On this day in History - Mar. 20

• 0043 BC - Ovid was born in what is now Sulmona, Italy. Roman poet.
• 0141 - 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
• 1191 - Pope Clement III dies.
• 1191 - Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia dies (b. 1167)
• 1239 - Hermann von Salza dies. Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
• 1413 - King Henry IV of England dies (b. 1367). He is succeed by his son Henry V.
• 1477 - Jerome Emser was born (d. 1527). German theologian.
• 1502 - Pierino Belli was born (d. 1575). Italian soldier and jurist.
• 1568 - Duke Albert of Prussia dies (b. 1490). First duke of Prussia.
• 1586 - Richard Maitland dies (b. 1496). Scottish statesman and historian.
• 1602 - The Dutch East India Company is established.
• 1619 - Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor dies (b. 1557)
• 1673 - Augustyn Kordecki dies (b. 1603). Polish prior.
• 1725 - Abdul Hamid I was born (d. 1789). Ottoman Sultan
• 1727 - Sir Sir Isaac Newton dies (b. 1642). Physicist.
• 1730 - Adrienne Lecouvreur dies (b. 1692). French actress.
• 1732 - Johann Ernst Hanxleden dies (b. 1681). German philologist.
• 1735 - Torbern Bergman was born (d. 1784). Swedish chemist and mineralogist.
• 1737 - Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke was born (d. 1809). King of Thailand.
• 1739 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1741 - Jean Antoine Houdon was born (d. 1828). French sculptor.
• 1746 - Nicolas de Largillière dies (b. 1656). French painter.
• 1760 - The "Great Fire" of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
• 1770 - Friedrich Hölderlin was born in Lauffen am Neckar, Württemberg. German poet, novelist and dramatist.
• 1792 - In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approves the use of the guillotine.
• 1793 - William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield dies (b. 1705). Scottish judge and politician.
• 1799 - Karl August Nicander was born (d. 1839). Swedish poet.
• 1800 - French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey and advance to Cairo .
• 1811 - Napoleon II of France of France was born (d. 1832). Son of Napoleon Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt.
• 1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000 beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
• 1816 - Morreu a Rainha de Portugal, D. Maria I.
• 1823 - Ned Buntline was born (d. 1886). American publisher, writer, and publicist.
• 1828 - Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien (d. 1906). Norwegian playwright and dramatist, (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler).
• 1831 - Solomon L. Spink was born (d. 1881). U.S. Congressman from Illinois.
• 1834 - Charles W. Eliot was born (d. 1926). President of Harvard University
• 1836 - Sir Edward Poynter was born (d. 1919). British painter.
• 1841 - Edgar Allen Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, is published.
• 1848 - Revolutions of 1848 in the German states: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
• 1848 - Es asesinado el político y periodista Florencio Varela, en Montevideo.
• 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is published. Subtitled "Life Among the Lowly", became an instant success, selling 300,000 copies in its first year. It has been translated into twenty languages and performed as a play the world over.
• 1854 - A meeting of Whigs, anti-Nebraska Democrats, and Free-Soilers in Ripon, Wisconsin, proposed the formation of what became the Republican Party in the United States.
• 1855 - Joseph Aspdin dies (b. 1788). English mason and inventor of Portland cement.
• 1856 - Costa Rican troops rout Walker's soldiers.
• 1856 - Sir John Lavery was born (d. 1941). Northern Irish artist.
• 1856 - Frederick Winslow Taylor was born (d. 1915). American inventor and efficiency expert.
• 1861 - An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, a city on western Argentina.
• 1870 - Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck was born (d. 1964). German general
• 1874 - Börries von Münchhausen was born (d. 1945). German poet.
• 1874 - Hans Christian Lumbye dies (b. 1810). Danish composer.
• 1878 - Julius Robert von Mayer dies (b. 1814). German physician and physicist.
• 1883 - Signature of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• 1884 - Henrique Pousão dies (b. in Vila Viçosa 1 Jan 1859). Portuguese painter.
• 1890 - Beniamino Gigli was born (d. 1957). Italian tenor.
• 1890 - Lauritz Melchior was born in Copenhagen (d. 1973). Danish tenor.
• 1890 - German emperor Wilhelm II fires republic chancellor Otto Von Bismarck.
• 1890 - Alexander F. Mozhaiski dies (b. 1825). Aviation pioneer.
• 1892 - Paulo Menotti del Picchia was born in São Paulo (d. 23 Aug 1988). Brazilian poet.
• 1895 - Fredric Wertham was born (d. 1981). German-born psychologist.
• 1897 - Ruby Muhammad was born. American matriarch of Black Islam.
• 1897 - Apollon Maykov dies (b. 1821). Russian poet.
• 1899 - Franz Ritter von Hauer dies (b. 1822). Austrian geologist.
• 1899 - At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• 1903 - Edgar Buchanan was born (d. 1979). American actor.
• 1904 - Aleister Crowley invokes Horus in Egypt and declares the start of the New Aeon known as the Aeon Of The Crowned And Conquering Child.
• 1904 - B.F. Skinner was born (d. 1990). American behavioral psychologist
• 1906 - Abraham Beame was born (d. 2001). Mayor of New York City.
• 1906 - Ozzie Nelson was born (d. 1975). American actor and band leader
• 1906 - Army officers in Russia mutiny at Sevastopol.
• 1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave was born (d. 1985). English actor.
• 1911 - Alfonso García Robles was born (d. 1991). Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
• 1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (KMT), is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
• 1913 - Ilse Losa was born (d. 6 Jan 2006). German-born Portuguese writer.
• 1914 - In New Haven, Connecticut, the first international figure skating championship takes place. Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (KMT), is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
• 1915 - The French call off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.
• 1915 - Rudolf Kirchschläger was born (d. 2000). President of Austria
• 1915 - Sviatoslav Richter was born (d. 1997). Ukrainian pianist
• 1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
• 1917 - Dame Vera Lynn was born. English actress and singer .
• 1918 - The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union ask for American aid to rebuild their army.
• 1918 - Jack Barry was born (d. 1984). American television host.
• 1918 - Marian McPartland was born. British jazz musician.
• 1920 - Pamela Harriman was born (d. 1997). British-American socialite and diplomat.
• 1921 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born (d. 1973). American singer.
• 1921 - Rudolf Noelte was born (d. 2002). Film director.
• 1922 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
• 1922 - Carl Reiner was born. American film director, producer, actor, and comedian
• 1922 - Ray Goulding was born. Radio comedian of Bob and Ray fame.
• 1922 - Reinaldo Ferreira was born in Barcelona (d. 30 Jun 1959 in Lourenço Marques). Portuguese poet.
• 1922 - President Warren G. Harding orders U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.
• 1922 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
• 1925 - John Ehrlichman was born (d. 1999). American political figure, White House advisor to President Nixon.
• 1925 - George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon) dies (b. 1589). British statesman
• 1926 - Princess Louise of Sweden dies (b. 1929) .
• 1928 - Fred Rogers was born (d. 2003). Television performer (Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.
• 1929 - Ferdinand Foch dies (b. 1851). French commander of allied forces in World War I.
• 1931 - Hal Linden was born. American actor.
• 1932 - The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, makes the first flight to South America on regular schedule.
• 1933 - The first Nazi concentration camp was completed at Dachau.
• 1933 - Giuseppe Zangara is executed in Florida's electric chair for fatally shooting Anton Cermak in an assassination attempt against Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• 1933 - Alexander Gorodnitsky was born. Russian geologist and poet.
• 1934 - Willie Brown was born. Mayor of San Francisco
• 1934 - Queen Emma of the Netherlands dies (b. 1858) .
• 1935 - Ted Bessell was born (d. 1996). American actor.
• 1936 - Vaughn Meader was born (d. 2004). American comedian.
• 1937 - Jerry Reed was born. Country musician.
• 1939 - Brian Mulroney was born. Eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1939 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt names William O. Douglas to the Supreme Court.
• 1940 - The British Royal Air Force conducts an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.
• 1940 - Alfred Ploetz dies (b. 1860). German physician, biologist, and eugenicist.
• 1942 - General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".
• 1943 - The Allies attack Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.
• 1943 - Alice Vieira was born. Portuguese writer.
• 1945 - Pat Riley was born. American basketball player and coach.
• 1946 - Elliot Greenbaum was born. American poet and novelist
• 1947 - Pedro Emilio Coll dies. Venezuelan writer.
• 1948 - John de Lancie was born. American actor.
• 1948 - Bobby Orr was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1948 - The 20th Academy Awards takes place at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Darryl F. Zanuck’s "Gentleman’s Agreement" take the Best Picture prize, the Best Director (Elia Kazan), and Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm). Best Actor went to Ronald Colman for "A Double Life"; Best Actress to Loretta Young for "Farmer’s Daughter"; Best Supporting Actor to Edmund Gwenn for "Miracle on 34th Street"; and Best Music/Song to Allie Wrubel (music), Ray Gilbert (lyrics) for "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" from "Song of the South".
• 1948 - With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.
• 1949 - Marcia Ball was born. American singer.
• 1950 - William Hurt was born. American actor.
• 1950 - Carl Palmer was born. British musician (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
• 1951 - Jimmie Vaughan was born. American blues guitarist.
• 1952 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
• 1952 - Actor/comedian Danny Kaye hosted the 24th Annual Academy Awards, in the RKO Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. Humphrey Bogart surprised the ‘experts’ by winning an Academy Award for "African Queen". Most thought that Marlon Brando would win Best Actor for "A Streetcar Named Desire". The top film was Arthur Freed’s "An American in Paris" in spite of the favouritism for Critics goes for "A Place in The Sun" or "Streetcar" for Best Picture of 1951. Best Director was George Stevens for "A Place in the Sun". "A Streetcar Named Desire" won awards for Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor), Vivien Leigh (Best Actress) and Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress). The Best Music/Song Oscar was presented to Hoagy Carmichael (music), and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from "Here Comes the Groom".
• 1953 - Graciliano Ramos dies. Brazilian writer.
• 1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France.
• 1957 - Vanessa Bell Calloway was born. American actress.
• 1957 - Spike Lee was born. American film director and actor (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X).
• 1958 - Holly Hunter was born. American actress.
• 1959 - Steve Borden aka Sting was born. Professional wrestler.
• 1961 - Slim Jim Phantom was born. American musician (Stray Cats)
• 1962 - Stephen Sommers was born. American film director.
• 1963 - Paul Annacone was born. American tennis player and coach.
• 1963 - Kathy Ireland was born. American model and actress.
• 1964 - The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
• 1964 - The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
• 1964 - Natacha Atlas was born. Belgian singer.
• 1964 - Tracy Chapman was born. Musician, singer.
• 1965 - In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
• 1965 - President Lyndon B. Johnson orders 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.
• 1966 - The World Cup is stolen from Central Hall , London .
• 1969 - In Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married.
• 1969 - Senator Edward Kennedy calls on the United States to close all bases in Taiwan.
• 1972 - In Belfast, Northern Ireland, a time-bomb planted by the IRA exploded in a crowded street, killing six and injuring 146.
• 1972 - Alexander Kapranos was born. English singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand (band))
• 1974 - Paula Garces was born. Colombian actress.
• 1974 - Andrzej Pilipiuk wasd born. Polish writer.
• 1974 - A failed kidnap attempt is made on Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
• 1974 - Chet Huntley dies (b. 1911). American television journalist
• 1976 - Chester Bennington was born. American musician (Linkin Park).
• 1976 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of the armed robbery of a San Francisco, California bank.
• 1979 - Bianca Lawson was born. American actress.
• 1979 - REXX programming language created.
• 1981 - Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron was sentenced to 8 years in a convent.
• 1982 - U.S. scientists return from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.
• 1982 - Moreira was born. Portuguese football player - goalkeeper of Benfica.
• 1984 - Marcus Vick was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Winta was born. Norwegian musician.
• 1985 - Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod dog sled race.
• 1986 - Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1986 - Bernard Malamud dies (b. 1914). Writer. whose work included "Talking Horse: Bernard Malamud on Life and Work." In 2006 his daughter authored “My Father Is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud.”
• 1987 - AZT (azidothymidine) became the first drug to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of AIDS.
• 1990 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
• 1990 - Gloria Estefan's back is broken, after a tractor-trailer collides with her tour bus in Pennsylvania.
• 1990 - Lev Yashin dies (b. 1929). Famous Soviet football goalkeeper
• 1993 - A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Warrington, northwest England, killing two children.
• 1993 - Pope John Paul II declared Duns Scotus (1266-1308) a saint.
• 1993 - Polykarp Kusch dies (b. 1911). German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1994 - El Salvador held its first presidential election following the country's 12-year-old civil war. Armando Calderon Sol of the ARENA party led the vote, but needed to win a run-off to achieve the presidency.
• 1994 - Ilaria Alpi (32), Italian journalist, was shot and killed in Somalia along with her cameraman, Miran Hrovatin, on the same day that Italian troops left the country. She had collected evidence of brutality by Italian officers against Somalis along with evidence of illegal gun-running.
• 1994 - Lewis Grizzard dies (b. 1946). American journalist, comedian, and actor.
• 1995 - Several people died during a nerve-gas (sarin) attack on the subway system of Tokyo, Japan, during the morning rush hour. Officials would later learn that the attack was carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult.
• 1995 - Sidney Kingsley dies. American playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934).
• 1996 - In Los Angeles, California, , Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez are found guilty of first-degree murder for the shotgun killing of their parents.
• 1996 - Mathieu Kerekou, former Benin dictator, was elected over incumbent Nicephore Soglo.
• 1997 - Tony Zale dies (b. 1913). American boxer.
• 2000 - World Citizenship Day.
• 2000 - In Germany Angela Merkel (45) became the first woman to head the Christian Democratic Union.
• 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.
• 2000 - In Senegal Pres. Abdou Diouf conceded defeat to rival Abdoulaye Wade. The elections ended 40 years of Socialist Party rule.
• 2000 - Gene Eugene dies (b. 1961). Canadian actor and singer
• 2000 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
• 2003 - Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.
• 2003 - The United States House of Representatives voted 400-7 to condemn the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision not to reconsider its ruling that the addition of the phase "under God" to the The Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. The seven who voted against the resolution were all Democrats.
• 2003 - Sailor Art Thomas dies (b. 1924). American professional wrestler
• 2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands dies (b. 1909).
• 2004 - A lesbian minister in Bothell, Washington, is acquitted by a Methodist church jury of violating church rules.
• 2004 - Millions worldwide protest the 2003 Iraq War under the slogan, "The World STILL Says No To War!".
• 2004 - The U.S. Army announced that charges were being brought against six American soldiers in connection with the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners of war being held in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq following the Second Persian Gulf War.
• 2004 - Taiwan Pres. Chen Shui-bian narrowly won re-election, a day after being shot in an assassination attempt, but a referendum he had championed on beefing up defenses against China failed because not enough voters took part.
• 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.
• 2005 - Armand Lohikoski dies (b. 1912). Finnish director.
• 2006 - Nowruz: Zoroastrian New Year.
• International Astrology Day