Today In History - March 20

141 The 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1345 Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction is thought to be the "cause of plague epidemic"
1525 Paris' parliament begins pursuit of Protestants
1569 Duke van Alva leads "tenth penning" in Ponts the Ce
1598 French King Henri IV and duke van Mercour sign treaty
1602 United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) forms
1616 Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1627 France and Spain signs accord for fighting Protestantism
1697 Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"
1760 Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1800 French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, and advance to Cairo
1814 Prince Willem Frederik becomes monarch of Netherlands
1815 Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
1816 U.S. Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions
1833 U.S. and Siam sign commercial treaty
1848 King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published
1863 Battle of Pensacola Florida - evacuated by Federals
1865 The 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina
1865 Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
1868 Jesse James Gang robs bank in Russelville, Kentucky of $14,000
1883 Unity treaty of Paris signed: protects industrial property
1885 John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine
1885 Yiddish theater opens in New York with Golldfaden operetta
1886 The first AC power plant in U.S. begins commercial operation, Massachusetts
1890 General Federation of Womans' Clubs founded
1890 German Emperor Wilhelm II fires republic chancellor Otto Von Bismarck
1896 Marines land in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens
1896 Uprising in Matabeleland
1897 The first known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10
1897 The first U.S. orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in New York
1897 France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
1906 George B. Shaws "Captain Brassbound's Conversion," premieres in London
1911 National Squash Tennis Association forms (New York City)
1911 Winter Garden Theater opens at 1634 Broadway New York City
1914 The first international figure-skating tournament held in U.S., New Haven
1916 Allies attack Zeebrugge, Belgium
1920 The first flight from London to South Africa lands (1 month)
1920 U.S. Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld
1920 U.S. Mens Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
1922 USS Langley is commissioned, Navy's first aircraft Carrier
1922 WIP-AM in Philadelphia Pennsylvania begins radio transmissions
1923 Bavarian minister of Interior refuses to forbid Nazi SA
1923 Belgian Senate rejects Dutch University in Ghent
1924 Finnair begins scheduled flight of Helsinki-Tallinn
1930 Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph
1931 Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin
1932 Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kara-Kalpak ASSR
1933 Dachau, the first concentration camp, is completed
1934 Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Philadelphia A's in exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers
1934 Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany
1934 Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany
1935 "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio
1937 Franco-offensive at Guadalajara Spain
1939 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania
1940 Paul Reynoud becomes French premier
1941 Nazi-German/Yugoslav pact drawn
1942 Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia
1942 General MacArthur vows, "I shall return"
1942 Major German assault on Malta
1943 British offensive against Mareth-line
1943 German U-384 bombed and sinks
1944 Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River New Jersey, killing 16
1944 Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes
1945 U.S. 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar
1946 Belgian government of Spaak, resigns
1947 180-metric ton blue whale (the record) caught in South Atlantic
1948 20th Academy Awards - "Gentleman's Agreement," L Young, R Colman win minutes by 2nd live televised musical Arturo Toscvanni on NBC
1948 The first live televised musical Eugene Ormandy on CBS followed in 90
1951 Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1952 24th Academy Awards - "American in Paris," H Bogart and Vivian Leigh win
1952 Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan
1952 U.S. senate ratifies peace treaty with Japan
1954 "King and I" closes at St. James Theater New York City after 1246 performances
1954 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76
1954 The first newspaper vending machine is used in Columbia, Pennsylvania
1955 KXTV TV channel 10 in Sacramento, California (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends
1956 Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (U.S.S.R.) explodes
1956 Tunisia gains independence from France
1956 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test
1956 Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp
1957 Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it
1958 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon Line
1958 Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting
1958 Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth first transmission
1962 Sjoukje Dijkstra becomes world champion figure skater
1963 The first "Pop Art" exhibition (New York City)
1963 Sikkim crown prince Paldan Thondup Namgyal marries Hope Cooke
1964 ESRO established, European Space Research Organization
1965 27th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Michigan 91-80
1965 Venkataraghavan takes 8-72 vs. NZ at Delhi
1966 Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St. Petersburg Women's Golf Open
1967 Supremes release "The Happening"
1967 WOET (now WPTD) TV channel 16 in Dayton, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 Lyndon Baines Johnson signs a bill removing gold backing from U.S. paper money
1968 Military intervene in South-Yemen (leftist ministers resign)
1969 Abebe Bikila's auto-accident, near Addis Ababa
1969 Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1969 U.S. president Nixon proclaims he will end Vietnam war in 1970
1971 Boston Bruins win 13th straight NHL game
1972 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche
1973 Roberto Clemente is elected to Hall of Fame; 11 weeks after his death
1976 Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.70)
1976 Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery
1977 Communists/socialists win French municipal elections
1977 Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as first mayor in a century
1977 Premier Indira Gandhi loses election in India
1978 Flyers' Rick MacLeash scores on 6th penalty shot against Islanders
1979 Columbia flies on Shuttle carrier aircraft to Kennedy Space Center
1980 U.S. appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran
1981 Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron sentenced to 8 years
1981 Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Dr
1982 France performs nuclear test
1982 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" goes #1 for 7 wks
1983 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open
1984 Andy Kaufman and Fred Blassie's "My Breakfast With Blassie" premieres
1984 Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools
1985 Libby Riddles is first woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race
1986 228 KPH gust of wind strikes Cairngorm (U.K. record)
1986 Jacques Chirac forms French government
1987 FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)
1987 NASA launches Palapa B2P
1987 Soap opera "Capitol" final episode
1987 Soviet filmmakers arrive in Hollywood for an entertainment summit
1987 Yvonne van Gennip skates ladies world record 5 km (7:20.36)
1988 David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly," premieres in New York City
1988 Laura Davies wins Circle K LPGA Tucson Golf Open
1988 Mike Tyson KOs Tony Tubbs in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1989 Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation
1989 Richard J. Kerr replaces Robert M. Gates as deputy director of CIA
1990 Los Angeles Lakers retires Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's #33
1990 Singer Gloria Estefan breaks her collarbone in a bus accident
1991 Court awards Peggy Lee $3 million in suit against Disney
1991 Michael Jackson signs $65M 6 album deal with Sony records
1991 Supreme Court rules unanimously employers can't exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage fetus
1991 U.S. forgives $2 billion in loans to Poland
1992 Janice Pennington is awarded $1.3M for accident on Price is Right set
1992 Noriega's wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses
1993 Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)
1993 IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England
1993 Morton Downey, Jr. weds Lori Krebs
1994 14th Golden Raspberry Awards: Indecent Proposal wins
1994 Brett Hart wins WWF championship at Wrestlemania X
1994 El Salvador's first Presidential election following 12-year-old civil war
1994 Laura Davies wins LPGA Standard Register Ping Golf Tournament
1994 Mashonaland U-24 beat Matabeleland on first inn to win Logan Cup
1994 Wrestlemania X at MSG NY, Bret Hart pins Yokozuna
1994 Zulu-king Goodwill Zwelithini founds realm in South Africa
1995 Beatles song, "Baby It's You," with late John Lennon as lead singer, is released, first Fab Four single in more than 30 years
1995 Dow-Jones hits 4083.68 (record)
1995 Poison Gas released in Tokyo subway 12 killed, 4,700 injured
1996 "Love Thy Neighbor," opens at Booth Theater New York City
1996 Erik and Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents
1996 U.K. admits humans can catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease)
1997 "Play On!," opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater New York City for 61 performances
1997 Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive
1997 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Elvis Stojko

Today In History - March 20

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