Today in History
March 20 - Today in History
By Staff
Mar 20, 2011 - 12:00:00 AM

0141 - 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
0842 - Alfonso II the Chaste, king of Asturia (791-842), dies
1191 - Clement III, [Paolo Scolari], Pope (1187-91, 3rd crusades), dies
1345 - Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction: thought "cause of plague epidemic"
1415 - Henry IV Bolingbroke, King of England (1399-1413), dies at 45
1525 - Paris' parliament begins pursuit of Protestants
1598 - French king Henri IV and duke van Mercour sign treaty
1602 - United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) forms
1616 - Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1627 - France and Spain signs accord for fighting protestantism
1697 - Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"
1760 - Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1800 - French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, and advance to Cairo
1814 - Prince Willem Frederik becomes monarch of Netherlands
1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
1816 - US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions
1833 - US and Siam sign commercial treaty
1848 - King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)
1863 - Battle of Pensacola FL - evacuated by Federals
1865 - 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina
1865 - Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
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
1886 - 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Massachusetts
1888 - Start of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia"
1890 - General Federation of Womans' Clubs founded
1890 - 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
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 - Venustiano Carranza, president Mexico (1915-20), murdered at 60
1920 - 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (1� months)
1920 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld
1920 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
1922 - USS Langley is commissioned, Navy's 1st aircraft Carrier
1922 - WIP-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions
1923 - Bavarian minister of Interior refuses to forbid Nazi SA
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 concentration camp, completed
1934 - Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany
1934 - Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany
1934 - Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Phila A's in exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers
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 - British offensive against Mareth-line
1943 - German U-384 bombed and 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-metric ton 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
1951 - Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1952 - 24th Academy Awards - "American in Paris," H Bogart and 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
1954 - 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76
1954 - 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)
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 Corporation
1957 - Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it
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
1966 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf Open
1967 - Supremes release "The Happening"
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 - Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1969 - US president Nixon proclaims he will end Vietnam war in 1970
1971 - Boston Bruins win 13th straight NHL game
1972 - 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche
1972 - S Mansholt succeeds Malfatti as chairman of European Committee
1973 - Roberto Clemente elected to Hall of Fame, 11 weeks after his death
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
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 Per�n sentenced to 8 years
1981 - Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet doctor
1982 - France performs nuclear test
1982 - Joan Jett and 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 - 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 summi
1988 - Laura Davies wins Circle K LPGA Tucson Golf Open
1988 - Mike Tyson KOs Tony Tubbs in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
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
1993 - Morton Downey Jr weds Lori Krebs
1994 - Brett Hart wins WWF championship at Wrestlemania X
1994 - El Salvador's 1st presidential 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 MSG NY, Bret Hart pins Yokozuna
1994 - Zulu-king Goodwill Zwelithini founds realm in South Africa
1995 - Dow-Jones hits 4083.68 (record)
1995 - Poison Gas released in Tokyo subway 12 killed, 4,700 injured
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 - Erik and Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents
1996 - UK admits humans can catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease)
1997 - Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive
1999 - The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal
2003 - Edging to the brink of war, President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country. Iraq rejected the ultimatum
2005 - Baseball players Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified before Congress that they hadn't used steroids while Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had