Today
in History ~ March 18
Events
1190 - Crusaders kill 57 Jews in
Bury St Edmonds England
1229 - German emperor Frederick II crowns himself king of Jerusalem
1532 - English parliament bans payments by English church to Rome
1766 - Four months of widespread protest in America, the British Parliament
repeals the Stamp Act, a taxation measure enacted to raise revenues for a
standing British army in America.
1793 - 2nd Battle at Neerwinden: Austria army beats France
1835 - Charles Darwin departs Santiago Chile on his way to Portillo Pass
1850 - Henry Wells & William Fargo forms American Express in Buffalo
1864 - Dale Dike on Humber River crumbles drowning some 240
1865 - Battle of Wilson's raid to Selma, AL
1865 - Congress of Confederate States of American adjourns for last time
1870 - 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland Calif)
1871 - Paris Commune Established [H]
1890 - 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)
1895 - 200 blacks leave Savannah, Ga for Liberia
1899 - Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by Pickering
1921 - Steamer "Hong Koh" runs aground off Swatow China killing 1,000
1922 - Mahatma Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil
disobedience against the British rulers of India. (He was released after serving
two years.)
1925 - Tri-State Tornado - worst tornado in U.S. history passes through eastern
Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring
some 13,000 people, and causing $17 million in property damage
1931 - 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)
1937 - A natural gas explosion at a public school in New London, Texas, killed
410 people, most of them children.
1938 - NY 1st requires serological blood tests of pregnant women
1938 - Pres Cardena of Mexico nationalizes US & British oil companies
1940 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the
Italian dictator agreed to join Germany's war against France and Britain.
1942 - 2 black players, Jackie Robinson & Nate Moreland, request a tryout
with the Chicago White Sox, they are allowed to work out
1943 - James Oglethorpe (US) & Terkolei (Neth), torpedoed & sinks
1943 - Red Army evacuates Belgorod
1944 - Nazi Germany occupies Hungary
1945 - 1,250 US bombers attacks Berlin
1945 - US Task Force 58 attacks targets on Kiushu
1948 - France & Great Britain & Benelux sign Treaty of Brussels
1948 - Philips begin experimental TV broadcasting
1952 - 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Phila)
1952 - Communist offensive in Korea
1959 - President Dwight D Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill
1961 - Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy introduced
1965 - USSR launches Voshkod 2; Soviet cosmonaut Alexi Leonov became the first
person to "walk in space." (20 mins)
1970 - US Postal Service begins general strike
1974 - Most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the
United States.
1975 - Kurds end fight against Iraqi army
1977 - US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, N Korea & Cambodia
1977 - Vietnam hands over MIA to US
1978 - Pakistani former premier Ali Bhutto sentenced to death
1979 - Battles between Kurds & Iranians break in Sananday Iran
1979 - Iranian authorities detained American feminist Kate Millett, a day before
deporting her and a companion for what were termed "provocations."
1985 - Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Willie Mays & Mickey Mantle
1989 - Largest Art robbery in the history (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston), where 12 paintings valued at $100 million are stolen
1990 - 1st free elections in East Germany, Conservatives beat Communists
1992 - Leona Helmsley, hotel queen and convicted tax cheat, was sentenced to
four years in prison. sentence to 4 years for tax evasion
1992 - South African President F.W. de Klerk claimed victory for his reforms a
day after a whites-only referendum on whether to end apartheid.
1992 - National Football League owners voted to drop the use of videotape
replays to settle disputed calls during games (however, instant replay was
brought back in 1999).
1993 - Contra rebels freed five hostages they held at the Nicaraguan Embassy in
Costa Rica after the two sides agreed to begin talks to end the 10-day siege.
1993 - An investigation by psychiatrists and child abuse experts on Woody
Allen's relationship with his 7-year-
old adopted daughter ended with Allen claiming exoneration.
1994 - South Africa Goldstone committee reveals existence of secret police
1994 - Zsa Zsa Gabor files for bankruptcy
1995 - Michael Jordan announced he was returning to professional basketball and
the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month break, during which he had tried a baseball
career.
1996 - John Salvi was convicted of murder in the killing of two abortion clinic
receptionists. He later committed suicide.
1997 - Zaire's parliament fired Premier Leon Kengo wa Dondo and opened
negotiations with rebel leader Laurent
Kabila.
1997 - Bulldozers began clearing away rocks and earth for a Jewish housing
project in disputed east Jerusalem, triggering Palestinian protests.
1997 - Labor Secretary-designate Alexis Herman got a generally favorable
reception from Democrats and Republicans alike at her Senate confirmation
hearing.
2000 - Opposition candidate Chen Shui-bain was elected president of Taiwan,
ending more than 50 years of Nationalist Party rule.
2001 - The Socialists conquered Paris in municipal elections, ending a century
of nearly unbroken rule by the right.
Birthdays
Today
1452 - Amerigo Vespucci (navigator: said to be the first to discover America: it was actually the coast of South America including Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina [1497])
1765 - David H Chass, Dutch baron/general (fought Napoleon at Waterloo)
1782 - John Calhoun (U.S. Vice President under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson [1825-1832], the first VP to resign office: became a U.S. Senator)
1837 - Grover (Stephen) Cleveland (22nd [1885-1889] & 24th [1893-1897] U.S. President, only one to serve 2 nonconsecutive terms; only president to be married in White House; the 1st to have a child born there)
1838 - Randal Cremer, Britain, trade unionist, pacifist (Nobel 1903)
1844 - Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov (composer: Scheherazade, Song of India, The Flight of the Bumblebee)
1886 - Edward Everett Horton (Narrator: Fractured Fairy Tales on Rocky & Bullwinkle Show; actor: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Lost Horizon, Sex and the Single Girl, Arsenic and Old Lace)
1899 - Lavrenti Beria, chief of Soviet secret police under Stalin
1906 - Roy L Johnson, US admiral (WW II-Pacific Ocean)
1911 - Smiley (Lester) Burnette (actor: Western Double Features, Gene Autry Matinee Double Features, Dick Tracy: The Original Serial, King of the Cowboys, Springtime in the Rockies, Silver Spurs)
1920 - John Paul II, [Karol Wojtyla], Poland, Pope (1978- )
1923 - Andy Granatelli (auto racer: "STP is the racer's edge.")
1926 - Peter Graves (Aurness) (actor: Mission Impossible; The Winds of War, Airplane, Airplane 2, Stalag 17, The President's Plane is Missing, The Night of the Hunter; actor James Arness' brother)
1927 - George Plimpton (author: Paper Lion, Shadow Box; actor: Rio Lobo, Reds, Little Man Tate, Just Cause)
1932 - John Updike (writer: The Witches of Eastwicke, Rabbit Run)
1933 - Unita Blackwell, 1st black mayor in Mississippi
1937 - Mark Donohue (auto racer: Indianapolis 500 winner [1972])
1938 - Charley Pride (country singer: Kiss an Angel Good Mornin', Why Baby Why; member of Grand Ol' Opry, CMA Entertainer of the Year [1971], Male Vocalist of the Year [1971-72]; semipro baseball player)
1941 - Margie Bowes (country entertainer)
1941 - Pat Jarvis (baseball)
1941 - Wilson Pickett (singer: In the Midnight Hour, Land of 1000 Dances, Funky Broadway, Mustang Sally, It's Too Late, Don't Knock My Love; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1991])
1942 - Jeff Mullins (baseball)
1943 - Leslie Parrish (Fleck) (actress: The Manchurian Candidate, Sex and the Single Girl, The Invisible Strangler, Li'l Abner)
1947 - Barrie (B.J.) Wilson (musician: drummer: group: Procol Harum: Whiter Shade of Pale)
1948 - Guy Lapointe (hockey)
1952 - Glenn McDonald (basketball)
1953 - Margaret L Augustine, Buffalo NY, project manager (Biosphere 2)
1956 - Ingemar Stenmark (Swedish skier: holds individual racing record of 86 wins including 46 giant slalom and 40 slalom out of 287 contests, [1974-1989])
1959 - Irene Cara (singer: Fame, The Dream; actress: Fame, Ain't Misbehavin', Caged in Paradiso, City Heat, For Us the Living, Killing 'Em Softly)
1963 - Vanessa L Williams, Millwood NY, 1st black Miss America (1983)/singer
1964 - Bonnie Blair (Olympic Gold medalist [1988] and world record holder: speed skater [1994])
Famous
deaths
0235 - Marcus Aurelius
Alexander, Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), murdered
0978 - Edward, the Martyr, King of Anglo-Saxons (975-78)/st, murdered at 15
1584 - Ivan IV, the terrible, Russian tsar (1547-84), dies at 53
1984 - Charlie Lau, White Sox coach/renowned hitting instructor, dies at 50
1996 - Hawkes Jessie Jacquetta Priestley, archaeologist, dies at 85
1997 - Willem de Kooning (abstract artist), died from Alzheimer's at 92
2001 - John Phillips, who co-founded the Mamas and the Papas and wrote its
biggest hits, including "California Dreamin'" and "Monday,"
died in Los Angeles at age 65.
If
you have other Birthdays or events to add for this day please
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