http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Mar 16, 1751: "Father of the Constitution" is born
On this day in 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia.
Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a four-year course of study in two years and, in 1769, helped found the American Whig Society, the second literary and debate society at Princeton (and the world), to rival the previously established Cliosophic Society.
Madison returned to Virginia with intellectual accolades but poor health in 1771. By 1776, he was sufficiently recovered to serve for three years in the legislature of the new state of Virginia, where he came to know and admire Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity, he assisted with the drafting of the Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom and the critical decision for Virginia to cede its western claims to the Continental Congress.
Madison is best remembered for his critical role in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he presented the Virginia Plan to the assembled delegates in Philadelphia and oversaw the difficult process of negotiation and compromise that led to the drafting of the final Constitution. Madison's published Notes on the Convention are considered the most detailed and accurate account of what occurred in the closed-session debates. (Madison forbade the publishing of his notes until all the participants were deceased.) After the Constitution was submitted to the people for ratification, Madison collaborated with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton on The Federalist Papers, a series of pamphlets that argued for the acceptance of the new government. Madison penned the most famous of the pamphlets, Federalist No. 10, which made an incisive argument for the ability of a large federation to preserve individual rights.
In 1794, Madison married a young widow, Dolley Payne Todd, who would prove to be Washington, D.C.'s finest hostess during Madison's years as secretary of state to the widowed Thomas Jefferson and then as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Dolley Madison earned a special place in the nation's memory for saving a portrait of George Washington before fleeing the burning White House during the War of 1812.
The War of 1812 tested Madison's presidency. The Federalists staunchly opposed Madison's declaration of war against the British and threatened to secede from the union during the Harford Convention. When the new nation managed to muster a tenuous victory, the Federalist Party was destroyed as America's status as a nation apart from Britain was secured.
After retiring from official political positions, Madison served Thomas Jefferson's beloved University of Virginia first as a member of the board of visitors and then as rector. In 1938, the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg, Virginia, was renamed in Madison's honor as Madison College; in 1976, it became James Madison University.
Mar 16, 1968: My Lai massacre takes place in Vietnam
On this day in 1968, a platoon of American soldiers brutally kill between 200 and 500 unarmed civilians at My Lai, one of a cluster of small villages located near the northern coast of South Vietnam.
During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops frequently bombed and shelled the province of Quang Ngai, believing it to be a stronghold for forces of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, or Viet Cong (VC). In March 1968, a platoon of soldiers called Charlie Company received word that Viet Cong guerrillas had taken cover in the Quang Ngai village of Son My. Led by Lieutenant William L. Calley, the platoon entered one of the village's four hamlets, My Lai 4, on a search-and-destroy mission on the morning of March 16. Instead of guerrilla fighters, they found unarmed villagers, most of them women, children and old men.
The soldiers had been advised before the attack by army command that all who were found in My Lai could be considered VC or active VC sympathizers, and told to destroy the village. Still, they acted with extraordinary brutality, raping and torturing villagers before killing them and dragging dozens of people, including young children and babies, into a ditch and executing them with automatic weapons. The massacre reportedly ended when an Army helicopter pilot, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened to open fire if they continued their attacks.
The events at My Lai were covered up by high-ranking army officers until the following March, when one soldier, Ron Ridenhour, heard of the incident secondhand and wrote about it in a letter to President Richard Nixon, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and various congressmen. The letter was largely ignored until later that year, when investigative journalist Seymour Hersh interviewed Calley and broke the story. Soon, My Lai was front-page news and an international scandal. In March 1970, an official U.S. Army inquiry board charged 14 officers, including Calley and his company commander, Captain Ernest Medina, of crimes relating to My Lai. Of that number, only Calley was convicted. Found guilty of personally killing 22 people, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Upon appeal, his sentence was reduced to 20 years, and eventually to 10. Seen by many as a scapegoat, Calley was paroled in 1974 after serving just one-third of his sentence.
Mar 16, 1945: Fighting on Iwo Jima ends
On this day, the west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima is declared secured by the U.S. military after months of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders.
The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of Iwo Jima in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days straight. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese--21,000 strong--fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion to clear the shores of mines and any other obstacles that could obstruct an invading force. In fact, the Japanese mistook the frogmen for an invasion force and killed 170 of them.
The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19, 1945, as the secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. The Marines made their way onto the island--and seven Japanese battalions opened fire, obliterating them. By that evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded.
In the face of such fierce counterattack, the Americans reconciled themselves to the fact that Iwo Jima could be taken only one yard at a time. A key position on the island was Mt. Suribachi, the center of the Japanese defense. The 28th Marine Regiment closed in and around the base of the volcanic mountain at the rate of 400 yards per day, employing flamethrowers, grenades, and demolition charges against the Japanese that were hidden in caves and pillboxes (low concrete emplacements for machine-gun nests). Approximately 40 Marines finally began a climb up the volcanic ash mountain, which was smoking from the constant bombardment, and at 10 a.m. on February 23, a half-dozen Marines raised an American flag at its peak, using a pipe as a flag post. Two photographers caught a restaging of the flag raising for posterity, creating one of the most reproduced images of the war. With Mt. Suribachi claimed, one-third of Iwo Jima was under American control.
On March 16, with a U.S. Navy military government established, Iwo Jima was declared secured and the fighting over. When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died fighting for the island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese soldiers trying to defend it.
Mar 16, 1988: Reagan orders troops into Honduras
As part of his continuing effort to put pressure on the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua, President Ronald Reagan orders over 3,000 U.S. troops to Honduras, claiming that Nicaraguan soldiers had crossed its borders. As with so many of the other actions taken against Nicaragua during the Reagan years, the result was only more confusion and criticism.
Since taking office in 1981, the Reagan administration had used an assortment of means to try to remove the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. President Reagan charged that the Sandinistas were pawns of the Soviet Union and were establishing a communist beachhead in the Western Hemisphere, though there was little evidence to support such an accusation. Nonetheless, Reagan's administration used economic and diplomatic pressure attempting to destabilize the Sandinista regime. Reagan poured millions of dollars of U.S. military and economic aid into the so-called "Contras," anti-Sandinista rebels operating out of Honduras and Costa Rica. By 1988, however, the Contra program was coming under severe criticism from both the American people and Congress. Many Americans came to see the Contras as nothing more than terrorist mercenaries, and Congress had acted several times to limit the amount of U.S. aid to the Contras.
In an effort to circumvent Congressional control, the Reagan administration engaged in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair, in which arms were illegally and covertly sold to Iran in order to fund the Contras. This scheme had come to light in late 1987. Indeed, on the very day that Reagan sent U.S. troops to Honduras, his former national security advisor John Poindexter and former National Security staffer Lt. Col. Oliver North were indicted by the U.S. government for fraud and theft related to Iran-Contra.
The New York Times reported that Washington, not Honduras, had initiated the call for the U.S. troops. In fact, the Honduran government could not even confirm whether Sandinista troops had actually crossed its borders, and Nicaragua steadfastly denied that it had entered Honduran territory. Whatever the truth of the matter, the troops stayed for a brief time and were withdrawn. The Sandinista government remained unfazed.
Mar 16, 1850: The Scarlet Letter is published
Nathaniel Hawthorne's story of adultery and betrayal in colonial America, The Scarlet Letter, is published.
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. Although the infamous Salem witch trials had taken place more than 100 years earlier, the events still hung over the town and made a lasting impression on the young Hawthorne. Witchcraft figured in several of his works, including "Young Goodman Brown" (1835) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), in which a house is cursed by a wizard condemned by the witch trials.
After attending Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, Hawthorne returned to Salem, where he began his career as a writer. He self-published his first book, Fanshawe (1828), but tried to destroy all copies shortly after publication. He later wrote several books of short stories, including Twice Told Tales (1837). In 1841, he tried his hand at communal living at the agricultural cooperative Brook Farm but came away highly disillusioned by the experience, which he fictionalized in his novel The Blithedale Romance (1852).
Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody in 1842, having at last earned enough money from his writing to start a family. The two lived in a house called the Old Manse, in Concord, Massachusetts, and socialized with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Branson Alcott, father of writer Louisa May Alcott.
Plagued by financial difficulties as his family grew, he took a job in 1845 at Salem's custom house, where he worked for three years. After leaving the job, he spent several months writing The Scarlet Letter, which made him famous.
In 1853, Hawthorne's old college friend, President Franklin Pierce, appointed him American consul to England, and the family moved to England, where they lived for three years. Hawthorne died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, in 1864.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin
with Zedekiah as king.
1079 - Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar
1190 - York Progrom: Jews living in York, England, besieged
in Clifford's Tower and massacred or commit sucide rather than submit to
baptism
1249 - The Servite Order is officially approved by Cardinal
Raniero Capocci, papal legate in Tuscany.
1322 - The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the First
War of Scottish Independence.
1345 - Holy spirit glides above fire: "the miracle of
Amsterdam" (legend)
1517 - Pope Leo X signs 5th Council of Lateranen
1527 - Battle at Khanua: Mogol Emperor Babur beats Rajputen
1621 - Native American chief visits colony of Plymouth Mass
1641 - General court declares RI a democracy & adopts
new constitution
1660 - English Long Parliament disbands
1689 - The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is
founded.
1690 - French king Louis XIV sends troops to Ireland
1730 - Willem Charles Henry Friso installed as viceroy of
Drenthe
1731 - Treaty of Vienna: Emperor Charles VI of England &
Netherlands
1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot Count Anckarström
at a masked ball at the Opera; he dies on March 29.
1802 - Law signed to establish US Milt Academy (West Point,
NY)
1802 - US army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
1815 - Willem I proclaimed king of the Netherlands,
including Belgium
Revolutionary Leader Jose de San MartinRevolutionary Leader
Jose de San Martin 1818 - Second Battle of Cancha Rayada - Spanish forces
defeat Chileans under José de San Martín.
1827 - 1st US black newspaper, "Freedom's Journal"
(NYC), begins publishing
1829 - Ohio authorizes high school night classes
1830 - London's re-organised police force (Scotland Yard)
1830 - New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares
traded)
1833 - Susan Hayhurst becomes 1st US woman grad of a
pharmacy college
1834 - HMS Beagle anchors at Berkeley Sound, Falkland
Islands
1836 - Texas approves a constitution
1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter"
published
1861 - Arizona Territory votes to leave the Union
1861 - Confederate government appoints commissioners to
Britain
1861 - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam
Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of
loyalty to the Confederacy.
1862 - Battle at Pound Gap Kentucky: Confederates separate
battles
1865 - Battle of Averasboro NC (1,500 casualities)
1867 - First publication of an article by Joseph Lister
outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.
Minister and US Senator Hiram R. RevelsMinister and US
Senator Hiram R. Revels 1869 - Hiram R. Revels makes 1st official speech by an
African American in the Senate
1871 - 1st fertilizer law enacted
1872 - 1st FA Cup Final: Wanderers-Royal Engineers 1-0 in
Bolton
1876 - Nelly Saunders & Rose Harland fight 1st female
boxing match (NY)
1877 - Charles Bannerman completes 1st Test cricket century,
165 v Eng
1881 - Barnum & Bailey Circus debuts
1882 - US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the Red Cross
1894 - Jules Massenet's opera "Thaïs," premieres
in Paris
1896 - Premiere of Mahler's "Lieder eines fahrenden
Gesellen"
1897 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of The
Devil's Foot" (BG)
1900 - AL meets in Chicago, Ban Johnson announces that an AL
team will be in
1900 - Sir Arthur Evans finds old city of Knossus
1900 - Chicago, KC, Minn, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit,
Cleve & Buffalo
1907 - 1st 1st-class cricket game between NSW & Western
Australia
1910 - Barney Oldfield uses a Benz to break the existing
records at Daytona Beach Road Course (131.25mph)
The Sun King of France Louis XIVThe Sun King of France Louis
XIV 1911 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators beat Port Arthur (Ont) 13-4
1912 - Mrs William Howard Taft plants 1st cherry tree in
Wash DC
1915 - Brit battle cruisers Inflexible & Irresistible
hit mines in Dardanelle
1915 - Federal Trade Commission organizes
1916 - James Barries' "Kiss for Cinderella,"
premieres in London
1916 - US & Canada sign migratory bird treaty
1918 - Geoffrey O'Hara's "K-K-K-Katy" song
published
1919 - Frank Wedekind's "Elius Erweckung,"
premieres in Hamburg
1920 - 1 Acre Park also known as Baby Park in the Bronx
renamed Melrose Park
1922 - Sultan Fuad I crowned king of Egypt, England
recognizes Egypt
1922 - WKY-AM in Oklahoma City OK begins radio transmissions
1923 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Der
Unbestechliche," premieres in Vienna
1924 - The free port of Fiume is formally annexed by
Mussolini's fascist regime.
1926 - Robert Goddard launches 1st liquid fuel rocket, goes
184' (56 meters)
1929 - WHP-AM in Harrisburg PA begins radio transmissions
Rocket Pioneer Robert H. GoddardRocket Pioneer Robert H.
Goddard 1930 - USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) floated out to become a natl
shrine
1931 - Genootschap Onze Taal (Our Language) organizes (Neth)
1933 - Hitler names Hjalmar Schacht, president of Bank of
Germany
1934 - Congress passes Migratory Bird Conservation Act
1935 - Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles
Treaty
1937 - All but one senior fouls out of a scrimmage game
between seniors & sophomores, but he holds on to win the game 35-32
1938 - Noel Coward's musical "Operette," premieres
in London
1938 - Temple defeats Colorado to win 1st NIT
1939 - Germany occupies Czechoslovakia
1939 - Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine
1939 - NHL record 10 goals in 1 period-NY Rangers (7), NY
Americans (3) & a record 26 points in the 3rd period
1940 - German air raid on British fleet base Scapa Flow
1941 - Blizzard hits North Dakota & Minnesota killing 60
1941 - Dmitri Shostakovitch receives the Stalin Prize
1941 - National Gallery of Art opens in Wash DC
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1943 - Elin K (No) & Zaanland (Neth) torpedoed &
sinks
1944 - Vichy Internal minister Pucheu sentenced to death
1945 - Allies secure Iwo Jima
1945 - Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead,
in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
1946 - "Would-Be Gentleman" closes at Booth
Theater NYC after 77 performances
1947 - Convair Liner, 1st US twin-engine pressurized
airplane, tested
1949 - KFMB TV channel 8 in San Diego, CA (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1950 - 1st annual National Book Awards
1952 - 1870 mm rain in Cilaos, Reunion (world record)
1952 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Titleholders Golf
Championship
1953 - AL rejects Bill Veeck's request to move St Louis
Browns to Baltimore
1955 - Josephine Kroesen appointed as 1st Dutch female judge
1955 - President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons
in case of war
1956 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley
Albright
1956 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Hayes A
Jenkins
1957 - 9th Emmy Awards: Phil Silvers Show, Robert Young
& Loretta Young
1957 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1957 - Toronto Maple Leafs tie NHL record 37 points beating
NY Rangers 14-1
1958 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Titleholders Golf
Championship
1959 - Iraq & USSR sign economic/technical treaty
1962 - 1st launching of Titan 2-rocket
1962 - US Super-Constellation disappears above Pacific
Ocean, kills 167
1964 - KCOY TV channel 12 in Santa Maria, CA (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1964 - Paul Hornung & Alex Karras reinstated in NFL
after 1 year suspension
1966 - Gemini 8 launched with Armstrong & Scott, aborted
after 6.5 orbits
1966 - Man From Uncle star David McCallum receives huge
welcome in London
1967 - Pirate Radio Station 333 (Radio Britain) ship breaks
down
1968 - My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die
US Attorney General Robert Francis KennedyUS Attorney
General Robert Francis Kennedy 1968 - Robert Kennedy announces presidential
campaign
1968 - General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile,
the Oldsmobile Toronado.
1969 - "1776" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for
1217 performances
1969 - Boston Bruins scores a NHL record 8 goals in 1 period
1969 - Peter Stone & Sherman Edward's "1776,"
premieres in NYC
1969 - Viasa DC-9 crashes at Maracaibo's Grano de Oro
airport, killing 155
1970 - New English Bible published
1970 - WNIN TV channel 9 in Evansville, IN (PBS) begins
broadcasting
1971 - 13th Grammy Awards: Bridge over Troubled Water,
Carpenters win
1971 - KDCD TV channel 18 in Midland, TX (IND) suspends
broadcasting
1971 - Government of Trygve Bratteli in Norway.
1972 - John & Yoko are served with deportation papers
1974 - 1st performance at new Grand Ole Opry House at
Opryland in Nashville
1975 - "Lieutenant" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC
after 9 performances
1975 - US Mariner 10 makes 3rd & final fly-by of Mercury
1976 - British premier Harold Wilson resigns
1977 - US president Carter pleads for Palestinian homeland
1978 - Amoco Cadiz spills 223,000 tons of crude oil off
French coast
Italian Prime Minister Aldo MoroItalian Prime Minister Aldo
Moro 1978 - Red Brigade kidnaps former premier Aldo Moro in Italy, 5 killed
1978 - Soyuz 26 returns to Earth
1978 - US Senate accepts Panama Canal treaty
1978 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 - CBS-TV airs "Wings Over the World" with
Paul McCartney
1979 - Edmer Asama
1980 - Joanne Carner wins LPGA Honda Civic Golf Classic
1983 - Smallest crowd at Cleveland Coliseum (Cavs vs
Nets-1,814)
1984 - Gunmen kidnap William Buckley, CIA station chief in
Beirut
1984 - South-Africa & Mozambique sign non attack treaty
1985 - Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken
hostage in Beirut
1985 - Denny McLain, pitcher; convicted of racketeering,
sentenced to 25 yrs
1986 - Chris Johnson wins LPGA GNA/Glendale Federal Golf
Classic
1988 - Federal grand jury indicts North & Poindexter in
Iran-Contra affair
1988 - North-Ireland Protestant fires on Catholic funeral, 3
killed
Musician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartneyMusician
& member of the Beatles Paul McCartney 1988 - US sends 3000 soldiers to
Nicaragua's neighbor Honduras
1991 - 7 of Reba McEntire band members are killed in a plane
crash
1991 - Members of Irish Gay & Lesbian Organization march
in NYC parade
1991 - NJ Net coach Bill Fitch is 4th coach to win 800 NBA
games
1991 - NY Lotto pays $33.3 million to one winner (#s are 18-21-32-33-35-38)
1991 - Worlds Ladies Figure Skating Champ in Munich won by
Kristi Yamaguchi
1992 - Matt Keough, in the dugout, is hit flush in the head
by a batted ball
1994 - Moravcik forms Slovakia government
1994 - Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on Nancy
Kerrigan
1995 - Dow-Jones hits record 4069.15
1995 - Manhattan upsets 4th seeded Oklahoma 77-67
1995 - Mississippi House of Representatives formally
abolishes slavery & ratifies 13th Amendment
1995 - World best 7th wkt stand 461 by Bhupinder Singh Jr
& P Dharmani
1996 - Mike Tyson TKOs Frank Bruno in 3rd round to gain
Heavyweight title
1997 - Donna Andrews wins LPGA Welch's/Circle K Championship
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing
Champion Mike Tyson 1997 - NJ Devils' Dave Andreychuk is 26th NHL to score 500
goals
1997 - Stuart Appleby wins Honda Golf Classic
1997 - Toshiba Senior Golf Classic
1997 - Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island, soldiers of
commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline
International.
1998 - Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the
inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
2003 - The largest coordinated worldwide vigil takes place,
as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
2005 - Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian
control.
2006 - The United Nations General Assembly votes
overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council.
2012 - Turkish NATO helicopter crashes into a house killing
ten people in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan
2012 - Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar becomes first
cricketer to score 100 international centuries
2013 - A €10 billion Cyprus bailout plan will wipe out 10%
of the citizens bank deposits
2013 - 24 Pakistani Army soldiers are killed after their bus
falls down a ravine in Rawalpindi
2013 - Kim Yu-Na of South Korea wins the women’s 2013 World
Figure Skating Championships
1190 - The Crusaders began the massacre of Jews in York, England. 1521 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines. He was killed the next month by natives. 1527 - The Emperor Babur defeated the Rajputs at the Battle of Kanvaha in India. 1621 - Samoset walked into the settlement of Plymouth Colony, later Plymouth, MA. Samoset was a native from the Monhegan tribe in Maine who spoke English. 1802 - The U.S. Congress established the West Point Military Academy in New York. 1836 - The Republic of Texas approved a constitution. 1850 - The novel "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published for the first time. 1871 - The State of Delaware enacted the first fertilizer law. 1882 - The U.S. Senate approved a treaty allowing the United States to join the Red Cross. 1883 - Susan Hayhurst graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She was the first woman pharmacy graduate. 1907 - The world's largest cruiser, the British Invincible was completed at Glasgow. 1908 - China released the Japanese steamship Tatsu Maru. 1909 - Cuba suffered its first revolt only six weeks after the inauguration of Gomez. 1913 - The 15,000-ton battleship Pennsylvania was launched at Newport News, VA. 1915 - The Federal Trade Commission began operation. 1917 - Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicated his throne. 1918 - Tallulah Bankhead made her New York acting debut with a role in "The Squab Farm." 1926 - Physicist Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket. 1928 - The U.S. planned to send 1,000 more Marines to Nicaragua. 1935 - Adolf Hitler ordered a German rearmament and violated the Versailles Treaty. 1939 - Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. 1945 - Iwo Jima was declared secure by the Allies. However, small pockets of Japanese resistance still existed. 1946 - Algerian nationalist leader Ferhat Abbas was freed after spending a year in jail. 1946 - India called British Premier Attlee's independence off contradictory and a propaganda move. 1947 - Martial law was withdrawn in Tel Aviv. 1950 - Congress voted to remove federal taxes on oleomargarine. 1964 - Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were reinstated to the NFL after an 11-month suspension for betting on football games. 1964 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson submitted a $1 billion war on poverty program to Congress. 1968 - U.S. troops in Vietnam destroyed a village consisting mostly of women and children. The event is known as the My-Lai massacre. 1978 - Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas. Moro was later murdered by the group. 1982 - Russia announced they would halt their deployment of new nuclear missiles in Western Europe. 1984 - Mozambique and South Africa signed a pact banning the support for one another's internal enemies. 1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by gunmen. He died while in captivity. 1985 - "A Chorus Line" played its 4,000 performance. 1985 - Terry Anderson, an Associated Press newsman, was taken hostage in Beirut. He was released in December 4, 1991. 1987 - "Bostonia" magazine printed an English translation of Albert Einstein’s last high school report card. 1988 - Indictments were issued for Lt. Colonel Oliver North, Vice Admiral John Poindexter of the National Security Council, and two others for their involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. 1988 - Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy were shot to death in their driveway. Thompson, known as the "Speed King," set nearly 500 auto speed endurance records including being the first person to travel more than 400 mph on land. 1989 - In the U.S.S.R., the Central Committee approved Gorbachev's agrarian reform plan. 1989 - The Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee approved large-scale agricultural reforms and elected the party's 100 members to the Congress of People's Deputies. 1993 - In France, ostrich meat was officially declared fit for human consumption. 1994 - Tonya Harding pled guilty in Portland, OR, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up the attack on her skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She was fined $100,000. She was also banned from amateur figure skating. 1994 - Russia agreed to phase out production of weapons-grade plutonium. 1995 - NASA astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to visit the Russian space station Mir. 1998 - Rwanda began mass trials for 1994 genocide with 125,000 suspects for 500,000 murders. 1999 - The 20 members of the European Union's European Commission announced their resignations amid allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement.
1521 Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines. 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter was published. 1926 The first liquid-fuel rocket was successfully launched by Prof. Robert Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds. 1935 Adolf Hitler cancelled the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. 1968 The My Lai massacre occurred in Vietnam. 1978 Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the Red Brigades. 1985 U.S. journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut; he was not released until December 4, 1991 after 2454 days in captivity. 1988 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver L. North and Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter of the National Security Council are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for their role in the Iran-contra affair.
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/mar16.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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