March 31 is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 275 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day
- Cesar Chavez Day (United States)
- Freedom Day (Malta)
- International Transgender Day of Visibility
- King Nangklao Memorial Day (Thailand)
- Thomas Mundy Peterson Day (New Jersey, United States)
- Transfer Day (US Virgin Islands)
History
In 307, After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
In 627, Battle of the Trench: Muhammad undergoes a 14-day siege at Medina (Saudi Arabia) by Meccan forces under Abu Sufyan.
In 1146, Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
In 1492, Queen Isabella of Castille issues the Alhambra decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
In 1561, The city of San Cristóbal, Táchira is founded.
In 1717, A sermon on “The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ” by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.
In 1774, American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
In 1822, The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
In 1831, Quebec and Montreal are incorporated as cities in Canada.
In 1840, a ten-hour work day for federal employees in public works jobs is established by executive order.
In 1850, John C. Calhoun, American politician, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782) dies. He was a leading American politician and political theorist during the first half of the 19th century. Hailing from South Carolina, Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. After 1830, his views evolved and he became a greater proponent of states’ rights, limited government, nullification and free trade; as he saw these means as the only way to preserve the Union. He is best known for his intense and original defense of slavery as something positive, his distrust of majoritarianism, and for pointing the South toward secession from the Union. Calhoun built his reputation as a political theorist by his redefinition of republicanism to include approval of slavery and minority rights, with the Southern States the minority in question. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a “concurrent majority” whereby the minority could sometimes block offensive proposals that a State felt infringed on their sovereign power. Always distrustful of democracy, he minimized the role of the Second Party System in South Carolina. Calhoun’s defense of slavery became defunct, but his concept of concurrent majority, whereby a minority has the right to object to or even veto hostile legislation directed against it, has been cited by other advocates of the rights of minorities. Calhoun asserted that Southern whites, outnumbered in the United States by voters of the more densely populated Northern states, were one such minority deserving special protection in the legislature. Calhoun also saw the increasing population disparity to be the result of corrupt northern politics.
In 1850, US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%)).
In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
In 1861, Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans.
In 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee withdraws from Petersburg, ending the six month siege.
In 1866, The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile.
In 1870, Thomas Peterson Mundy cast a ballot in a municipal election in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, becoming the first black to vote in the U.S. after ratification of the 15th Amendment.
In 1877, The family with samurai antecedents that responded to the Saigō army in Ōita Nakatsu, rebels.
In 1880, Wabash, Indiana becomes the first town to have a complete electric street lighting system.
In 1885, The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
In 1889, The Eiffel Tower is officially opened. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor atop the Eiffel Tower in Paris, officially marking the structure’s completion for the Universal Exhibition of Art and Manufacturers.
In 1899, Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces.
In 1901, 1901 Black Sea earthquake
In 1903, Richard Pearse allegedly makes a powered flight in an early aircraft.
In 1906, The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.
In 1909, Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1909, Construction of the ill fated RMS Titanic begins.
In 1910, Six North Staffordshire Pottery towns federate to form modern Stoke-on-Trent.
In 1913, The Vienna Concert Society rioted during a performance of modernist music by Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, and Anton von Webern, causing a premature end to the concert due to violence. This concert became known as the Skandalkonzert.
In 1913, J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (b. 1837) died in Rome, Italy, in his sleep in 1913 at the age of 75. He was an American financier, banker, philanthropist and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company, he merged in 1901 with the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses, including Consolidated Steel and Wire Company owned by William Edenborn, to form the United States Steel Corporation. At his death, he left his fortune and business to his son, John Pierpont “Jack” Morgan, Jr., and bequeathing his mansion and large book collections to The Morgan Library & Museum in New York.
In 1917, The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.
In 1918, Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.
In 1918, Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time. Folks would “spring ahead” an hour allowing for longer early evenings. The time change left enough light for many activities, especially in farming areas. Planting and such could best be done with the sun up an extra hour. Folks would “fall back” an hour to Standard Time in the fall, to save an hour and gain an extra hour of sleep. Supposedly, it was a way to save energy, but many contend that this idea is foolish and that the country should do away with “Standard Time all the time” and keep the sun shining an hour later all year long.
In 1921, The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.
In 1925, Mt. Rushmore National Memorial is authorized by Congress with sculptor Gutzon Borgium to carve Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1930, The first episode of the first Mickey Mouse adventure story comic strip, “Mickey Mouse in Death Valley” is published in
newspapers.
In 1930, The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty eight years.
In 1931, An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
In 1931, TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne. He was an American football player and coach, both at the University of Notre Dame. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history. His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame calls him “without question, American football’s most-renowned coach.” A Norwegian American, he was educated as a chemist at the University of Notre Dame. He popularized the forward pass and made Notre Dame a major factor in collegiate football.
In 1932, The Ford Motor Company publicly unveiled its “V-8” engine. Wow! I could’ve had a V-8!
In 1933, The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.
The Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar is a commemorative coin that was authorized on March 31, 1936, and struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint that year. Produced with the stated purpose of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Cincinnati as a center of music, it was conceived by Thomas G. Melish, a coin enthusiast whose group bought the entire issue from the government, and who resold them at high prices. Melish had hired sculptor Constance Ortmayer to design the coin, but the Commission of Fine Arts objected to Stephen Foster being on the obverse, finding no connection between Foster, who died in 1864, and the supposed anniversary. Nevertheless, 5,000 sets of three coins, one from each of the three mints, were issued and sold to Melish’s group, the only authorized purchaser. He likely held back much of the issue for later resale, and with few pieces available, prices spiked to over five times the issue price. The coins are still valuable today. Melish has been assailed by numismatic writers as greedy.
In 1942, World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
In 1943, US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326.
In 1945, World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
In 1948, Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe.
In 1949, The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
In 1951, Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
In 1951, President Truman signs an executive order establishing draft deferment for college students with superior scholastic standings.
In 1954, a new Leica 35-mm camera of radically different design is introduced (interchangeable lenses, faster, one-dial shutter speeds, and a winding lever).
In 1955, US Assay Office in Seattle, Washington closes (15th largest bank) merge to form Chase Manhattan Chase National (3rd largest bank) & Bank of the Manhattan Company.
In 1957, Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
In 1958, In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.
In 1959, The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
In 1963, Los Angeles ends streetcar service after nearly 90 years.
In 1964, A coup d’état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castello Branco.
In 1965, An Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier, killing 47 of 51 occupants.
In 1965, the U.S. orders the first commitment of combat troops to Vietnam to protect Danang Air Base.
In 1966, The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
In 1968, “LBJ Announces He Will Not Seek Re-election” President Lyndon Johnson looked notably glum as he began his televised address to the nation. True, he was having a bad year, between the Tet offensive and Bobby Kennedy’s decision to run against him. Johnson announced he was ordering a virtual halt to all bombing of North Vietnam in a unilateral gesture of peace. After discussing Vietnam for nearly 40 minutes, he added an astonishing codicil to his address: “I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” On live TV, without warning and without a fight, the century’s consummate politician had just surrendered the highest office in the land.
In 1970, Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth‘s atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
In 1970, Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
In 1971, Lt. William L. Calley was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what is called the “My Lai” massacre.
In 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained comatose, died in 1985.)
In 1979, The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
In 1980, The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
In 1985, The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.
In 1986, A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 167.
In 1986, Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
In 1990, Approximately 200,000 protestors take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.
In 1991, Georgian independence referendum, 1991: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
In 1991, Albania voters chose the Communist Party in the first multiparty election since WW II.
In 1992, The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
In 1994, The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
In 1995, TAROM Flight 371 crashed, killing all of the ten crew and 50 passengers on board.
In 1995, Selena, an American singer, was murdered by her friend and employee of her boutiques Yolanda Saldívar who was embezzling money from the establishments. The event was named “Black Friday” by Hispanics.
In 1999, Three US Army soldiers were captured by Serb forces near the Yugoslav-Macedonia border. (Staff Sergeant Andrew Ramirez, Staff Sergeant Christopher Stone and Specialist Steven M. Gonzales were released more than a month later.)
In 2004, Iraq War in Anbar Province – In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.
In 2014, South Carolina University Holds “How to be a Lesbian” Seminar, Uses Taxpayer Money.Students at the University of South Carolina Upstate have the opportunity to learn “How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less,” courtesy of taxpayer money. The event is part of a two-day April symposium and conference which intends to explore the “new normals, old normals, future normals in the LGBT community.”
In 2014, Supreme Court rejects new cases on birth control coverage. The Supreme Court has turned away an early look at a challenge by religiously affiliated not-for-profit groups to the new health care law’s provision on birth control coverage. Lawsuits filed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and others are making their way through the courts. The justices on Monday declined to weigh in on them before any federal appeals court has reached a final decision. The Obama administration has devised a compromise to the law’s requirement that contraception be included in health plans’ preventive services for women. The compromise attempts to create a buffer for religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups that oppose birth control. Their insurers or the health plan’s outside administrator would pay for birth control coverage and creates a way to reimburse them.
In 2015, Starbucks Backs Off Its “Race Together” Campaign. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, surprised at the amount of opposition his effort garnered about the “Race Together” program that the program of signing each cup with “Race Together”, where he impressed on his stores to “try and engage in a discussion, that we have problems in this country with regard to race and racial inequality, and we believe we’re better than this, and we believe the country’s better than this.” The response from customers confirmed that many of them wanted to get their coffee without a side order of discourse on one of this country’s most divisive issues.
In 2015, Conn. Governor Lashes Out at Indiana’s Religious Freedom Law, In response to Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced he would sign an executive order banning state-funded travel to Indiana. This is the same knee-jerk reaction from Malloy that brought Connecticut some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation. “Because of Indiana’s new law, later today I will sign an Executive Order regarding state-funded travel,” Malloy wrote on Twitter. “When new laws turn back the clock on progress, we can’t sit idly by. We are sending a message that discrimination won’t be tolerated.” Well, we guess every liberal has to do his or her part to chip away at religious liberty. But Malloy really could have given it some thought before he acted, as Connecticut is one of the 19 states in the union that has the very same law on its books. In fact, some argue the Constitution State’s law is more absolute in protecting religious Liberty than Indiana’s – and it hasn’t been a problem until liberals decided otherwise.
In 2016, A controversial “de-annexation” bill was killed for the year this week when a Senate panel shipped it off for summer study over objections of Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson, the measure’s sponsor. The Hixson Republican later vowed to come back next year with the bill, which as amended would have allowed residents living in areas annexed by Tennessee towns and cities since May 1, 1998, to hold referendums and decide whether to secede from municipalities.
In 2018, Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution.
