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
• 0687 - St. Cuthbert dies (b. c. 634). Patron saint of Northumbria.
• 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.
• 1469 - Princess Cecily of York was born (d. 1507).
• 1477 - Jerome Emser was born (d. 1527). German theologian.
• 1502 - Pierino Belli was born (d. 1575). Italian soldier and jurist.
• 1549 - Lord High Admiral Thomas Seymour dies executed (b. 1508). 4th. husband of Queen Catherine Parr.
• 1568 - Duke Albert of Prussia dies (b. 1490). First duke of Prussia.
• 1586 - Richard Maitland dies (b. 1496). Scottish statesman and historian.
• 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.
• 1602 - The Dutch East India Company is established.
• 1616 - Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years imprisonment.
• 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). English 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.
• 1780 - Sir Benjamin Truman dies (b. 1699 or 1700). English brewer.
• 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 - D. Maria I dies (b. 17 Dec 1734). Queen of Portugal.
• 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
• 1835 - Louis-Leopold Robert dies (b. 1794). French painter.
• 1836 - Ferris Jacobs, Jr. was born (d. 1886). American politician.
• 1836 - Sir Edward Poynter was born (d. 1919). British painter.
• 1840 - Illarion Pryanishnikov was born (d. 1894). Russian 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.
• 1855 - Domingos Borges de Barros dies (b. 1780). Brazilian writer, diplomat and politician.
• 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.
• 1865 - Keisuke Yamanami dies (b. 1833). Japanese samurai.
• 1870 - Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck was born (d. 1964). German general
• 1873 - Sergei Rachmaninoff was born (d. 1943). Russian composer.
• 1874 - Börries von Münchhausen was born (d. 1945). German poet.
• 1874 - Hans Christian Lumbye dies (b. 1810). Danish composer.
• 1876 - Payne Whitney was born (d. 1927). American businessman.
• 1878 - Julius Robert von Mayer dies (b. 1814). German physician and physicist.
• 1879 - Maud Menten was born (d. 1960). Canadian biochemist.
• 1882 - René Coty was born ( 1962). French President.
• 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 - German emperor Wilhelm II fires republic chancellor Otto Von Bismarck.
• 1890 - Beniamino Gigli was born (d. 1957). Italian tenor.
• 1890 - Lauritz Melchior was born (d. 1973). Danish tenor.
• 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 - At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place is sentenced to become the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• 1899 - Franz Ritter von Hauer dies (b. 1822). Austrian geologist.
• 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 - Abraham Beame was born (d. 2001). American politician.
• 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.
• 1914 - Wendell Corey was born (d. 1968). American actor.
• 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.
• 1916 - Pierre Messmer was born (d. 2007). French politician and Prime Minister.
• 1916 - Ota Benga dies (b. 1884). Congolese pygmy.
• 1917 - Vera Lynn was born. English actress and singer .
• 1918 - The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union ask for American aid to rebuild their army.
• 1918 - Donald Featherstone was born. British writer and wargamer
• 1918 - Jack Barry was born (d. 1984). American television host.
• 1918 - Marian McPartland was born. British jazz musician.
• 1918 - Lewis A. Grant dies (b. 1828). American Civil War General.
• 1920 - Pamela Harriman was born (d. 1997). British-American socialite and diplomat.
• 1921 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born (d. 1973). American singer.
• 1921 - Logan Ramsey was born (d. 2000). American actor.
• 1921 - Rudolf Noelte was born (d. 2002). German teather 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 - Larry Elgart was born. American saxophonist and bandleader
• 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.
• 1923 - Shaukat Siddiqui was born (d. 2006). Pakistani Author, Journalist and Political Activist.
• 1924 - Jozef Kroner was born (d. 1998). Slovak actor.
• 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) .
• 1927 - John Joubert was born. South African-born British composer
• 1928 - Fred Rogers was born (d. 2003). Television performer (Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.
• 1929 - Germán Robles was born. Spanish actor
• 1929 - Ferdinand Foch dies (b. 1851). French commander of allied forces in World War I.
• 1931 - Hal Linden was born. American actor.
• 1931 - Hermann Müller dies (b. 1876). Chancellor of Germany
• 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.
• 1933 - George Altman was born. American baseball player
• 1934 - 1934 Great Hakodate fire, 4,170 square kilometers has lost, caused fire. Japanese authority estimated 2,165 killed, injured 9,485, 145,500 homeless. The great urban fire has worst disaster, except air bomb, earthquake fire in Japanese history.
• 1934 - Willie Brown was born. American politician, Mayor of San Francisco
• 1934 - Queen Emma of the Netherlands dies (b. 1858).
• 1935 - Ted Bessell was born (d. 1996). American actor.
• 1936 - Lee "Scratch" Perry was born. Reggae artist
• 1936 - Vaughn Meader was born (d. 2004). American comedian.
• 1937 - Jerry Reed was born. American country musician.
• 1938 - Sergei Petrovich Novikov was born. Russian Mathematician, Fields Medalist
• 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.
• 1941 - Pat Corrales was born. American baseball player
• 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".
• 1942 - In Zgierz, Poland, 100 Poles are taken from a labor camp and shot by the Germans.
• 1942 - Holocaust: in Rohatyn, western Ukraine, on Friday, German SS murder 3000 Jews, including 600 Jewish children, annihalating 70 % of Rohatyn's Jewish ghetto. The entire action took one day, from early morning to five o'clock in the evening. All the dead were buried in a mass grave behind the railroad station in Rohatyn.
• 1942 - World War II: 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.
• 1943 - Gerard Malanga was born. American poet and photographer.
• 1943 - Naima Neidre was born. Estonian graphic artist.
• 1943 - Paul Junger Witt was born. American TV producer.
• 1945 - Pat Riley was born. American basketball player and coach.
• 1945 - Henry Bartholomay was born. American fighter pilot.
• 1945 - Rick Berman was born. American TV and film producer.
• 1945 - Jay Ingram was born. Canadian television host and author.
• 1946 - Elliot Greenbaum was born. American poet and novelist.
• 1947 - John Boswell was born (d. 1994). American historian.
• 1947 - Pedro Emilio Coll dies. Venezuelan writer.
• 1947 - Sigurd Wallén dies (b. 1884). Swedish actor and filmdirector.
• 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 - Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū. was founded. The city rests at the base of majestic Mount Fuji, and is built upon old lava flows.
• 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".
• 1952 - Geoff Brabham was born. Australian racing driver.
• 1953 - Graciliano Ramos dies. Brazilian writer.
• 1954 - Liana Kanelli was born. Greek journalist and politician
• 1954 - Mike Francesa was born. American sports talk show host
• 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).
• 1957 - David Foster was born. Australian world champion woodchopper.
• 1957 - Theresa Russell was born. American actress.
• 1958 - Phil Anderson was born. Australian cyclist
• 1958 - Holly Hunter was born. American actress.
• 1959 - Dave Beasant was born. English football goalkeeper
• 1959 - Steve Borden aka Sting was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1959 - Steve McFadden was born. British actor
• 1961 - Slim Jim Phantom was born. American musician (Stray Cats)
• 1961 - Jesper Olsen was born. Danish footballer
• 1962 - Stephen Sommers was born. American film director.
• 1963 - Paul Annacone was born. American tennis player and coach.
• 1963 - Yelena Romanova was born (d. 2007). Russian athlete.
• 1963 - Manabu Suzuki was born. Japanese racing driver and broadcaster
• 1963 - David Thewlis was born. British Actor
• 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 - Brendan Behan dies (b. 1923). Irish playwright and author.
• 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 .
• 1966 - Alka Yagnik was born. Indian singer
• 1967 - Mookie Blaylock was born. American basketball player.
• 1969 - In Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry.
• 1969 - Senator Edward Kennedy calls on the United States to close all bases in Taiwan.
• 1969 - Mannie Fresh was born. American producer
• 1969 - Caroline Brunet was born. Quebec kayaker.
• 1969 - Henri Longchambon dies (b. 1896). French politician.
• 1970 - Manolis Chiotis dies (b. 1920). Greek bouzouki virtuoso and song writer.
• 1971 - Touré was born. American writer
• 1971 - Manny Alexander was born. Dominican baseball player
• 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))
• 1972 - Pedro Lamy was born. Portuguese race car driver.
• 1972 - Marilyn Maxwell dies (b. 1921). American actress.
• 1973 - Cedric Yarbrough was born. American actor.
• 1973 - Christopher Heinz was born. American businessman; son of Teresa Heinz
• 1973 - Jung Woo-sung was born. South Korean actor
• 1974 - Paula Garces was born. Colombian actress.
• 1974 - Andrzej Pilipiuk was 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 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of the armed robbery of a San Francisco, California bank.
• 1976 - Chester Bennington was born. American musician (Linkin Park)
• 1979 - Bianca Lawson was born. American actress
• 1979 - Keven Mealamu was born. New Zealand rugby player
• 1979 - Silvia Abascal was born. Spanish actress
• 1979 - REXX programming language created.
• 1980 - The Radio Caroline ship, Mi Amigo founders in a gale off the English coast.
• 1980 - Jamal Crawford was born. American basketball player
• 1980 - Ock Ju-Hyun was born. South Korean singer
• 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.
• 1982 - Nick Wheeler was born. American guitarist (The All-American Rejects)
• 1982 - Terrence Duffin was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.
• 1982 - Tomasz Kuszczak was born. Polish footballer
• 1983 - Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov dies (b. 1891). Russian mathematician.
• 1984 - Marcus Vick was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Christy Carlson Romano was born. American actress
• 1984 - Fernando Torres was born. Spanish footballer
• 1984 - Rami Malek was born. Egyptian-born actor
• 1984 - Justine Ezarik was born. American Internet personality
• 1984 - Markus Niemelä was born. Finnish racing driver
• 1984 - Fernando Torres was born. Spanish footballer
• 1984 - Winta was born. Norwegian musician
• 1985 - Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
• 1985 - Chris Beattie was born. British actor
• 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.
• 1987 - Rollo Weeks was born. British actor
• 1987 - Patrick Boyle was born. Scottish footballer
• 1987 - Daniel Maa Boumsong was born. Cameroonian football player
• 1987 - João Alves de Assis Silva was born. Brazilian footballer
• 1987 - Rollo Weeks was born. English actor
• 1987 - Sergei Kostitsyn was born. Belarusian hockey player
• 1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
• 1989 - Tamim Iqbal was born. Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1989 - Dina Sfat dies (b. 1938). Brazilian actress.
• 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.
• 1991 - Conor Clapton dies (b. 1986). Son of Eric Clapton.
• 1992 - Georges Delerue dies (b. 1925). French film composer.
• 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).
• 1995 - Big John Studd dies (b. 1948). American professional wrestler.
• 1995 - Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killing 12 and wounding 1300 persons.
• 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.
• 1998 - George Howard dies. American jazz saxophone musician
• 1999 - Legoland California opens in Carlsbad, California.
• 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 - World Citizenship Day.
• 2000 - In Germany Angela Merkel (45) became the first woman to head the Christian Democratic Union.
• 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.
• 2001 - Luis Alvarado dies (b. 1949). Puerto Rican baseball player.
• 2003 - 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.
• 2004 - Stephen Harper wins the leadership of the newly created Conservative Party of Canada, thus becoming the first leader in the party's history.
• 2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands dies (b. 1909)
• 2004 - Pierre Sévigny dies (b. 1917). French Canadian military officer and politician.
• 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 - Cyclone Larry makes landfall in eastern Australia, destroying most of the country's banana crop.
• 2006 - Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Deby.
• 2006 - Nowruz: Zoroastrian New Year.
• 2006 - Museu da Língua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Museum) is founded in São Paulo (Brazil)
• 2007 - Gilbert E. Patterson dies (b. 1939). Presiding bishop of COGIC
• 2007 - Taha Yassin Ramadan dies (b. 1938). Iraqi politician.
• 2007 - Hawa Yakubu dies (b. 1948). Ghanaian politician.
• World Storytelling Day is a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling, celebrated every year on March 20.
• Canberra Day
• International Astrology Day
• The Vernal Equinox Day: National holiday in Japan.
• The second day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• New Year of Iranian Calendar: Norouz occurs on the vernal equinox.
• Feast of St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria (d.687)
• Tunisia Independence Day: Commemorates treaty in 1956 by which France recognized Tunisian autonomy