York City lost $245,000 in the robbery.   1865 - The Battle of Bentonville took place. The Confederates retreated from Greenville, NC.   1866 - The immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sank in Liverpool killing 738.   1879 - Jim Currie opened fire on the actors Maurice Barrymore and Ben Porter near Marshall, TX. The shots wounded Barrymore and killed Porter.   1895 - The Los Angeles Railway was established to provide streetcar service.   1900 - U.S. President McKinley asserted that there was a need for free trade with Puerto Rico.   1900 - Archeologist Arthur John Evans began the excavation of Knossos Palace in Greece.   1903 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Cuban treaty, gaining naval bases in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda.   1905 - French explorer S. de Segonzac was taken prisoner by Moroccans.   1906 - Reports from Berlin estimated the cost of the German war in S.W. Africa at $150 million.   1908 - The state of Maryland barred Christian Scientists from practicing without medical diplomas.   1915 - Pluto was photographed for the first time. However, it was not known at the time.   1917 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Adamson Act that made the eight-hour workday for railroads constitutional.   1918 - The U.S. Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time.   1918 - A German seaplane was shot down for the first time by an American pilot.   1920 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty for the second time maintaining an isolation policy.   1924 - U.S. troops were rushed to Tegucigalpa as rebel forces took the Honduran capital.   1931 - The state of Nevada legalized gambling.   1940 - The French government of Daladier fell.   1942 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association was formed in Chicago.   1944 - Tippett's oratorium "Child of Our Time," premiered in London.   1945 - About 800 people were killed as Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan.   1945 - Adolf Hitler issued his "Nero Decree" which ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands as German forces were retreating.   1947 - Chiang Kai-Shek's government forces took control of Yenan, the former headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party.   1948 - Lee Savold knocked out Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds of the first round of their prize fight at Madison Square Gardens.   1949 - The Soviet People's Council signed the constitution of the German Democratic Republic, and declared that the North Atlantic Treaty was merely a war weapon.   1953 - The Academy Awards aired on television for the first time.   1953 - Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real" premiered in New York City.   1954 - Viewers saw the first televised prize fight shown in color when Joey Giardello knocked out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in New York City.   1954 - The first rocket-driven sled that ran on rails was tested in Alamogordo, NM.   1963 - In Costa Rica, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and six Latin American presidents pledged to fight Communism.   1964 - Sean Connery began shooting his role in "Goldfinger."   1965 - Indonesia nationalized all foreign oil companies.   1965 - Rembrandt's "Titus" sold for $7,770,000.   1968 - Students at Howard University students seized an administration building.   1969 - British invaded Anguilla.   1972 - India and Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty.   1976 - Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.  1977 - Congo President Marien Ngouabi was killed by a suicide commando.   1977 - France performed a nuclear test at Muruora Island.   1977 - The last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" aired.   1979 - The U.S. House of Representatives began broadcasting its daily business on TV.   1981 - During a test of the space shuttle Columbia two workers were injured and one was killed.   1981 - The Buffalo Sabres set an NHL record when they scored 9 goals in one period against Toronto.   1984 - The TV show "Kate and Allie" premiered.   1984 - A Mobile oil tanker spilled 200,000 gallons into the Columbia River.   1985 - IBM announced that it was planning to stop making the PCjr consumer-oriented computer.   1985 - The U.S. Senate voted to authorize production of the MX missile.   1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned from the PTL due to a scandal involving Jessica Hahn.   1988 - Two British soldiers were killed by mourners at a funeral in Belfast, North Ireland. The soldiers were shot to death after being dragged from a car and beaten.   1990 - Latvia's political opposition claimed victory in the republic's first free elections in 50 years.   1990 - The first world ice hockey tournament for women was held in Ottawa.   1991 - Brett Hull, of the St. Louis Blues, became the third National Hockey League (NHL) player to score 80 goals in a season.   1994 - The largest omelet in history was made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan.   1998 - The World Health Organization warned of tuberculosis epidemic that could kill 70 million people in next two decades.   1999 - 53 people were killed and dozens were injured when a bomb exploded in a market place in southern Russia.   2000 - Vector Data Systems conducted a simulation of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege in Waco, TX. The simulation showed that the government had not fired first.   2001 - California officials declared a power alert and ordered the first of two days of rolling blackouts.   2002 - Operation Anaconda, the largest U.S.-led ground offensive since the Gulf War, ended in eastern Afghanistan. During the operation, which began on March 2, it was reported that at least 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed. Eleven allied troops were killed during the same operation.   2002 - Actor Ben Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.   2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush announced that U.S. forces had launched a strike against "targets of military opportunity" in Iraq. The attack, using cruise missiles and precision-guided bombs, were aimed at Iraqi leaders thought to be near Baghdad.

1853 During the Taiping Rebellion in China, the rebels captured Nanking and renamed it T'en-ching (Heavenly Capital). 1920 The United States Senate voted down signing the Treaty of Versailles for the second time. 1931 Nevada state legislature legalized gambling. 1953 The Academy Awards were first televised. 1996 Sarajevo became a united city again after four years when Moslem-Croat authorities took control of the last district held by Serbs. 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom is launched with air strikes on Baghdad, the beginning of the war with Iraq (March 20 in Iraq). 2003 Mahmoud Abbas became prime minister of Palestine. He would later succeed Yasir Arafat as head of the PLO and president of the Palestinian Authority.

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/mar19.htm

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

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory