On March 28th...

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1749 Pierre Laplace, astronomer and mathematician, was born.

1797 Nathaniel Briggs patented a washing machine.

1799 New York abolished slavery.

1802 Heinrich W. M. Obers announced his discovery of a "planet" in the orbital path between Mars and Jupiter. (He had, in fact, actually discovered an asteroid.)

1818 Confederate General Wade Hampton was born.

1828 William Thornton, designer of the U.S. Capitol, died.

1834 The U. S. Senate censured President Andrew Jackson for taking federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.

1854 Great Britain and France declared war on Russia.

1862 French statesman Aristide Briand was born.

1881 The "Greatest Show On Earth" was formed by P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey.

1885 The U. S. branch of the Salvation Army was organized.

1895 Christian Herter, U. S. Secretary of State, was born.

1905 Marlin Perkins, host of "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom," was born.

1910 David Josiah Brewer, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, died.

1914 U. S. Senator Edmund Muskie was born.

1922 The first microfilm device was introduced.
1922 The Toronto St. Oars defeated the Vancouver Millionaires for the Stanley Cup.

1924 Singer Sarah Vaughan was born.

1928 Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor under U. S. President Jimmy Carter, was born.

1941 Novelist Virginia Woolf died.

1942 Stanford defeated Dartmouth 53-38 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
1942 Opera singer Samuel Ramey was born.

1944 Utah defeated Dartmouth 42-40 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
1944 Actor Ken Howard was born.

1950 CCNY defeated Bradley 71-68 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1953 Football player Jim Thorpe died.

1955 Singer Reba McEntire was born.

1958 Olympic gymnast Bart Conner was born.

1960 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that the Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction to regulate insurance companies doing interstate business by mail.
1960 A fire inside a whiskey warehouse in Glasgow, Scotland, touched off an explosion that killed 19 firemen.
1960 Pope John XXIII elevated the first black African, the first Japanese, and the first Filipino to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

1962 The Syrian army overthrew the government.

1969 At least 53 persons were killed and 350 others were injured when an earthquake struck western Turkey.
1969 Former U. S. President Dwight David Eisenhower died.

1977 Marquette defeated North Carolina 67-59 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1979 The worst accident in the United States involving a commercial nuclear reactor occurred at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
1979 Emmett Kelly, creator of the "Weary Willie" clown character, died.
1979 Sultan Yahya Petra, the King of Malaysia, died.

1982 LA Tech defeated Cheney for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

1985 The International Cometary Explorer measured solar wind ahead of Halley.

1986 Extremist Sikhs killed 13 Hindus in Ludhiana, India.

1987 Maria von Trapp, matriarch of the family featured in Sound of Music, died.

1999 Purdue defeated Duke 62-45 for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

2004 Actor Peter Ustinov died.

2006 Caspar Weinberger, U.S. government official, died.

2012 Banjo player Earl Scruggs died.

2016 Actor James Noble died.

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This page was last updated on March 27, 2018.