On March 31st...

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1499 Giovanni di Angelo de' Medici, the future Pope Pius IV, was born.

1519 King Henri II of France was born.

1547 Henri II succeeded Francois I as King of France.

1596 Philosopher-scientist René Descartes was born.

1621 King Philip III of Spain died.

1651 Cuzco, Peru, was struck by a major earthquake.

1657 The English Parliament offered the crown to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell; he refused.

1675 Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, the future Pope Benedict XIV, was born.

1732 Composer Franz Joseph Haydn was born.

1736 Bellevue, the first public hospital in the United States, was founded in a New York City, New York, almshouse.

1745 Jews were expelled from Prague.

1751 Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, died.

1808 The Kingdom of Westphalia ordered Jews to adopt family names.

1809 Edward FitzGerald, English translator of the Rubáiyát, was born.

1811 Chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen was born.

1814 Russian forces led by Tsar Alexander I captured Paris, France.

1822 Soldiers of the Ottoman Empire massacred the population of the Greek island of Chios.

1842 U.S. Congressman Jeremiah "Sockless Jerry" Simpson was born.

1854 Commodore Matthew C. Perry negotiated the first treaty between the United States and Japan.

1855 Author Charlotte Brontë died.

1870 Thomas Mundy Peterson became the first black to vote in the United States, in a Perth Amboy, New Jersey, election on the town's charter.

1880 Wabash, Indiana, became the first town to be completely illuminated by electric lighting.

1885 The United Kingdom declared Bechuanaland a protectorate.

1889 The Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris, France.

1913 Financier J.P. Morgan died.

1917 The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands by purchase from Denmark.
1917 Bacteriologist Emil Adolf von Behring died.

1918 Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States.

1920 The British Parliament accepted the Irish Home Rule Law.

1921 British miners went on strike.

1923 The Ottawa Senators defeated the Edmonton Eskimos for the Stanley Cup.

1927 Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers, was born.

1928 Hockey player Gordie Howe was born.

1929 Fashion designer Liz Claiborne was born.

1930 The Motion Pictures Production Code was instituted.

1931 Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne was killed in a plane crash.

1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps was created.

1934 Actress Shirley Jones was born.

1935 Jazz musician Herb Alpert was born.
1935 Actor Richard Chamberlain was born.

1938 Football player Jimmy Johnson was born.

1943 Actor Christopher Walken was born.

1945 Actor Gabe Kaplan was born.

1948 Al Gore, Jr., U. S. Vice-President, was born.
1948 Actress Rhea Perlman was born.

1949 Newfoundland became the 19th province of Canada.

1953 The U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was established.

1955 AC/DC guitarist Angus Young was born.

1965 An Iberia Airlines Convair crashed into the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar, killing 50 persons.

1968 Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not seek another term as President of the United States.

1970 Explorer I, the first United States satellite, fell out of earth orbit.

1975 UCLA defeated Kentucky 92-55 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1976 A New Jersey court rules that Karen Ann Quinland could be disconnected from a respirator.

1980 Larry Homes TKO'd Leroy Jones in 8 rounds to win the WBC Heavyweight Title.
1980 Jesse Owens, Olympic track star, died.

1981 Author Enid Bagnold died.

1983 An earthquake killed 267 persons and injured about 7,500 in Colombia.

1985 Old Dominion defeated Georgia 70-65 for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

1986 Louisville defeated Duke 72-69 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1987 Indiana defeated Syracuse 74-73 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1991 Tennessee defeated Virginia 70-67 for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

1992 The USS Missouri, the battleship upon which the Allies received Japan's unconditional surrender at the end of World War II, was decommissioned.

1996 Tennessee defeated Georgia 83-65 for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

1997 Pioneer 10's science mission officially ended.
1997 Arizona defeated Kentucky 84-79 for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

1998 Bella Abzug, U.S. Congresswoman, died.

2002 Connecticut defeated Oklahoma 82-70 for the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

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This page was last updated on June 26, 2018.