3 March History

	Sign In Sign-Up

<< Mar 02| HISTORY “4” “2”DAY |Mar 04 >>
Events, deaths, births, of MAR 03
[For Mar 03 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Mar 13 — 1700s: Mar 14 — 1800s: Mar 15 — 1900~2099: Mar 16]

ALTERNATE SITES ALL FOR 030303 ANY DAY OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY ART “4” MAR 03

• US Supreme Court rules against Communist teachers... • US Congress bans obscene mailings... • US Geological Survey created... • US Special Forces withdraw from Vietnam... • US bombs Ho Chi Minh Trail... • Finland declares war on Germany... • Sniper kills 10 Israelis... • Guerillas kill 12 soldiers in India... • Michel Romanov élu tsar... • Bill Gates testifies... • Tsar for one day... • Russia makes separate peace... • Lucy appears in Peanuts... • Missouri Compromise... • Jaguar founder retires... • The Star Spangled Banner anthem... • Salary Grab Act... • Soviet aggression forces Finland to ask for peace... • Labor leader Green is born... • Plane explodes before Thai PM boards... • Poet Merrill is born... • Afghan quake...

On a March 03:
2002 In a referendum the Swiss vote to join the United Nations (12 cantons to 11, with 54% of the voters in favor) as its 190th nation, leaving only the State of Vatican City not a member, but an observer. There is no expectation that Switzerland will join the European Union in the next few years.
2000: Former dictator General Augusto Pinochet returned to Chile a free man, 16 months after he was detained in Britain on torture charges. — El Ejército chileno recibe como a un héroe al criminal ex presidente Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, de regreso a su país tras 503 días de detención en Londres.

1998 Bill Gates testifies before US Congress ^top^
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates tells the US Congress to keep its hands off the software industry and denied that his company held a monopoly. In testimony before the Senate Justice committee, he argues that the industry is "working well on its own" and cites the early 1980s, when IBM's grip on the computer industry seemed unbreakable. Gates points out that computer and software prices had plummeted dramatically in the past twenty years. He also admitted, however, that Microsoft's contracts with some Internet companies prohibited them from promoting Netscape. His testimony marked the beginning of a long year of antitrust wrangling, culminating in an antitrust suit that opened in the fall of 1998.

1996 Apple decides to stop its struggling eWorld online service as of late March. Like many other online services, eWorld, which had started on 05 January 1994, suffered when the Internet's popularity skyrocketed in 1994 and 1995. The demise of eWorld was the first high-profile decision by Apple's new chairman and CEO, Gilbert Amelio, hired earlier in the year. The decision came at a time when Apple was struggling to stay in the game: Its share of the global PC market had plunged to about 7.8% from 25% in 1984.
1996 El Partido Popular, encabezado por José María Aznar López, gana por un estrecho margen las elecciones generales en España.
1994 La Santa Sede y Jordania establecen relaciones diplomáticas.
1991 Iraqi generals and US General Schwarzkopf meet to arrange terms of a formal cease-fire in the Gulf War. — Irak acepta las condiciones de rendición: restitución de la soberanía kuwaití y acatamiento de las sanciones de la ONU, con lo que se pone fin oficialmente la Guerra del Golfo Pérsico.
1991 Latvia and Estonia vote to become independent of the USSR
1991 Switzerland votes on lowering voting age from 20 to 18.

1991 Rodney Kind videoed being beat up by LAPD. ^top^
      At 00:45, robbery parolee Rodney G. King stops his car after leading police on a 12-km pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles. The chase began after King, who was intoxicated, was caught speeding on a freeway by a California Highway Patrol cruiser but refused to pull over. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cruisers and a police helicopter joined the pursuit, and when King was finally stopped by Hansen Dam Park, several police cars descended on his white Hyundai. A group of LAPD officers led by Sergeant Stacey Koon ordered King and the other two occupants of the car to exit the vehicle and lie flat on the ground. King's two friends complied, but King himself was slower to respond, getting on his hands and knees rather than lying flat. Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Ted Briseno, and Roland Solano tried to force King down, but he resisted, and the officers stepped back and shot King twice with an electric stun gun known as a Taser, which fires darts carrying a charge of 50'000 volts.
      At this moment, civilian George Holliday, standing on a balcony in an apartment complex across the street, focused the lens of his new video camera on the commotion unfolding by Hansen Dam Park. In the first few seconds of what would become a very famous 89-second video, King is seen rising after the Taser shots and running in the direction of Officer Powell. The officers alleged that King was charging Powell, while King himself later claimed that an officer told him, "We're going to kill you, nigger. Run!" and he tried to flee. All the arresting officers were white, along with all but one of the other two dozen or so law enforcement officers present at the scene. With the roar of the helicopter above, very few commands or remarks are audible in the video. With King running in his direction, Powell swung his baton, hitting him on the side of the head and knocking him to the ground. This action was captured by the video, but the next 10 seconds were blurry as Holliday shifted the camera.
      From the 18- to 30-second mark in the video, King attempted to rise, and Powell and Wind attacked him with a torrent of baton blows that prevented him from doing so. From the 35- to 51-second mark, Powell administered repeated baton blows to King's lower body. At 55 seconds, Powell struck King on the chest, and King rolled over and lay prone. At that point, the officers stepped back and observed King for about 10 seconds. Powell began to reach for his handcuffs. At 65 seconds on the video, Officer Briseno stepped roughly on King's upper back or neck, and King's body writhed in response. Two seconds later, Powell and Wind again began to strike King with a series of baton blows, and Wind kicked him in the neck six times until 86 seconds into the video. At about 89 seconds, King put his hands behind his back and was handcuffed. Sergeant Koon never made an effort to stop the beating, and only one of the many officers present briefly intervened, raising his left arm in front of a baton-swinging colleague in the opening moments of the videotape, to no discernible effect. An ambulance was called, and King was taken to the hospital. Struck as many as 56 times with the batons, he suffered a fractured leg, multiple facial fractures, and numerous bruises and contusions.
      Unaware that the arrest was videotaped, the officers downplayed the level of violence used to arrest King and filed official reports in which they claimed he suffered only cuts and bruises "of a minor nature." George Holliday sold his video of the beating to the local television station, KTLA, which broadcast the footage and sold it to the national Cable News Network (CNN). The widely broadcast video caused outrage around the country and triggered a national debate on police brutality. Rodney King was released without charges, and on 15 March Sergeant Koon and officers Powell, Wind, and Briseno were indicted by a Los Angeles grand jury in connection with the beating. All four were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer. Though Koon did not actively participate in the beating, as the commanding officer he was charged with aiding and abetting it. Powell and Koon were also charged with filing false reports.
      Because of the uproar in Los Angeles surrounding the incident, the judge, Stanley Weisberg, was persuaded to move the trial outside Los Angeles County to Simi Valley in Ventura County. On 29 April 1992, the 12-person jury, which included 10 Whites and no Blacks, issued its verdicts: not guilty on all counts, except for one assault charge against Powell that ended in a hung jury. The acquittals touched off rioting and looting in Los Angeles that grew into the most destructive US civil disturbance of the 20th century. In three days of violence, more than 50 people were killed, more than 2000 were injured, and nearly $1 billion in property was destroyed.
      On 01 May, President George H. Bush ordered military troops and riot-trained federal officers to Los Angeles to quell the riot. Under federal law, the officers could also be prosecuted for violating Rodney King's constitutional rights, and on 17 April 1993, a federal jury convicted Koon and Powell for violating King's rights by their unreasonable use of force under color of law. Although Wind and Briseno were acquitted, most civil rights advocates considered the mixed verdict a victory. On 04 August Koon and Powell were sentenced to two and a half years in prison for the beating of King.

1972 "Los saharauis elegirán libremente su destino", según declaraciones de Gregorio López-Bravo.

1971 US Special Forces withdraw from Vietnam. ^top^
The US Army's 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) departs South Vietnam. The Special Forces were formed to organize and train guerrilla bands behind enemy lines. President John F. Kennedy, a strong believer in the potential of the Special Forces in counterinsurgency operations, had visited the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg to review the program and authorized the Special Forces to wear the headgear that became their symbol, the Green Beret. The 5th Group was sent to Vietnam in October 1964 to assume control of all Special Forces operations in Vietnam. Prior to this time, Green Berets had been assigned to Vietnam only on temporary duty. The primary function of the Green Berets in Vietnam was to organize the Civilian Irregular Defense Groups (CIDG) among South Vietnam's Montagnard population. The Montagnards--"mountain people" or "mountaineers"--were a group of indigenous people from several tribes, such as the Rhade, Bru, and Jarai, who lived mainly in the highland areas of Vietnam. These tribes were recruited to guard camps in the mountainous border areas against North Vietnamese infiltration. At the height of the war the Green Berets oversaw 84 CIDG camps with more than 42'000 CIDG strike forces and local militia units. The CIDG program ended in December 1970 with the transfer of troops and mission to the South Vietnamese Border Ranger Command. The Green Berets were withdrawn as part of the US troop reductions in Vietnam.

1965 US jets bomb Ho Chi Minh Trail. ^top^
More than 30 US Air Force jets strike targets along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Since such raids had become common knowledge and were being reported in the American media, the US State Department felt compelled to announce that these controversial missions were authorized by the powers granted to President Johnson in the August 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
The Johnson administration came under increasing criticism at home and abroad because of the bombing raids. Congressional opponents of the Johnson administration thought the president was escalating the war without authorization. Overseas, there was also an immediate response. Not surprisingly, the communists roundly criticized Johnson's actions. In Havana, Premier Fidel Castro condemned the United States and promised that Cuba would aid North Vietnam. On 04 March, about 2000 students attacked the US Embassy in Moscow. There was also a reaction in non-communist capitals. Prime Minister Lester Pearson of Canada expressed concern about the risk of escalation, but said that Canada understood the US position. In Britain, however, there was mounting criticism of the government's support of US policies in Vietnam. In New York City, Women Strike for Peace members demonstrated outside the United Nations to urge an end to the war.

1962 British Antarctic Territory formed.
1961 Hassan II es coronado rey de Marruecos.
1959 first US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, is launched
1959 By a vote taken in both bodies, the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church, along with their fellowships __ the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged into a single denomination.

1958 Founder of Jaguars Motors retires. ^top^
Sir William Lyons, founder of Jaguar Motors, retires as Chairman of Jaguar Cars Ltd.Lyons got his start making motorcycle sidecars in Blackpool, England. In 1926, he co-founded the Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company with William Walmsley. Recognizing the demand for automobiles, Lyons eventually built wooden frames for the Austin Seven Car, calling his creation the Austin Swallow. Spurred on by the warm reception of his Austin Swallows, Lyons began building his own cars, which he called Standard Swallows. In 1934, his company, now SS Cars Ltd., released a line of cars called Jaguars. After WWII, Lyons dropped the "SS" initials that reminded people of the Nazi SS soldiers. Jaguar Cars Ltd. went on to produce a number of exquisite sports cars and roadsters, among them the XK 120, the D Type, and the XK-E or E Type. Perhaps Lyons’ most monumental achievement, the E Type was the fastest sports car in the world when it was released in 1961. With a top speed of 150 mph and a 0-to-60 of 6.5 second, the Jaguar made a remarkable seventeen miles to the gallon and suffered nothing in its looks. In spite of Jaguar’s distinguished record on the race track, the company is associated most with the beautiful lines of its car bodies--appropriate considering Lyons’s first offering to the automobile industry was a wooden frame bolted to another man’s car.

1956 Morocco gains independence from France (Anniversary of throne)

1952 US Supreme Court rules against Communist teachers. ^top^
In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court upholds a New York state law that prohibits Communists from teaching in public schools. Coming at the height of the Red Scare in the United States, the Supreme Court decision was additional evidence that many Americans were concerned about possible subversive communist activity in their country. The New York state statute-called the Feinberg Law-banned from the teaching profession anyone who called for the overthrow of the government; the law was specifically aimed at communists. Several other states adopted similar measures. In New York, a group of teachers and parents challenged the law, and eventually the case went to the Supreme Court. The majority decision upholding the Feinberg Law, declared the New York Times, supported the belief that "the state had a constitutional right to protect the immature minds of children in its public schools from subversive propaganda, subtle or otherwise, disseminated by those 'to whom they look for guidance, authority and leadership.'" The dissenting opinion from justices William O. Douglas, Hugo Black, and Felix Frankfurter charged that the New York statute "turns the school system into a spying project." In New York, the Teachers Union vowed to continue fighting the law. Eight teachers had already been dismissed under the provisions of the law and as many others were facing hearings. The Supreme Court decision was a barometer of the national temper. In the years preceding the case, former State Department official Alger Hiss had been convicted of perjury in connection with his testimony concerning his involvement with the Communist Party; Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had been convicted and sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets; and Senator Joseph McCarthy had made a career out of searching for communists in the US government. By 1952, many Americans were convinced that communist agents and supporters were actively at work within the United States, and that their forces permeated every aspect of American life. The Feinberg Law remained in force until another Supreme Court decision in 1967 declared most of its provisions unconstitutional.

1952 Lucy appears for the first time in Peanuts [shown below] ^top^
Lucy Van Pelt works hard at being bossy, crabby and selfish. She is loud and yells a lot. Her smiles and motives are rarely pure. She's a know-it-all who dispenses advice whether you want it or not--and for Charlie Brown, there's a charge. She's a fussbudget, in the true sense of the word. She's a real grouch, with only one or two soft spots, and both of them may be Schroeder, who prefers Beethoven. As she sees it, hers is the only way. The absence of logic in her arguments holds a kind of shining lunacy. When it comes to compliments, Lucy only likes receiving them. If she's paying one--or even smiling--she's probably up to something devious.

1952 Puerto Rico approves its first self written constitution.

1958 Tucker bankruptcy. ^top^
The post-war car market was so strong in the United States that a number of bold entrepreneurs formed independent car companies to challenge the established Big Three. Arguably the most remarkable such independent was the Tucker Corporation, founded by Preston "P.T." Tucker. Tucker, a gifted marketer and innovator, created a phenomenon felt through the automotive industry when he released his car, the Tucker. Along with the cars, Preston Tucker sent a magazine called "Tucker Topics" along to dealers, hoping to increase the salesmen’s enthusiasm for his automobile. The Tucker was equipped with a number of novel features. It had six exhaust pipes, a third headlight that rotated with the axle, and a "bomb shelter" in the backseat. Beyond the frills though, the Tucker packed a powerful punch, making zero to sixty in ten seconds and reaching a top speed of 120 mph. Great anticipation surrounded the awaited release of the Tucker, but in 1949, before his cars could reach their market, the Securities and Exchange Commission indicted Preston Tucker on thirty-one counts of investment fraud. Tucker had only produced fifty-one cars.
On this day, the Tucker Corporation goes into receivership and the Tucker automobile becomes merely a historical footnote.

1947 Nicolai Alksandrovich Bulganin es nombrado por Stalin ministro de Defensa de la URSS.
1945 US and Philippine forces recaptures Corregidor
1943 US wins Battle of Bismarck Sea over Japan

1945 Finland declares war on Germany. ^top^
Finland, under increasing pressure from both the US and the USSR, finally declares war on its former partner, Germany. After the German invasion of Poland, the USSR, wanting to protect Leningrad more than ever from encroachment by the West--even its dubious Nonaggression Pact partner Germany--began demanding control of various disputed areas from Finland, including part of the Karelian Isthmus (the land bridge that gave access to Leningrad). Finland resisted the Soviet pressure. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin responded by enacting the "small print" of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Nonaggression Pact the USSR had signed with Germany back in August, which gave the USSR free reign in its "sphere of influence." The Soviets invaded Finland on November 30, 1939. (Stalin claimed that Finnish troops opened fire on Soviet troops.) The Finns stunned everyone by beating back the initial Soviet offensive. Although their resistance consisted of only small numbers of trained soldiers (on skis and bicycles!) the refusal to submit made headlines around the world. President Roosevelt quickly extended $10 million in credit to Finland, while also noting that the Finns were the only people to pay back their World War I war debt to the United States in full. But by the time the Soviets had a chance to regroup and send in massive reinforcements, the Finnish resistance was spent. In March 1940, negotiations with the Soviets began, and Finland signed the Treaty of Moscow, which handed over control of the Karelian Isthmus. As tension increased between Germany and the USSR, Finland saw in Hitler a possible ally in gaining back its lost territory. German troops were allowed on Finnish soil as the Germans prepared for their invasion of the Soviet Union-a war that the Finns joined. Although Finnish troops captured large areas of East Karelia back from the Soviet Union, they were reluctant to trespass the old borders of 1939 and help Germany in the siege of Leningrad.

1944 Ofensiva soviética en Ucrania durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
1943 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi cesa en su huelga de hambre, signo de protesta contra la presencia británica en la India.

1931 “The Star-Spangled Banner” becomes official ^top^

President Herbert Hoover signs a congressional act making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official national anthem of the United States. On 14 September 1814, Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the massive overnight British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland during the War of 1812. Key, an American lawyer, watched the siege while under detainment on a British ship, and penned the famous words after observing that Fort McHenry’s flag had survived the 1800-bomb assault.

After circulating as a handbill, the patriotic lyrics were published in a Baltimore newspaper on 20 September 1814. Key’s words were later set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven," a popular English song.

Throughout the nineteenth century, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was regarded as the national anthem by most branches of the US armed forces and other groups, but it was not until 1916, and the signing of an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson, that it was formally designated as such. In 1931, Congress passed an act confirming Wilson’s presidential order, and on 03 March President Hoover signs it into law.

[1859 Currier & Ives hand-colored lithograph “The Star-Spangled Banner” >]

1929 The first radio broadcast from the Senate Chamber is made during the inauguration ceremonies of Herbert Hoover. Speakers included retiring Vice President Charles Dawes and incoming Vice President Charles Curtis.

1918 Russia makes a separate peace     ^top^
      Bolshevik Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria), abandoning the Allied war effort and ceding vast amounts of former Russian territory to Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1917, Russia’s disastrous involvement in World War I was a primary factor leading to the success of the February Revolution, which led to a provincial government that considered making a separate peace. Czar Nicholas II, who had ordered millions of Russians to their death on the Eastern Front, was forced to abdicate in March, and on 07 November 1917, Vladimir Lenin led the Marxist Bolsheviks in seizing the Russian government.
      Within a month, Soviet Russia had signed a separate armistice with the Central Powers, and Leon Trotsky was sent to negotiate a formal peace treaty with Richard von Kuhlmann of Germany and Count Ottokar Czernin of Austria-Hungary. Despite increasing difficulties in their war against the Western democracies, the Central Powers had the upper hand with Russia, which stood on the brink of civil war.
      The final treaty called for humiliating losses of Russian territory, including Poland, the Baltic states, and part of what is now Belarus. In addition, Russia was forced to cede Kars, Batum, and Ardahan to Turkey, and to recognize the independence of Ukraine, Georgia, and Finland.
      However, eight months later, on 11 November 1918, a general armistice was agreed to, and the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 10 July 1919, forced the Central Powers to renounce the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and Russia reclaimed some of its lost territory.

1917 The last Tsar reigns for this one day ^top^
Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, in St. Petersburg, is informed that he is now Tsar Mikhail (which turns out to be only for that one day) when he receives this telegram from his brother, who the previous day, in Moscow, has resigned as Tsar Nicolas II:
"To his Majesty the Emperor Mikhail: Recent events have forced me to decide irrevocably to take this extreme step. Forgive me if it grieves you and also for no warning-- there was no time. Shall always remain a faithful and devoted brother. Now returning to HQ where hope to come back shortly to Tsarskoe Selo. Fervently pray God to help you and our country."
Mikhail writes the following to the Imperial Duma:
"A heavy burden has been laid upon me by the will of my brother, who in a time of unexampled strife and popular tumult has transferred to me the imperial throne of Russia. Sharing with the people the thought that the good of the country should stand before everything else, I have firmly decided that I will accept power only if that is the will of our great people, who must by universal suffrage elect their representatives to a Constituent Assembly, in order to determine the form of government and draw up new fundamental laws for Russia. Therefore, calling for the blessing of God, I ask all citizens of Russia to obey the Provisional Government, which has arisen and has been endowed with full authority on the initiative of the Imperial Duma, until such time as the Constituant Assembly, called at the earliest possible date and elected on the basis of universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage, shall by its decision as to the form of government give expression to the will of the people."

1917 Congress passes first excess profits tax on corporations.
1916 Portugal declara la guerra a Alemania en el marco de la Primera Guerra Mundial.
1910 Se conocen los primeros éxitos en el tratamiento de la sífilis con "Salvarsán". Este remedio lo han desarrollado los serólogos Paul Ehrlich y su colaborador japonés Sahachiro Hata.
1906 Vuia I aircraft built by Romanian Traja Vuia tested in France.
1904 El Emperador de Alemania Guillermo II graba el primer documento político sonoro, en un cilindro Edison.
1901 Congress creates National Bureau of Standards, in Dep't of Commerce.
1899 Francisco Silvela y La Vielleuze es encargado por primera vez de formar Gobierno en España.
1887 Anne Mansfield Sullivan arrives at the Alabama home of Captain and Mrs. Arthur H. Keller to become the teacher of their blind and deaf six-year-old daughter, Helen.
1886 Se firma el segundo Tratado de Bucarest, por el que se finaliza el conflicto entre Serbia y Bulgaria.
1879 En España, primera crisis total de Gobierno del reinado de Alfonso XII: cesa Cánovas y le sustituye Martínez Campos.
1878 Bulgaria liberated from Turkey.
1878 Se firma el Tratado de San Stefano, que pone fin a la guerra ruso-turca.
1877 Rutherford B. Hayes takes the oath of office as the 19th US president, in a private ceremony. A public swearing-in took place two days later.
1875 Congress authorizes 20-cent coin, lasts only 3 years

1873 The Salary Grab Act ^top^
The US Congress passes what has since come to be known as "The Salary Grab Act," a bill that boosted legislator's salaries by a staggering 50 percent. And, in case the raise didn't sufficiently stuff their coffers, the bill also paved the way for the pay increase to be effective retroactively for the past two years. Lest they look too selfish, Congress also doubled the salaries of the President, as well as the Supreme Court Justices. But, the bill stirred a storm of protest, as the public screamed for the raise to be repealed. Congress eventually acceded to the public's demands and killed the "Salary Grab Act."
The saga of greenbacks, the paper money first issued during the Civil War, took another turn on 03 March 1884. On this day, the Supreme Court granted Congress the power to authorize greenbacks, regardless of whether or not the nation was engulfed in a war. In the short term, the ruling was a victory for the greenback movement, whose ranks and political influence had swelled during the late 1870s and early 1880s. However, the Court's ruling couldn't stave off the eventual implosion of the movement; though proponents of populist currency kept up their fight against the gold standard, many abandoned their allegiance to greenbacks and instead tabbed silver as their preferred alternative to gold.

1873 US Congress bans mailing obscene materials. ^top^
Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail. The legislation also rendered it unlawful to send anything "designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion." The law was named after Anthony Comstock, a salesman from Connecticut, who found allies for his campaign at the New York YMCA. He devoted his entire life to fighting that which he perceived as vice, particularly obscenity and gambling. Comstock described children as a glass of pure and clean water and said that "a drop of ink into the glass [discolors it]. Its purity cannot easily be restored." He also said, "vile books and papers are branding-irons heated in the fires of hell." The Comstock Law prompted many states to add laws of their own: Ohio passed a law that made it unlawful to distribute publications that focused on "criminal news or police reports, accounts or stories of deeds of lust, immorality, or crime." Oregon had a similar law but restricted it to preventing minors from accessing these materials. Heavy-handed restrictions on sexually oriented material continued for many years. James Joyce’s Ulysses was even barred from the United States until court challenges finally determined that it was not obscene. The current Supreme Court standard exempts from obscenity prosecution any material that has literary value.

1871 Congress establishes the civil service system.
1865 Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands established.
1863 Gold certificates (currency) authorized by Congress.
1863 Free city delivery replaces zone postage; 449 letter carriers hired

1863 US Congress passes Civil War conscription act ^top^
     During the Civil War, the US Congress passes the Enrollment Act that would lead to the first wartime draft of US citizens in American history. The act calls for registration of all males between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1, 1863. Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee. The carrying out of the draft leads to riots in New York City and elsewhere, as opponents criticize the fact that exemptions are effectively granted only to the wealthiest US citizens, saying that this was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight.
     The Enrollment Act resulted in Draft Riots in several American cities. There was heavy loss of life in Detroit but the worst rioting took place in New York City in July. The mob set fire to an African American church and orphanage, and attacked the office of the New York Tribune. Started by Irish immigrants, the main victims were African Americans and activists in the anti-slavery movement. The Union Army were sent in and had to open fire on the rioters in order to gain control of the city. By the time the riot was over, nearly a 1,000 people had been killed or wounded. It is estimated that of those who took part in the American Civil War, 75'215 were regulars, 1'933'779 were volunteers and 46'347 were drafted and 73,600 were substitutes. Officially, 201'397 men deserted, of these 76'526 were arrested and returned to their regiments.
      Although the Civil War saw the first compulsory conscription of US citizens for wartime service, Congress had passed an act in 1793 that required that all able-bodied male citizens purchase a gun and join their local state militia. There was no penalty for non-compliance with this act. Congress also passed a conscription act during the War of 1812, but the war ended before it was enacted. During the Civil War, the government of the Confederacy also enacted a compulsory military draft.

1862 Siege of New Madrid, Missouri begins
1861 Russian Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom
1859 "The Weeping Time", a grim slave sale which took place over two rainy days on the eve of the Civil War and was attended by journalist Q. K. Philander Doesticks (Mortimer Thomas). Over 400 men, women and children formerly held by Pierce M. Butler were auctioned in order to pay debts incurred in gambling and the financial crash of 1857-58. Doesticks' account, "What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation?," includes vivid descriptions of the largest recorded slave auction in US history.
1851 Congress authorizes smallest US silver coin (3 cents piece)
1849 The US Congress creates the Minnesota Territory.
1849 Gold Coinage Act passed, allowing gold coins to be minted.
1849 Congress authorizes $20 Double Eagle gold coin.
1847 Post Office Department authorized to issue postage stamps.
1845 Florida becomes 27th US state.
1845 First US law overriding a presidential veto (John Tyler's)
1843 After lobbying Congress for six years, Samuel Morse won financial support from the US Congress to test the "practicability of establishing a system of electromagnetic telegraphs by the United States." Congress granted him $30,000 to build an experimental telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. The line became operational on 24 May 1844, when he sent the historic message, "What hath God wrought?"
1842 First US child labor law regulating working hours passed, Massachusetts.

1820 US Congress passes the Missouri Compromise ^top^
After months of bitter debate, Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, a bill that temporarily resolves the first serious political clash between slavery and anti-slavery interests in the US history. In February of 1819, Representative James Tallmadge of New York introduced a bill that would admit Missouri into the Union as a state where slavery was prohibited.
      At the time, there were eleven free states and ten slave states, and Southern congressmen feared that the entrance of Missouri as a free state would upset the balance of power between North and South, especially since the North far outdistanced the South in population, and thus, US representatives. Opponents to the bill also questioned the congressional precedent of prohibiting the expansion of slavery into a territory where slave status was favored, such as Missouri.
      Even after Alabama was granted statehood in December of 1819 with no prohibition on its practice of slavery, Congress remained deadlocked on the issue of Missouri. Finally, a compromise was reached and, on March 3, 1820, Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that slavery was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the thirty-sixth parallel, which runs approximately along the southern border of Missouri. In addition, Maine, formerly part of Massachusetts, was admitted as a free state, thus preserving the balance between Northern and Southern senators.
      The Missouri Compromise, although criticized by many on both sides of the slavery debate, succeeded in keeping the Union together for over thirty years. In 1854, it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which dictated that slave or free status was to be decided by popular vote in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, although both were north of the thirty-sixth parallel.

     En 1793, l'Américain Eli Whitney invente une machine pour séparer la graine du coton de sa fibre. La nouvelle égreneuse permet de mécaniser la filature du coton et d'abaisser son prix. En Europe, la consommation de coton s'accroît très vite et les manufactures anglaises en importent des Etats-Unis pour faire face à la demande. Le coton remplace bientôt le tabac comme principale source de richesse au sud des Etats-Unis. Mais sa cueillette exigeant beaucoup de main-d'oeuvre, les riches planteurs sudistes achètent tant et plus d'esclaves en provenance d'Afrique. D'autre part, comme la culture du coton épuise très vite les sols, les planteurs doivent conquérir de nouvelles terres à l'ouest.
      C'est ainsi que trois nouveaux Etats américains, la Louisiane, le Mississipi et l'Alabama, demandent et obtiennent le droit de pratiquer l'esclavage. En 1818, un territoire de l'ancienne Louisiane française, le Missouri, s'apprête à devenir le 23e Etat des Etats-Unis. Il demande également le droit de pratiquer l'esclavage. Les représentants des Etats du nord, qui tolèrent mal la survivance de l'esclavage dans la jeune démocratie américaine, jugent que c'en est trop. Au Sénat de Washington, l'équilibre précaire entre les onze Etats esclavagistes du sud et les onze Etats abolitionnistes du nord est en passe de basculer au profit des premiers, bien que moins peuplés.
      Un compromis est conclu le 03 mars 1820 à l'initiative du sénateur Henry Clay, lequel reste connu dans l'Histoire comme le «Grand pacificateur» («The Great compromiser»). Un nouvel Etat anti-esclavagiste, le Maine, est détaché du Massachusets pour faire contrepoids au Missouri. Par ailleurs, il est convenu que les futurs Etats qui seront créés dans l'ancienne Louisiane seront esclavagistes ou abolitionnistes selon qu'ils seront au sud ou au nord du parallèle 36° 30' (la frontière sud du Missouri). Ce compromis va apaiser les tensions pendant un moment. Mais la question de l'esclavage resurgira au bout d'une génération et débouchera alors sur la guerre de Sécession.

1817 Territory of Alabama organized.
1812 Congress passes first foreign aid bill.
1803 first impeachment trial of a federal judge, John Pickering, begins.
1791 Internal Revenue Act taxes distilled spirits and carriages.
1791 Congress establishes US Mint.

1613 Michel Romanov est élu tsar de Russie ^top^
Michel Romanov est élu tsar de toutes les Russies le 21 février 1613 (selon le calendrier julien en vigueur en Russie). Le nouveau tsar a tout juste 16 ans. Mais il est le fils du prestigieux patriarche de Moscou, Philarète, qui a combattu l'usurpateur Boris Godounov, ce qui lui vaut d'être choisi par le Zemski Sobor, l'assemblée des états généraux russes. Michel Romanov inaugure une dynastie qui règnera sur la Russie jusqu'à la Révolution de Février 1917. Les tsars qui l'ont précédé descendent d'un aventurier suédois, Riurik. Ce Varègue, ou Viking de l'Est, se proclama prince de Novgorod au IXe siècle. Alexandre Nevski est le plus illustre de ses descendants. Il repousse au XIIIe siècle les envahisseurs suédois et allemands tout en faisant allégeance aux Mongols établis sur la Volga. Ses successeurs s'établissent à Moscou. Ils unifient la plaine russe à leur profit. Ivan IV le Terrible s'émancipe définitivement des Mongols et instaure par la violence un Etat centralisé. A sa mort, en 1584, son fils Fédor 1er est renversé par Boris Godounov. Commence alors le "Temps des Troubles". Il sera clos par l'élection de Michel 1er Romanov.
— Comienza a reinar en Rusia la dinastía de los Romanov, en la persona del joven Miguel.

1547 The Seventh Session of the Council of Trent declared: 'If anyone says that one baptized cannot, even if he wishes, lose grace, however much he may sin, unless he is unwilling to believe, let him be anathema.'. This was a small part of a dogmatic decree with suitable canons on the sacraments in general (thirteen canons), on baptism (fourteen canons), and on confirmation (three canons). A decree on reform (in fifteen chapters) was also enacted in regard to bishops and ecclesiastical benefices, in particular as to pluralities, visitations, and exemptions, concerning the founding of infirmaries, and as to the legal affairs of the clergy.
0468 Saint Simplicius elected Pope.
0078 Origin of Saka Era (India)

TO THE TOP

Deaths which occurred on a March 03:
2002 Seven men in a shootout in Skopje, early in the morning, with Macedonian police, which says the men were terrorrists planning attacks on foreign diplomats.
2002 Avi Hazan, 36, Israeli, of wounds suffered in the previous day's suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
2002 Israeli sergeant Steven Kenigsberg, 19, from Hod Hasharon, shot at an army position south of the Kissufim crossing between Israel and Gaza. Four other persons are injured.

2002 Israelis lieutenant Ariel Hovav, 25, from the settlement of Eli; sergeant major Kfir Weiss, 24, from Beit Shemesh; lieutenant David Damlin, 29, from Kibbutz Meitzar; sergeant major Avraham Ezra, 38, from Kiryat Bialik; sergeant major Yohai Porat, 26, from Kfar Sava; sergeant Rafael Levy, 42, from Rishon Lezion; sergeant major Eran Gad, 24, from Rishon Lezion; Yitzhak Didi, 66, of Eli; Sergei Beauturo, 33, from Ariel; and Vadim Balbula, 32, from Ariel. ^top^
      The seven soldiers (six reservists and an officer) and (listed last) three civilians are shot by a single Palestinian sniper of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, firing every 45 seconds or so single shots from an old carbine with a telescopic sight, and positioned 50 m away on a hilltop overlooking the Israeli army roadblock near the enclave settlement Ofra, north of Ramallah, West Bank, shooting at soldiers and Israeli cars, for 25 minutes starting at about 06:40. The sniper escapes.
     The attack began on three soldiers who were out in the open. One had gone to check an Israeli car coming from the north, while the other two had waited behind at the checkpoint. An officer and eight more soldiers were in residential quarters near the checkpoint at the time. The sniper first shot at the soldier and the car, killing the driver and the IDF man immediately. He then took aim at the other two soldiers who were outside, killing them instantly too. After stepping out from behind a building, a fourth soldier was wounded in his hand.
      Platoon commander Damlin heard the shooting and left the barrack. He went around the building to the north of the checkpoint and was shot dead. The medic emerged, looking for wounded. He tried moving around the checkpoint from the south and was shot dead. The remaining soldiers tried to fight fromt the barricaded barrack. But they were unable to pinpoint the source of the gunfire. The gunman was hidden behind an old olive tree on a terrace above.
      The seventh victim was a civilian who arrived from the north. The eighth was the reserve company's sergeant, Ezra, who arrived on the scene in a patrol jeep after the soldiers at the checkpoint had radioed for help. When Ezra tried to aim at the sniper, he was shot and killed. Some of the soldiers in the jeep with him were also wounded. The last two victims of the attack were soldiers who arrived in the area in civilian cars. Lieutenant Hovav was due to command a unit of basic trainees in the Paratroop brigade and was on his way to a training session at the brigade HQ. He was shot when he got out of the car to try identifying the source of fire. The tenth victim was a new immigrant from France.
     A total of 21 Israelis have been killed in four attacks in less than 24 hours. The al-Aqsa intifada body count is now at least 921 Palestinians and 305 Israelis. .

2002 Some 150 in Afghan quake. ^top^
A major earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush mountains region of Afghanistan at 12:08 UT (16:38 local) with the epicenter 250 km deep at 36º32'N, 70º26'E, with a magnitude 7.3. It is about 75 km south-southwest of Feyzabad and 240 km north-northeast of Kabul. This is a large, intermediate-depth earthquake. Typically earthquakes of this type do not cause extreme damage, but are often felt over a very wide area. The quake was also felt in northern India and in parts of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. . This is the largest earthquake in this general area since another magnitude 7.2 event on 30 December 1983.
This subduction zone earthquake occurred near the boundary of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. The two plates are converging towards each other at a rate of about 4.4 cm per year. The earthquake occurred in a subducted part of the Eurasian plate, at a depth of about 250 km. The faulting that produced the earthquake reflects internal deformation of the subducted Eurasian plate rather than slip on the boundary between the Eurasian and Indian plates. This earthquake occurred in the highly-seismic Hindu Kush region. On average, there are four magnitude 5 or greater earthquakes per year whose epicenters are within 60 km of this event. Earthquake depths in this region range from the surface to depths of 330 km.

2000 Fourteen more dead in Hindu riots against Moslems, as the killing and looting continues somewhat diminished. Since a Moslem mob provoked the retaliation by burning 58 Hindus in a train on 27 February. Today in Deohdar, four Muslims were burned alive and police shot dead two of the attacking Hindu mob. In the Kheda district the police shot dead four persons and three others died in fights. All this in Gujarat state. But some of the violence spread outside Gujarat: a Muslim vendor was stabbed to death in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
2001 All 21 aboard a US National Guard C-23 Sherpa plane which crashes in heavy rain outside Unadilla, Georgia.
2001 Ahmed Allan, 25, Palestinian, shot while he was waiting for a ride just south of Nablus, presumably by Jewish settlers from nearby Shilo.

2001 At least 12 soldiers in Tripura state. ^top^
Suspected guerrillas attack a convoy of paramilitary forces in India's remote northeast, killing at least 12 soldiers in a gun battle. The state government blames the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura for the ambush of the Central Reserve Police Force in southern Tripura. The rebels, who are fighting for a separate tribal homeland, attacked the convoy at the village of Ampi.
More than a dozen guerrilla groups are fighting separatist wars in India's seven northeastern states. They complain of alienation, neglect by the federal government and threats to their indigenous cultures. More than 25'000 people have been killed since they began fighting Indian security forces in 1948.

2001 One crew member as plane explodes before Thai Prime Minister was to board it. ^top^
      An explosion and fire gutted a jetliner minutes before Thailand's prime minister was to board on Saturday, killing a crew member and injuring seven, 35 minutes before the plane was to depart. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was on his way to the domestic terminal of Bangkok International Airport in a motorcade. Thaksin is a telecommunications tycoon who took office in February 2001 after his Thai Rak Thai Party easily won a 6 January election.
      Although political violence is common in Thailand, especially during elections, senior politicians are rarely targeted. Thaksin is not known to face any overt threats to his life.
      No passengers or pilots were aboard Thai Airways Flight TG1144 to the northern resort town of Chiang Mai. Besides Thaksin, the plane was scheduled to carry 148 passengers on the 70-minute flight. Seven crew and ground staff were injured and the body of a cabin crew member was found inside the charred wreckage of the Boeing 737-400.
     An explosion triggered a massive fire that took about an hour to control. The aircraft was destroyed, and its charred shell broke in the middle with the nose collapsing on the ground. Only its tail remained intact. Thaksin's bodyguards, who were at the terminal, heard "a big bang" and saw the plane go up in flames.
     All bags had been loaded on the plane after being X-rayed. The X-ray machine at the domestic terminal had been out of operation early in the day, but it was fixed before the luggage was loaded. Workers had just finished refueling the plane when the blast happened. The fuel tanks, in the plane's wings, were intact, indicating that burning fuel was not the cause of the explosion.
      Thaksin, who has a scheduled meeting Sunday in Chiang Mai, flew on a military plane instead. The explosion came two days after Thaksin gave Thailand's Constitutional Court 21 boxes of documents as part of his defense against a corruption indictment that could evict him from office. Thaksin was indicted in December by the National Counter Corruption Commission of deliberately concealing assets in 1997 by transferring large amounts of stock shares to domestic servants.

1996: 19 persons, including the terrorist who sets off a bus bomb in Jerusalem. It is the third such suicide attack in eight days. Israel declares all-out war on the militant group Hamas.
1996 Marguerite Duras, escritora francesa.
1991: 25 persons as a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashes while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.
1991 Penney, mathematician.
1983 Georges Prosper Remi, "Hergé", autor de historietas belga creador del personaje de cómic "Tintín".
1983 Arthur Koestler, escritor inglés.
1974 346 die in world's worst air disaster, as a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashes shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris.

1940 Day 97 of Winter War: USSR aggression against Finland. ^top^
More deaths due to Stalin's desire to grab Finnish territory.
Finland ready to open peace talks
       General Headquarters and the staff of the Army of the Isthmus are following the fighting in Viipurinlahti bay with growing concern. The situation on the Finnish side is steadily deteriorating.
      The Commander-in-Chief removes Major-General K.M. Wallenius from command of the Coastal Group, replacing him with Jaeger Lieutenant-General Lennart Oesch.
      In Kuhmo, the Finns have taken part of the great 'motti' at Luelahti.
      General Headquarters in Mikkeli orders the staff of the Army of the Isthmus to plan withdrawal to the Virolahti-Kivijärvi-Saimaa-Hiitola line.
      Soviet troops take the island of Uuras in Viipurinlahti bay.
      The Soviet troops on the Vuoksi throw almost three divisions into an offensive across a broad front in the Vuosalmi and Kaskiselkä sectors. The defending Finnish troops successfully halt the offensive with the support of artillery fire.
      Detachment Alfthan is on the way to Lavajärvi, having been ordered today to destroy the Soviet troops which have advanced into the area.
      The home front is once again pounded by enemy bombers: today it's the turn of Lappeenranta and Lahti; in Lahti an enemy vehicle depot is destroyed.
      Foreign Minister Tanner telephones his Swedish colleague, Christian Günther. Finland is ready to open peace talks if the Soviet Union will drop its demand for cession of Viipuri and Sortavala. Tanner attempts once again to propose a defensive alliance with Sweden. However, Foreign Minister Günther does not consider this a realistic option.

Suomi on valmis rauhan-neuvotteluihin Neuvostoliiton kanssa Talvisodan 95. päivä, 03.maaliskuuta.1940 ^top^
      Päämaja ja Kannaksen Armeijan esikunta seuraavat huolestuneina taisteluja Viipurinlahdella. Tapahtumat kehittyvät meille yhä epäedullisempaan suuntaan.
      Ylipäällikkö vaihtaa Rannikkoryhmän komentajan. Kenraalimajuri K.M.Wallenius vapautetaan tehtävästään. Uudeksi komentajaksi määrätään jääkärikenraaliluutnantti Lennart Oesch.
      Osa Luelahden suurmotista kukistuu Kuhmossa.
      Mikkelissä sijaitseva Päämaja antaa Kannaksen Armeijan Esikunnallekäskyn suunnitella siirto Virolahden-Kivijärven-Saimaan-Hiitolan tasalle.
      Neuvostojoukot valtaavat Viipurinlahdella Uuraan saaren.
      Vuoksella neuvostojoukot hyökkäävät leveällä rintamalla Vuosalmen ja Kaskiselän lohkoja vastaan liki kolmen divisioonan voimin. Tykistön tuella hyökkäykset onnistutaan torjumaan.
      Taisteluosasto Alfthan etenee Lavajärven suuntaan saatuaan tänään käskyn sinne edenneiden neuvostojoukkojen tuhoamisesta.
      Vihollinen pommittaa jälleen rajusti kotirintamaa: tänään on vuorossaLappeenranta sekä Lahti, jossa tuhoutuu Autovarikko 1.
      Ulkoministeri Tanner soittaa Ruotsin ulkoministeri Güntherille.Suomi on valmis rauhan-neuvotteluihin Neuvostoliiton kanssa, jos Viipurin ja Sortavalan luovuttaminen poistetaan Neuvostoliiton vaatimuksista. Tanner yrittää vielä kerran ehdottaa puolustusliittoa Ruotsin kanssa. Ruotsin ulkoministeri ei pidä yhteistä puolustusliittoa realistisena vaihtoehtona.

Finland redo att inleda fredsförhandlingar Vinterkrigets 95 dag, den 03 mars 1940 ^top^
     Huvudkvarteret och staben för armén på Näset följer oroade med striderna i Viborgska viken. Händelserna utvecklas i en för oss allt ogynnsammare riktning.
      Överbefälhavaren byter kommendör för Kustgruppen. Generalmajor K. M. Wallenius befrias från sin uppgift. Till ny kommendör utnämns jägargenerallöjtnant Lennart Oesch.
      I Kuhmo kvävs en del av stormottin i Luelahti.
      Huvudkvarteret i S:t Michel beordrar staben för armén på Näset att planera en förflyttning till området Virolahti-Kivijärvi-Saimaa-Hiitola.
      Sovjettrupperna erövrar ön Uuraansaari i Viborgska viken.
      Vid Vuoksen anfaller ryska trupper sektorena i Vuosalmi och Kaskiselkä på en bred front med nästan tre divisioners styrka. Man lyckas avvärja anfallen med hjälp av artillerield.
      Stridsavdelning Alfthan avancerar i riktning Lavajärvi efter att idag ha fått order om att förinta de ryska trupper som ryckt fram ända dit.
      Fienden bombar hemmafronten häftigt igen: idag står Villmanstrand och Lahtis i turen. I Lahtis förstörs Bildepå 1.
      Utrikesminister Tanner ringer upp Sveriges utrikesminister Günther. Finland är redo att inleda fredsförhandlingar med Sovjetunionen, förutsatt att överlåtelsen av Viborg och Sordavala stryks ur Sovjetunionens krav. Tanner försöker än en gång föreslå en försvarsallians med Sverige. Sveriges utrikesminister anser inte en gemensam försvarsallians vara ett realistiskt alternativ.

03 March 1928 Theodoor Jan Toorop, Dutch Symbolist painter born on 20 December 1858. — MORE ON TOOROP AT ART “4” MARCH — O grave, where is thy Victory — Poster for Delftsche Slaolie — The Sea — The Seduction — Les Calvinistes de Catwijck — The Young Generation — Le Passeur d'eau _ A book illustration for the poem of Émile Verhaeren (21 May 1855 – 27 Nov 1916).
1932 Alfieri Maserati, 44, from complications resulting form injuries incurred in a 1927 car racing accident.
1922 Henri Bataille, autor dramático francés.
1911 Isidre Nonell Monturiol, en Barcelona, pintor catalán.
1901 Achille Jean-Baptiste Zo, French artist born on 30 July 1826.
1879 Clifford, mathematician.
1857 Guillermo Brown, almirante argentino de origen irlandés.
1855 Anthony-Vandyke Copley Fielding, British artist born on 22 November 1787. — LINKS
1853 Juan Donoso Cortés, escritor y político español.
1808 Anton van Maron, Austrian painter born in 1733. — LINKS
1703 Robert Hooke, mathematician, scientific genius, in London.
1695 Jean Michelin, French painter born in 1623. — LINKS
1459 Ausiàs March, en Valencia, poeta español.
0561 Pelagius I, pope

Births which occurred on a March 03:
1982 Mi último suspiro, autobiografía de Luis Buñuel, se edita en París.
1940 Germán Castro Caycedo, periodista y escritor colombiano.
1936 Achille Occhetto, político italiano.
1933 Francisco Otero Besteiro, escultor español.
1930 Ion Iliescu, presidente de Rumanía.

1926 James Merrill, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, in New York . ^top^
Merrill was the son of financier Charles Merrill, who founded the brokerage Merrill-Lynch. Merrill served as an Army infantryman during World War II and graduated from Amherst College in 1947. He became one of the most highly regarded poets of his time. Merrill's parents divorced in 1939. The divorce provided him with rich material for many poems, including "Broken Home." Much of his work was autobiographical and explored his family relationships, privileged upbringing, and homosexuality. His poems appeared in Poetry and the Kenyon Review, and his debut book, First Poems, was published in 1951. Thanks to a large trust fund, Merrill traveled widely and owned houses in Greece and Connecticut. In 1966, Merrill won the National Book Award for Nights and Days. A decade later, he published Divine Comedies, which won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize. Divine Comedies was the first in a trilogy of ambitious, book-length poems, some of which were written with the assistance of a Ouija board. He published 12 books of poetry and also wrote plays and novels. A final collection of poems was published after he died of a heart attack in Tucson, Arizona, on 06 February 1995.

1924 Tomiichi Murayama, político japonés.
1918 Arthur Kornberg, bioquímico estadounidense, Premio Nobel de Fisiología y Medicina en 1959.
1916 Paul Halmos, mathematician.
1915 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) se crea, organización predecesora de la agencia espacial estadounidense ( NASA).
1912 Guinand, mathematician.
1901 Otto Schreier, mathematician.
1898 Emil Artin, mathematician.
1895 General Matthew Ridgeway US, military leader (WW II, Korea). He died on 26 July 1993.
1891 Damaskinos, Greek archbishop of Athens who died on 20 May 1949.

1879 US Geological Survey created. ^top^
     The US Congress establishes the United States Geological Survey, an organization that played a pivotal role in the exploration and development of the West. Although the rough geographical outlines of much of the American West were known by 1879, the government still had astonishingly little detailed knowledge of the land. Earlier federal exploratory missions under men like Ferdinand Hayden and John Wesley Powell had begun to fill in the map, yet much remained to be done. Congress decided to transform the earlier system of sporadic federal geological explorations into a permanent government agency, the United States Geological Survey (USGS). From the beginning, the USGS focused its efforts on practical geographical and geological investigations that might spur western economic development. Since the vast majority of the nation's public land was in the West, the USGS became one of the federal government's most important tools for encouraging the exploitation of western natural resources.
      Congress appointed Clarence King, a brilliant young mining engineer and geologist, as the first director. King, who had previously done considerable work for western mining companies, viewed the USGS as a tool for aiding further mineral exploitation. As a result, the first major reports produced under King's tenure concerned the economic geology of two important mining districts, Nevada's Comstock Lode and Colorado's Leadville silver district. King's attempts to aid western mining won him praise from both mining companies and western congressmen, but King was eager to make his own fortune in the mining business. He resigned as director in 1881 to pursue what he hoped would be more lucrative opportunities.
      John Wesley Powell, a bold geologist-explorer who had led the first US explorations of the Grand Canyon, succeeded King as director. Powell extended the work of the survey into new areas like paleontology and soon became controversial for his bold assertion that much of the arid West would remain unsettled without large-scale irrigation projects. The direct and plainspoken Powell was so closely associated with the USGS during his 14-year term as director that many people have mistakenly believed he was the first director of the agency. Despite his expansion of the survey's mission, though, Powell never abandoned the practical economic emphasis established by King. Subsequent directors of the USGS also remained true to King's early focus on aiding the economic development of the West, providing topographical and geological maps that have continued to prove essential to the mineral, agricultural, and hydraulic development of the region to this day.

1875 Carmen, Georges Bizet opera, premieres in Paris.

1873 William Green, labor leader ^top^
the coal miner turned union leader who ruled over the American Federation of Labor for nearly thirty years. Born in Coshocton, Ohio, in 1873, Green began working in the coal mines at the tender age of sixteen. He started his steady rise to power in the labor movement in 1900, winning the nod as the subdistrict president of the United Mine Workers (UMWA). In 1913, he became the UMWA's national secretary-treasurer. At the same time, Green also began what proved to be a lifetime involvement with the AFL: he was tabbed for the organization's executive council in 1913 and was elected president of the AFL in 1924.
By the time Green ascended to the presidency, the AFL was seemingly in a state of decline; not only was it increasingly impotent in the fight against ever-powerful business leaders, but a number of workers also chafed against the AFL's insistence on organizing around "strict" craft lines. These issues hardly abated during Green's tenure and, in 1935, UMWA chief John L. Lewis, frustrated with the drift of the AFL, formed the Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO). Though the CIO initially existed within the folds of the AFL, Green and Lewis were hardly comfortable bedfellows: neither man was prone to share power and Green attempted to exercise tight control over the CIO. The situation rapidly deteriorated, leading to a series of nasty conflicts and Green's high-profile expulsion of the CIO from the AFL in 1936. Green held the spot atop the AFL until his death on 21 November 1952.

1867 Guy Rose, US Impressionist painter who died in 1925 (possibly in November). — LINKS — The Green Parasol
1863 The National Academy of Sciences is approved by US President Abraham Lincoln. The society's mission is to "investigate, examine, experiment and report on any subject of science," with experiments and reports paid for by government appropriations.
1849 The US Home Department, forerunner of the Department of the Interior, is established by Congress.
1847 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born US inventor of the telephone, teacher of the deaf, founder of Bell Telephone Company. He died on 02 August 1922.
1847 Édouard Jean E. Ravel, Swiss artist who died on 08 March 1920.
1845 Georg Cantor, mathematician, invented transfinite numbers (1918)
1838 Hill, mathematician.
1831 George M. Pullman, inventor (railroad sleeping car); industrialist: (Pullman Palace Car Company). He died on 19 October 1897.
1826 Anton Doll, German artist who died on 02 May 1887.
1793 William Macready, English actor, manager, and diarist who died on 27 April 1873.
1747 Kasamir Pulaski US general (Revolutionary War)
1700 Charles Joseph Natoire, French painter who died on 29 August 1777. — LINKS — Truth (24x19cm) — Le Siège de Bordeaux (Histoire de Clovis) — Télémaque dans l'Ile de Calypso
1652 Thomas Otway, English dramatist and poet who died on 14 April 1685.
1610 Pierre Dupuis (or Dupuy), French artist who died on 18 February 1682.

Holidays Arab : Mohammed's Birthday / Bulgaria : Liberation from Ottoman Rule Day (1878) / Florida : Admission Day (1845) / Grenada : Partial Independence Day (1967) / Hawaii : Japanese Girl's Day / Japan : Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) / Malawi : Martyrs' Day / Morocco : National Day (1961) / Sudan : Unity Day / World : Day of Prayer

Santoral: Santos Marino, Asterio, Félix, Emeterio, Celedonio y Fortunato.

Thoughts for the day: “If you have good language skills, you will be respected and admired; whereas if you clearly have no clue about grammar or vocabulary, you could become president of the United States.” — Dave Barry
“Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it; if you are sick, you shouldn't take it.” — Henry Ford (1863-1947)

TO THE TOP

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO WRITE TO “HISTORY 4 2DAY”
http://h42day.0catch.com/history/h4mar/h4mar03.html
http://members.xoom.virgilio.it/all42day/history/h4mar/h4mar03.html
updated Tuesday 07-Jan-2003 22:37 UT

site safe for children