http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Mar 31, 1889: Eiffel Tower opens
On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard, a handful of other dignitaries, and 200 construction workers.
In 1889, to honor of the centenary of the French Revolution, the French government planned an international exposition and announced a design competition for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. Out of more than 100 designs submitted, the Centennial Committee chose Eiffel's plan of an open-lattice wrought-iron tower that would reach almost 1,000 feet above Paris and be the world's tallest man-made structure. Eiffel, a noted bridge builder, was a master of metal construction and designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty that had recently been erected in New York Harbor.
Eiffel's tower was greeted with skepticism from critics who argued that it would be structurally unsound, and indignation from others who thought it would be an eyesore in the heart of Paris. Unperturbed, Eiffel completed his great tower under budget in just two years. Only one worker lost his life during construction, which at the time was a remarkably low casualty number for a project of that magnitude. The light, airy structure was by all accounts a technological wonder and within a few decades came to be regarded as an architectural masterpiece.
The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall and consists of an iron framework supported on four masonry piers, from which rise four columns that unite to form a single vertical tower. Platforms, each with an observation deck, are at three levels. Elevators ascend the piers on a curve, and Eiffel contracted the Otis Elevator Company of the United States to design the tower's famous glass-cage elevators.
The elevators were not completed by March 31, 1889, however, so Gustave Eiffel ascended the tower's stairs with a few hardy companions and raised an enormous French tricolor on the structure's flagpole. Fireworks were then set off from the second platform. Eiffel and his party descended, and the architect addressed the guests and about 200 workers. In early May, the Paris International Exposition opened, and the tower served as the entrance gateway to the giant fair.
The Eiffel Tower remained the world's tallest man-made structure until the completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930. Incredibly, the Eiffel Tower was almost demolished when the International Exposition's 20-year lease on the land expired in 1909, but its value as an antenna for radio transmission saved it. It remains largely unchanged today and is one of the world's premier tourist attractions.
Mar 31, 1991: Warsaw Pact ends
After 36 years in existence, the Warsaw Pact—the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites—comes to an end. The action was yet another sign that the Soviet Union was losing control over its former allies and that the Cold War was falling apart.
The Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955, primarily as a response to the decision by the United States and its western European allies to include a rearmed West Germany in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO had begun in 1949 as a defensive military alliance between the United States, Canada, and several European nations to thwart possible Soviet expansion into Western Europe. In 1954, NATO nations voted to allow a rearmed West Germany into the organization. The Soviets responded with the establishment of the Warsaw Pact. The original members included the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Albania. Although the Soviets claimed that the organization was a defensive alliance, it soon became clear that the primary purpose of the pact was to reinforce communist dominance in Eastern Europe. In Hungary in 1956, and then again in Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Soviets invoked the pact to legitimize its interventions in squelching anticommunist revolutions.
By the late-1980s, however, anti-Soviet and anticommunist movements throughout Eastern Europe began to crack the Warsaw Pact. In 1990, East Germany left the Warsaw Pact in preparation for its reunification with West Germany. Poland and Czechoslovakia also indicated their strong desire to withdraw. Faced with these protests—and suffering from a faltering economy and unstable political situation—the Soviet Union bowed to the inevitable. In March 1991, Soviet military commanders relinquished their control of Warsaw Pact forces. A few months later, the pact's Political Consultative Committee met for one final time and formally recognized what had already effectively occurred—the Warsaw Pact was no more.
Mar 31, 1959: Dalai Lama begins exile
The Dalai Lama, fleeing the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, crosses the border into India, where he is granted political asylum.
Born in Taktser, China, as Tensin Gyatso, he was designated the 14th Dalai Lama in 1940, a position that eventually made him the religious and political leader of Tibet. At the beginning of the 20th century, Tibet increasingly came under Chinese control, and in 1950 communist China invaded the country. One year later, a Tibetan-Chinese agreement was signed in which the nation became a "national autonomous region" of China, supposedly under the traditional rule of the Dalai Lama but actually under the control of a Chinese communist commission. The highly religious people of Tibet, who practice a unique form of Buddhism, suffered under communist China's anti-religious legislation.
After years of scattered protests, a full-scale revolt broke out in March 1959, and the Dalai Lama was forced to flee as the uprising was crushed by Chinese troops. On March 31, 1959, he began a permanent exile in India, settling at Dharamsala in Punjab, where he established a democratically based shadow Tibetan government. Back in Tibet, the Chinese adopted brutal repressive measures against the Tibetans, provoking charges from the Dalai Lama of genocide. With the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in China, the Chinese suppression of Tibetan Buddhism escalated, and practice of the religion was banned and thousands of monasteries were destroyed.
Although the ban was lifted in 1976, protests in Tibet continued, and the exiled Dalai Lama won widespread international support for the Tibetan independence movement. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end the Chinese domination of Tibet.
Mar 31, 1854: Treaty of Kanagawa signed with Japan
In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan.
In July 1853, Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with a squadron of four U.S. vessels. For a time, Japanese officials refused to speak with Perry, but eventually they accepted letters from U.S. President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation to establish relations with Japan since it was declared closed to foreigners in 1683.
After giving Japan time to consider the establishment of external relations, Perry returned to Tokyo in March 1854, and on March 31 signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened Japan to trade with the United States, and thus the West. In April 1860, the first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power reached Washington, D.C., and remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks discussing expansion of trade with the United States.
Mar 31, 1492: Jews to be expelled from Spain
In Spain, a royal edict is issued by the nation's Catholic rulers declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled from the country. Most Spanish Jews chose exile rather than the renunciation of their religion and culture, and the Spanish economy suffered with the loss of an important portion of its workforce. Many Spanish Jews went to North Africa, the Netherlands, and the Americas, where their skills, capital, and commercial connections were put to good use. Among those who chose conversion, some risked their lives by secretly practicing Judaism, while many sincere converts were nonetheless persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Muslims, or Moors, were ordered to convert to Christianity in 1502
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1084 - Anti-pope Clemens crowns German emperor Hendrik IV
1146 - Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a
field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is
present, and joins the Crusade.
1492 - Queen Isabella of Castilia & Ferdinand of Aragon
expels Jews
1504 - France & Spain signs ceasefire
1521 - Magelhaes takes possession of Homohon, Archipelago of
St Lazarus
1547 - Henry II succeeds Francois I as king of France
1644 - Pope Urbanus VIII & duke of Parma signs Peace of
Ferrara
1651 - Great earthquake at Cuzco Peru
1657 - English Humble Petition offers Lord Protector Cromwell
the crown
1667 - France/England signs anti-Dutch military accord
1683 - Emperor Leopold I/Poland signs covenant against
Turkey
1717 - A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of
Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provoked the Bangorian
Controversy.
1745 - Jews are expelled from Prague
1796 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethes "Egmont,"
premieres in Weimar
1808 - French created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to
adopt family names
1814 - Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris
1822 - The massacre of the population of the Greek island of
Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, depicted
by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
1831 - Mainzer Rijnvaart Convention ends
1831 - Quebec & Montreal incorporated
Social Philosopher Johann Wolfgang von GoetheSocial
Philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1841 - 1st performance of Robert
Schumann's 1st Symphony in B
1849 - Col John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of SF
1850 - US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population:
3,638,808 (15.7%))
1854 - Treaty of Kanagawa: Commodore Perry forces Japan to
opens ports to US
1861 - Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans
1862 - Civil War action at Island #10 on Mississippi River
1863 - Battle of Grand Gulf MS & Dinwiddie Court House
VA
1865 - Battle of Boydton, VA (White Oaks Roads, Dinwiddie C
H)
1865 - Gen Pickette moves to 5 Forks, abandoning the defense
of Peterburg
1866 - The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso,
Chile.
1868 - Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China
1870 - 1st black to vote in US (Thomas P Mundy of Perth
Amboy NJ)
1877 - British high director/governor sir Bartle Frere
arrives in Capetown
1877 - Test Cricket debut of Fred "Demon"
Spofforth, Aust v Eng MCG
1877 - The family with samurai antecedents who responded to
the Saigo army in Ōita Nakatsu rebels.
1880 - 1st town completely illuminated by electric lighting
(Wabash, IN)
1883 - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Le Chasseur
Maudit"
1883 - Utrecht begins water pipe system
1885 - Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate
1889 - 300m Eiffel Tower officially opens (commemorates
French Revolution)
1900 - Brig-General Broadwoods troops fall into guerrilla
hands
1903 - Richard Pearse flies monoplane several hundred yards
(NZ)
1905 - German emperor Wilhelm II visits Tanger
1906 - GB Shaws German version of "Caesar &
Cleopatra," premieres in Berlin"
1907 - Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt
1909 - Baseball rules players who jump contracts are
suspended for 5 years
1909 - Gustav Mahler conducts NY Philharmonic for his 1st
time
1916 - Dutch government ends all milt engagements
1917 - US purchases Danish West Indies for $25M &
renames them Virgin Islands
1918 - 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
1919 - Strike against Ruhrgebied government of Scheidemann
1920 - British parliament accept Irish "Home
Rule"-law
1921 - British coal miners goes on strike
1922 - KFI-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions
1922 - Prince Hendrik opens trade fair building in Amsterdam
1923 - 1st dance marathon-NYC-Alma Cummings sets record of
27 hrs
1923 - French soldiers fire on workers at Krupp factory in
Essen; 13 die
1923 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators (NHL) sweep Edm Eskimos
(WCHL) in 2 games
1924 - Croydon Airport: 1st British mig aircraft Imperial
established
1924 - London public transport strike ends
1925 - WOWO-AM, Ft Wayne Indiana begins radio transmission
(500 watts)
1926 - German Special Court of Justice for state security
disbands
1930 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted,
imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and
violence in film for the next thirty eight years.
1932 - 150 wild swans die in Niagara waterfall
1932 - Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine
1933 - 1st newspaper published on pine pulp paper,
"Soperton News" (Ga)
1933 - Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf HitlerDictator of Nazi
Germany Adolf Hitler 1933 - German Republic gives power to Hitler
1934 - Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begins radio transmission
(Indonesia)
1935 - Fusahige Suzuki runs world record marathon (2:27:49)
1939 - Britain & France agree to support Poland if
invaded by Germany
1940 - Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes 12th Soviet republic
(until 1956)
1941 - Ground broken for Union Square Garage, SF
1943 - US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326
1944 - Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
1945 - 3rd Algerian division crosses the Rhine
1945 - Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in
Zutphen
1945 - Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie,"
premieres in NYC
1945 - US artillery lands on Keise Shima/begins firing on
Okinawa
1946 - Belgian government of Acker, forms
1946 - The first election is held in Greece after World War
II.
1948 - Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate
war-torn Europe
Playwright Tennessee WilliamsPlaywright Tennessee Williams
1949 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
1951 - US tanks exceed 38° of latitude in Korea
1953 - Department of Health, Education & Welfare
established
1953 - UN Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjoeld
secretary-general
1954 - US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Colo,
established
1954 - USSR offers to join NATO
1955 - Collie Smith scores 104 on cricket debut WI v Aust,
Kingston
1955 - US Assay Office in Seattle, Washington closes Chase
National (3rd largest bank) & Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest
bank) merge to form Chase Manhattan
1958 - US Navy forms atomic sub division
1958 - USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, & urges US
& Britain to do same
1959 - Dalai Lama fled China & was granted political
asylum in India
1960 - Gore Vidal's "Best Man," premieres in NYC
1961 - Aklilou Habtewold becomes 1st premier of Ethiopia
1963 - LA ends streetcar service after 90 years
1964 - Pres Jango Goulart of Brazil chased out of office by
military
1965 - US ordered the 1st combat troops to Vietnam
1965 - Iberia Airlines Convair 440, crashed into the sea on
approach to Tangier killing 47 of 51 occupants.
1966 - 25,000 anti war demonstrators march in NYC
1966 - Labour Party wins British parliamentary election
1966 - USSR launches Luna 10, 1st lunar orbiter
Rock Guitarist Jimi HendrixRock Guitarist Jimi Hendrix 1967
- 1st time Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar (London)
1968 - LBJ announces he will not seek re-election
1968 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Palm Beach County Golf Open
1968 - Pirate Radio Station Pegaus (NZ) begins transmitting
1968 - Seattle's AL club is named Pilots
1969 - George Harrison & Patti Boyd are fined £250 each
for illegal drugs
1970 - Federal bankruptcy court allows Seattle Pilots to be
sold to Milwaukee
1970 - Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere (after 12
years in orbit).
1971 - South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion
1971 - William Calley sentenced to life for Mi Lai Massacre
1972 - Official Beatles Fan Club, closes down
1973 - Flyers score 8 goals in 1 period vs Islanders, on 60
shots
1973 - Ken Norton defeats Muhammad Ali in a 12 round split
decision
1975 - 37th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats
Kentucky 92-55
1975 - John Wooden's final game, UCLA, wins 10th NCAA
championship in 12 yrs
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad AliHeavyweight Boxing
Champion Muhammad Ali 1976 - Cleveland Cavaliers clinch their 1st ever NBA
playoff bearth
1976 - NJ Court rules Karen Anne Quinlan may be disconnected
from respirator
1977 - Michael Cristofer's "Shadow Box," premieres
in NYC
1978 - Red Rum wins 3rd consecutive Grand National &
retires
1978 - USSR launches Kosmos 1000 navigational satellite
1978 - Wings release "London Town" album
1979 - The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands.
Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
1980 - Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for heavyweight
boxing title
1980 - Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for heavyweight
boxing title
1980 - President Jimmy Carter deregulates banking industry
1980 - The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad
operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets due to
bankruptcy and debt owed to creditors.
1981 - 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: Can't Stop the Music
wins
1981 - 53rd Academy Awards - "Ordinary People," R
De Niro & Sissy Spacek win
1982 - Arkas tanker at Montz La, spills 1.47 million gallons
of oil
1982 - Rock group Doobie Brothers split up
1983 - Earthquake in Colombia kills some 5,000 people
1983 - Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother," premieres
in NYC
1984 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985 - 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
1985 - 4th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Old
Dominion beats Ga 70-65
1985 - El Salvador's Pres Duartes Christian-Democrats win
election
1985 - Wrestlemania I at Madison Square Garden NY, Hogan
& Mr T beat Piper & Orndorf
1986 - 167 die when Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashes
1986 - 48th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Louisville
beats Duke 72-69
1986 - English Hampton Court palace destroyed by fire, 1
dead
1986 - Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in
England.
1987 - 49th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Indiana
beats Syracuse 74-73
1988 - Last East Limburg coal mine closes in Gent Belgium
1988 - NY Islanders celebrate Denis Potvin night
1988 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Toni Morrison for
"Beloved"
Businessman & T.V. Personality Donald TrumpBusinessman
& T.V. Personality Donald Trump 1989 - Donald Trump purchases Eastern's
Northeast Shuttle
1990 - "Carol & Company" starring Carol
Burnette premieres on NBC-TV
1990 - Dionisio Castro cycles world record 20km (57:18.4)
1990 - Riots began in London over the new poll tax laws
1991 - 10th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee
beats Virginia 70-67
1991 - 20th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Amy
Alcott
1991 - Albania offers 1st multi-party election in 50 years
1991 - Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in
Phoenix Az
1991 - Georgian SSR votes on whether to remain in the Soviet
Union
1991 - Musical "Will Rogers Follies," premieres in
NYC
1991 - Soviet Rep of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw
Pact dissolves
1991 - St Louis Blues Brett Hull scores his 86th goal
1991 - The Establishment of Islamic Constitutional Movement
- Hadas in Kuwait.
1992 - Delhi beat Tamil Nadu on 1st innings to win cricket
Ranji Trophy
1992 - UN Security Council voted to ban flights & arms
sales to Libya
1994 - James Farentino pleads no contest to stalking ex-girl
Tina Sinatra
1994 - Walkway from Cleveland's Tower City to Jacobs Field
officially opens
1994 - Human evolution: The journal Nature reports the
finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
1995 - 1st game at Coors Stadium Colo (replacement Rockies
beat Yanks 4-1)
1995 - Bombay beat Punjab on 1st innings to win cricket
Ranji Trophy
1995 - Federal judge orders injunction to end baseball
strike
1996 - "Getting Away With Murder" closes at
Broadhurst NYC after 17 perfs
1996 - "Midsummer Night's Dream" opens at
Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 66 perfs
1996 - 15th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tenn beats
Georgia 83-65
1996 - 1st Opening Day in history in March takes place in
Seattle
1996 - 25th Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by
Patty Sheehan
1996 - Karnataka defeat Tamil Nadu on 1st innings to win
Ranji Trophy
1996 - Radio Canada International's final shortwave
broadcast
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 76 (Atlantis 16), lands
1996 - Wrestlemania XII - Shawn Michaels beats Brett Hart
for WWF title
1997 - "Daytime to Remember" a series showing old
soaps premieres on ABC-TV
1997 - 59th NCAA Mens Basketball Championship: Ariz beats
Kentucky 84-79 (OT)
1997 - Pioneer 10, ends its mission
1998 - Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1st game they host Detroit
Tigers
2002 - 21st NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: at San
Antonio
2004 - In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military
contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated
after being ambushed.
2007 - In Sydney, Australia, 2.2 million people take part in
the first Earth Hour.
2008 - Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends
passenger service
2012 - Fiji Floods kill 2 people and force thousands to be
evacuated
2013 - 14 Boko Haram suspects are killed in a Nigerian Army
raid
2013 - 11 people are killed in flooding at Port Louis,
Mauritius
2013 - 2 people die from bird flu (type H7N9) in China
1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra edict expelling Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity. 1776 - Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John that women were "determined to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights. 1779 - Russia and Turkey signed a treaty concerning military action in Crimea. 1831 - Quebec and Montreal were incorporated as cities. 1854 - The U.S. government signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan. The act opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakotade to American trade. 1862 - Skirmishing between Rebels and Union forces took place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River. 1870 - In Perth Amboy, NJ, Thomas Munday Peterson became the first black to vote in the U.S. 1880 - Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light. 1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened. 1900 - The W.E. Roach Company was the first automobile company to put an advertisement in a national magazine. The magazine was the "Saturday Evening Post". 1900 - In France, the National Assembly passed a law reducing the workday for women and children to 11 hours. 1901 - In Russia, the Czar lashed out at Socialist-Revolutionaries with the arrests of 72 people and the seizing of two printing presses. 1902 - In Tennessee, 22 coal miners were killed by an explosion. 1904 - In India, hundreds of Tibetans were slaughtered by the British. 1905 - Kaiser Wilhelm arrived in Tangier proclaiming to support for an independent state of Morocco. 1906 - The Conference on Moroccan Reforms in Algerciras ended after two months with France and Germany in agreement. 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910. 1908 - 250,000 coal miners in Indianapolis, IN, went on strike to await a wage adjustment. 1909 - Serbia accepted Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina. 1917 - The U.S. purchased and took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. 1918 - For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect. 1921 - Great Britain declared a state of emergency because of the thousands of coal miners on strike. 1923 - In New York City, the first U.S. dance marathon was held. Alma Cummings set a new world record of 27 hours. 1932 - The Ford Motor Co. debuted its V-8 engine. 1933 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps to relieve rampant unemployment. 1933 - The "Soperton News" in Georgia became the first newspaper to publish using a pine pulp paper. 1939 - Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened invasion. 1940 - La Guardia airport in New York officially opened to the public. 1941 - Germany began a counter offensive in North Africa. 1945 - "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 1946 - Monarchists won the elections in Greece. 1947 - John L. Lewis called a strike in sympathy for the miners killed in an explosion in Centralia, IL, on March 25, 1947. 1948 - The Soviets in Germany began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin. 1949 - Winston Churchill declared that the A-bomb was the only thing that kept the U.S.S.R. from taking over Europe. 1949 - Newfoundland entered the Canadian confederation as its 10th province. 1958 - The U.S. Navy formed the atomic submarine division. 1959 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) began exile by crossing the border into India where he was granted political asylum. Gyatso was the 14th Daila Lama. 1960 - The South African government declared a state of emergency after demonstrations lead to the death of more than 50 Africans. 1966 - An estimated 200,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City. (New York) 1966 - The Soviet Union launched Luna 10, which became the first spacecraft to enter a lunar orbit. 1967 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution. 1970 - The U.S. forces in Vietnam down a MIG-21, it was the first since September 1968. 1976 - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from a respirator. Quinlan remained comatose until 1985 when she died. 1980 - U.S. President Carter deregulated the banking industry. 1981 - In Bangkok, Thailand, four of five Indonesian terrorists were killed after hijacking an airplane on March 28. 1985 - ABC-TV aired the 200th episode of "The Love Boat." 1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in Los Angeles. 1987 - HBO (Home Box Office) earned its first Oscar for "Down and Out in America". 1989 - Canada and France signed a fishing rights pact. 1991 - Albania offered a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years. Incumbent President Ramiz Alia won. 1991 - Iraqi forces recaptured the northern city of Kirkuk from Kurdish guerillas. 1993 - Brandon Lee was killed accidentally while filming a movie. 1994 - "Nature" magazine announced that a complete skull of Australppithecus afarensis had been found in Ethiopia. The finding is of humankind's earliest ancestor. 1998 - U.N. Security Council imposed arms embargo on Yugoslavia. 1998 - Buddy Hackett received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1998 - For the first time in U.S. history the federal government's detailed financial statement was released. This occurred under the Clinton administration. 1999 - Three U.S. soldiers were captured by Yugoslav soldiers three miles from the Yugoslav border in Macedonia. 1999 - Fabio was hit in the face by a bird during a promotional ride of a new roller coaster at the Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. Fabio received a one-inch cut across his nose. 2000 - In Uganda, officials set the number of deaths linked to a doomsday religious cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, at more than 900. In Kanungu, a March 17 fire at the cult's church killed more than 530 and authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult. 2004 - Air America Radio launched five stations around the U.S. 2004 - Google Inc. announced that it would be introducing a free e-mail service called Gmail.
1492 Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain expelled Jews who would not accept Christianity. 1889 The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opened. 1917 The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands. 1918 Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States. 1949 Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province. 1959 The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum. 1968 President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election. 1995 Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, is shot by the president of her fan club in Corpus Christi, Texas. 1995 Major League Baseball players agreed to end the sport’s longest strike in history after a judge ordered a preliminary injunction against team owners. 2005 Terry Schiavo died 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra edict expelling Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity. 1776 - Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John that women were "determined to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights. 1779 - Russia and Turkey signed a treaty concerning military action in Crimea. 1831 - Quebec and Montreal were incorporated as cities. 1854 - The U.S. government signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan. The act opened the ports of Shimoda and Hakotade to American trade. 1862 - Skirmishing between Rebels and Union forces took place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River. 1870 - In Perth Amboy, NJ, Thomas Munday Peterson became the first black to vote in the U.S. 1880 - Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light. 1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened. 1900 - The W.E. Roach Company was the first automobile company to put an advertisement in a national magazine. The magazine was the "Saturday Evening Post". 1900 - In France, the National Assembly passed a law reducing the workday for women and children to 11 hours. 1901 - In Russia, the Czar lashed out at Socialist-Revolutionaries with the arrests of 72 people and the seizing of two printing presses. 1902 - In Tennessee, 22 coal miners were killed by an explosion. 1904 - In India, hundreds of Tibetans were slaughtered by the British. 1905 - Kaiser Wilhelm arrived in Tangier proclaiming to support for an independent state of Morocco. 1906 - The Conference on Moroccan Reforms in Algerciras ended after two months with France and Germany in agreement. 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States was founded to set rules in amateur sports. The organization became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910. 1908 - 250,000 coal miners in Indianapolis, IN, went on strike to await a wage adjustment. 1909 - Serbia accepted Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina. 1917 - The U.S. purchased and took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. 1918 - For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect. 1921 - Great Britain declared a state of emergency because of the thousands of coal miners on strike. 1923 - In New York City, the first U.S. dance marathon was held. Alma Cummings set a new world record of 27 hours. 1932 - The Ford Motor Co. debuted its V-8 engine. 1933 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps to relieve rampant unemployment. 1933 - The "Soperton News" in Georgia became the first newspaper to publish using a pine pulp paper. 1939 - Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened invasion. 1940 - La Guardia airport in New York officially opened to the public. 1941 - Germany began a counter offensive in North Africa. 1945 - "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams opened on Broadway. 1946 - Monarchists won the elections in Greece. 1947 - John L. Lewis called a strike in sympathy for the miners killed in an explosion in Centralia, IL, on March 25, 1947. 1948 - The Soviets in Germany began controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin. 1949 - Winston Churchill declared that the A-bomb was the only thing that kept the U.S.S.R. from taking over Europe. 1949 - Newfoundland entered the Canadian confederation as its 10th province. 1958 - The U.S. Navy formed the atomic submarine division. 1959 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) began exile by crossing the border into India where he was granted political asylum. Gyatso was the 14th Daila Lama. 1960 - The South African government declared a state of emergency after demonstrations lead to the death of more than 50 Africans. 1966 - An estimated 200,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City. (New York) 1966 - The Soviet Union launched Luna 10, which became the first spacecraft to enter a lunar orbit. 1967 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution. 1970 - The U.S. forces in Vietnam down a MIG-21, it was the first since September 1968. 1976 - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from a respirator. Quinlan remained comatose until 1985 when she died. 1980 - U.S. President Carter deregulated the banking industry. 1981 - In Bangkok, Thailand, four of five Indonesian terrorists were killed after hijacking an airplane on March 28. 1985 - ABC-TV aired the 200th episode of "The Love Boat." 1986 - 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in Los Angeles. 1987 - HBO (Home Box Office) earned its first Oscar for "Down and Out in America". 1989 - Canada and France signed a fishing rights pact. 1991 - Albania offered a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years. Incumbent President Ramiz Alia won. 1991 - Iraqi forces recaptured the northern city of Kirkuk from Kurdish guerillas. 1993 - Brandon Lee was killed accidentally while filming a movie. 1994 - "Nature" magazine announced that a complete skull of Australppithecus afarensis had been found in Ethiopia. The finding is of humankind's earliest ancestor. 1998 - U.N. Security Council imposed arms embargo on Yugoslavia. 1998 - Buddy Hackett received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1998 - For the first time in U.S. history the federal government's detailed financial statement was released. This occurred under the Clinton administration. 1999 - Three U.S. soldiers were captured by Yugoslav soldiers three miles from the Yugoslav border in Macedonia. 1999 - Fabio was hit in the face by a bird during a promotional ride of a new roller coaster at the Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, VA. Fabio received a one-inch cut across his nose. 2000 - In Uganda, officials set the number of deaths linked to a doomsday religious cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, at more than 900. In Kanungu, a March 17 fire at the cult's church killed more than 530 and authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult. 2004 - Air America Radio launched five stations around the U.S. 2004 - Google Inc. announced that it would be introducing a free e-mail service called Gmail.
1492 Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain expelled Jews who would not accept Christianity. 1889 The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opened. 1917 The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands. 1918 Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States. 1949 Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province. 1959 The Dalai Lama, fleeing Chinese repression of an uprising in Tibet, arrived at the Indian border and was granted political asylum. 1968 President Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election. 1995 Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, is shot by the president of her fan club in Corpus Christi, Texas. 1995 Major League Baseball players agreed to end the sport’s longest strike in history after a judge ordered a preliminary injunction against team owners. 2005 Terry Schiavo died 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
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/mar31.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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