*1472 | Painter Fra Bartolomeo, a prominent exponent of the High Renaissance style in early 16th-century Florence whose works include God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene (1509), was born this day in 1472. | |
2002 | The exhibit "The Italians: Three Centuries of Italian Art" opened at the National Gallery of Australia. | |
1999 | Paraguay's President Raúl Cubas Grau resigned after protests inspired by the assassination of Vice-President Luis María Argaña on March 23. The nation's Congress had accused Cubas and his political associate, Gen. Lino César Oviedo, for Cubas' murder. Senate President Luis González Macchi took office as Paraguay's new chief executive. | |
1994 | Violence between Zulus and African National Congress supporters took the lives of 18 in Johannesburg. | |
1991 | The U.S. embassy in Moscow was severely damaged by fire. | |
1990 | In Britain, a joint Anglo-U.S. "sting" operation ended with the seizure of 40 capacitors, which can be used in the trigger mechanism of a nuclear weapon. | |
1990 | Jesse Owens received the Congressional Gold Medal from U.S. President George Bush. | |
1986 | More than 6,000 radio stations of all format varieties played "We are the World" simultaneously at 10:15 a.m. EST. | |
1986 | The U.S. Senate passed $100 million aid package for the Nicaraguan contras. | |
1979 | A major accident occurred at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. A nuclear power reactor overheated and suffered a partial meltdown. | |
1979 | At 4:00 AM an automatic valve mistakenly closed at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, culminating in radioactive leakage. | |
1974 | A streaker ran onto the set of "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson." | |
1969 | Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington, D.C. | |
1968 | The U.S. lost its first F-111 aircraft in Vietnam when it vanished while on a combat mission. North Vietnam claimed that they had shot it down. | |
1967 | Raymond Burr starred in a TV movie titled "Ironside." The movie was later turned into a television series. | |
1963 | Sonny Werblin announced that the New York Titans of the American Football League was changing its name to the New York Jets. (NFL) | |
1962 | The U.S. Air Force announced research into the use of lasers to intercept missiles and satellites. | |
1947 | The American Helicopter Society revealed a flying device that could be strapped to a person's body. | |
1945 | Germany launched the last of the V-2 rockets against England. | |
1942 | British naval forces raided the Nazi occupied French port of St. Nazaire. | |
1941 | The Italian fleet was defeated by the British at the Battle of Matapan. | |
1939 | The Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to Francisco Franco. | |
1938 | In Italy, psychiatrists demonstrated the use of electric-shock therapy for treatment of certain mental illnesses. | |
1933 | In Germany, the Nazis ordered a ban on all Jews in businesses, professions and schools. | |
1930 | Constantinople and Angora changed their names to Istanbul and Ankara respectively. | |
1930 | Built as Byzantium about 657 BC, then renamed Constantinople in the 4th century AD after Constantine the Great made the city his capital, the Turkish city of Istanbul officially received its present name on this day in 1930. | |
1922 | Bradley A. Fiske patented a microfilm reading device. | |
1921 | U.S. President Warren Harding named William Howard Taft as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. | |
1920 | American motion-picture actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were wed. | |
1917 | During World War I the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was founded. | |
1911 | In New York, suffragists performed the political play "Pageant of Protest." | |
1910 | The first seaplane took off from water at Martinques, France. The pilot was Henri Fabre. | |
1908 | Automobile owners lobbied the U.S. Congress, supporting a bill that called for vehicle licensing and federal registration. | |
1905 | The U.S. took full control over Dominican revenues. | |
1903 | Anatole France's "Crainquebille" premiered in Paris. | |
1898 | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen. This meant that they could not be deported under the Chinese Exclusion Act. | |
1885 | The Salvation Army was officially organized in the U.S. | |
1865 | Outdoor advertising legislation was enacted in New York. The law banned "painting on stones, rocks and trees." | |
1864 | A group of Copperheads attack Federal soldiers in Charleston, IL. Five were killed and twenty were wounded. | |
1854 | The Crimean War began with Britain and France declaring war on Russia. | |
1834 | The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. | |
1797 | Nathaniel Briggs patented a washing machine. | |
1774 | Britain passed the Coercive Act against Massachusetts. | |