Fun On this date in history...

On this day in 1778 it was March 12th as well.

 

Coca-Cola did originally have cocaine in it. It was before cocaine became an illegal drug, except as used in eye surgeries. That's also why it was called "The pause that refreshes."

 

this thread reminds me of this for some reason

 

It's still the 13th on the West Coast, so I figure this as 'Today in History':

ON THIS DAY

On March 13, 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began in the United States Senate.

Also apparently a bunch of men in red hats elected somebody to wear a white hat and call himself Pope the next few years.

 

As for today:

ON THIS DAY

On March 14, 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act.

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 15, 1965, addressing a joint session of Congress, President Johnson called for new legislation to guarantee every American's right to vote.

 

Can we repeal this? Stupid should not get to vote.

 

You know, Juliet, you can put all of them together in one post?
March 15, aka the "Ides of March":

44 BC: Julius Caesar is fatally stabbed by a group of Roman senators
1493: Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to America
1664: Mughal Emperor Akbar abolishes "jizya" (capital tax) (yes, it's obscure, but c'mon, it's a cool word!)
1820: Maine becomes the 23rd state
1917: Tsar Nicholas II abdicates in favor of his brother Michael
1975: "The Godfather" premiered in New York
1990: Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first president of the Soviet Union

Birthdays:
1767: Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the USA
1933: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US Supreme Court Justice
1955: Dee Snider (Twisted Sister)
1963: Bret Michaels (Poison)
1972: Mike Tomlin, Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers!
1978: Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater

Deaths:
44 BC: as mentioned, Julius Caesar
1937: H.P. Lovecraft American writer
1975: Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnet

 

I vote for Guinastasia to take over the thread.

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, the My Lai Massacre was carried out by United States troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr.

 

March 16

1935: Adolf Hitler ordered Germany to rearm in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
1936: A major flood hits the city of Pittsburgh, when unusually warm temperatures cause snow and ice to melt on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers.
1945: Battle of Iwo Jima ends.
1988: Lt. Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the USA, in what will become the Iran-Contra affair.

Births
1751: James Madison, 4th president of the United States
1878: Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran
1911: Dr. Josef Mengele, SS Officer and physician who performed ghastly human medical experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp
1960: Duane Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player

Deaths
37: Empero Tiberius of Rome
1485: Anne Neville, queen consort of England, wife of Richard III
1971: Thomas E. Dewey, US presidential candidate (of "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN" fame)

 

On this date in history, I slept in the same bed with a girl for the first time. Nothing happened, but I missed her terribly for a few weeks after that.

Then I became accustomed...

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 17, 1942, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II.

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 18, 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod 2 capsule and remained outside the spacecraft for 20 minutes, secured by a tether.

 

March 18:

37 - Caligula is proclaimed Roman Emperor
1766 - The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act (one of the events leading up to the American Revolution)
1892 - Former Governor General, Lord Stanley of Preston pledges to donate a "silver challenge cup" to be given to the best amateur hockey team in Canada. It would be awarded to the top pro-teams in 1910. Today, we know this award as the Stanley Cup.
1944 - Mount Vesuvius erupts in Italy, killing 26, while thousands flee their homes.
1959 - President Eisenhower signs a bill into law that will make Hawaii the 50th state. It became official on August 21rst.
1992 - White South Africans vote overwhelming to end Apartheid.

Births:
1496 - Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, briefly the wife of Louis XII of France
1837 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th president of the USA (the only individual ever to serve non-consecutive terms as US president)
1844 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer
1848 - Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria
1869 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the UK (the man who signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler, ceding the Sudetenland region to the Germany)
1909 - Ernest Gallo, American winemaker
1948 - Guy Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player
1950 - Brad Dourif, American actor
1952 - Mike Webster, American football player
1975 - Kimmo Timonen, Finnish ice hockey player
1977 - Zdeno Chara, Slovak ice hockey player

Deaths: (seems to be a really bad day for royalty!)
1584 - Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (aka "Ivan the Terrible")
1745 - Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the UK
1913 - King George I of Greece
1964 - King Farouk I of Egypt
1983 - King Umberto II of Italy
2009 - Natasha Richardson, English actress

 

Yay South Africa!

Yay Hawaii!

Yay Stanley Cup!

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 19, 1920, the United States Senate rejected for the second time the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49-35, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

 

(Note: I'd appreciate if some of yinz wouldn't mind helping out? I never know what you might find interesting -- I don't want it to look too U.S. centric, or to reflect solely on my interests. You know? Just sayin')
March 19:

1921 - Irish War of Independence: The Crossbarry Ambush one of the largest engagements in the struggle for independence, takes place. Between 10 and 30 British troops and 3 to 6 IRA volunteers were killed, during in an hour long battle
1931 - Gambling is legalized in Nevada
1941 - The 99th Pursuit Squadron is activated. The 99th are also known as the Tuskeegee Airman, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp
1962 - Bob Dylan releases his self-titled debut album on Columbia Records
1979 - The U.S. House of Representatives begins broadcasting its daily business via C-SPAN
1982 - Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Islands, starting off the Falklands War
1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club, turning control over to Jerry Falwell. Bakker's resignation comes about because of a developing sex scandal
2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush orders the start of the Iraq War

Births:
1813 - David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (You know, the guy from the "Dr. Livingstone, I presume"? quote)
1848 - Wyatt Earp, American marshall
1849 - Alfred Von Tirpitz, German admiral
1860 - William Jennings Bryan, American stateman
1891 - Earl Warren, 14th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
1905 - Albert Speer, German architect
1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi war criminal
1944 - Sirhan Sirhan, Palestinian-born assassin of RFK
1947 - Glenn Close, American actress
1955 - Bruce Willis, American actor
1967 - Vladimir Konstantinov, Russian ice hockey player
1976 - Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress

Deaths:
1721 - Pope Clement XI
1930 - Arthur Balfour, British statesman
1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, American author (he was the author of Tarzan)
1982 - Randy Rhoads, American guitarists (Quiet Riot, Ozzie Osbourne)
2005 - John DeLorean, American automobile engineer (remember the DeLorean, in Back to the Future?)

 

I missed Caligula Day? Dammit.

 

Yup. Sorry. But cheer up -- there are other bloody, insane tyrants out there.

 

ON THIS DAY

On March 20, 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the poisonous gas sarin leaked on five separate subway trains.

 

March 20:

1815 - Napoleon escapes from exile on Elba and enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000, along with 200,000 volunteers, beginning his "100 Days" rule
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published
1854 - The Republican Party of the USA is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin
1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity
1972 - A Provisional IRA car bomb kills 7 and injures 148 in Belfast, Northern Ireland
1987 - The FDA approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT
1990 - Imelda Marcos goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement and racketeering

Births:
43 BC - Ovid, Roman poet
1811 - Napoleon II, Emperor of the French and King of Rome
1904 - B.F. Skinner, American psychologist
1906 - Ozzie Nelson, American actor
1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor
1917 - Dame Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
1920 - Pamela Harriman, British-American diplomat
1922 - Carl Reiner, American director
1928 - Fred Rogers, American TV host
1945 - Pat Riley, American basketball player and coach
1948 - Bobby Orr, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 - Spike Lee, American film director
1958 - Holly Hunter, American actress
1963 - David Thewlis, British actor

Deaths:
1413 - King Henry IV of England
1726 - Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist and philosopher
1934 - Queen Emma of the Netherlands
2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (Emma's granddaughter)

Happy Birthday Mister Rogers!