March 30 is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 276 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which the first day of Hocktide can fall, while April 3 is the latest; observed on the second Monday after Easter. (Hungerford, England; popular in medieval England)
- Land Day (Palestine)
- National Doctors’ Day (United States)
- Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
History
In 240, B.C., was the first recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet in the Chinese chronicle Records of the Grand Historian or Shiji, which describes a comet that appeared in the east and moved north. Halley may have been recorded as early as 467 BC, but this is uncertain. A comet was recorded in ancient Greece between 468 and 466 BC; its timing, location, duration, and associated meteor shower all suggest it was Halley. According to Pliny the Elder, that same year a meteorite fell in the town of Aegospotami, in Thrace. He described it as brown in colour and the size of a wagon load. Chinese chroniclers also mention a comet in that year.
In 598, Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro–Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
In 1282, The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
In 1296, Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
In 1406, James I of Scotland was captured and imprisoned by King Henry IV of England.
In 1814 Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
In 1815, Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian Unification.
In 1822, The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
In 1841, The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
In 1842, Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, Georgia, first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation. He placed an ether-soaked towel over the face of James Venable and removed a tumor from his neck. This is Doctor’s Day in his honor.
In 1844, One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
In 1855, Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas – “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
In 1856, The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War and guaranteeing the integrity of Ottoman Turkey.
In 1858, The Pencil with an attached eraser was patented by Hyman L. Lipman. The average pencil can write a continuous line 35 miles long. (U.S. Patent 19,783).
In 1863, Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
In 1867, Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The deal was ridiculed in the U.S. as “Seward’s Folly.”.
In 1870, Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction. It was the last confederate state to be readmitted to Union.
In 1885, The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
In 1893, Thomas Francis Bayard was named first American ambassador to Great Britain. The United States previously had a lower-level diplomatic presence in London.
In 1899, German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
In 1908, Chester Gillette, American murderer (b. 1883) died in the electric chair at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York. He was an American convicted murderer, became the basis for the fictional character Clyde Griffiths in the Theodore Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy, which in turn was the basis of the 1931 film An American Tragedy and of the 1951 Academy Award-winning film A Place in the Sun.
In 1909, The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan and Queens.
In 1910, The Mississippi Legislature founds The University of Southern Mississippi.
In 1912, Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
In 1918, Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
In 1923, the Cunard liner “Laconia” arrived in New York City, becoming the first passenger ship to circumnavigate the world, a cruise of 130 days.
In 1939, The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745km/h).
In 1940, Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
In 1941, German counter offensive in North-Africa.
In 1942, a directive from Washington, D.C. decrees that men’s suits be manufactured without trouser cuffs, pleats and patch pockets for the duration of the war.
In 1943, Jan Bytnar, Polish lieutenant and activist (b. 1921) died on 30 March from injuries sustained by the Gestapo, aged 21. He was a Polish Scoutmaster (harcmistrz), Polish Scouting resistance activist and Second Lieutenant of the Armia Krajowa during the Second World War. The son of Stanisław Bytnar and Zdzisława Rechulówna, Jan Bytnar is a leading character of both Aleksander Kamiński‘s Kamienie na szaniec and Barbara Wachowicz‘s Rudy, Alek, Zośka. He was arrested by the German Nazis on 23 March 1943 and rescued by the Grupy Szturmowe of the Szare Szeregi three days later during the so-called Arsenal action on 26 March. The extremely brutal interrogation of Bytnar was conducted by SS Rottenführer Ewald Lange and SS Obersturmführer Herbert Schultz. Both were assassinated by Grupy Szturmowe of Szare Szeregi. Schultz was shot dead on 6 May 1943 by Sławomir Maciej Bittner (aka “Maciek”) and Eugeniusz Kecher (aka “Kolczan”). Lange was shot dead on 22 May 1943 by Jerzy Zapadko (aka “Dzik”).
In 1944, World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
In 1944, Allied bombing raid on Nuremberg. Along the English eastern coast 795 aircraft are despatched, including 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos. The bombers meet resistance at the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands from German fighters. In total, 95 bombers are lost, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of World War II.
In 1945, World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
In 1949, A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
In 1954, The Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada.
In 1959, “double jeopardy” is upheld in 2 U.S. Supreme Court decisions stating that a person could be tried for the same offense in both federal and state courts.
In 1961, The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
In 1965, Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
In 1972, Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
In 1973, Ellsworth Bunker resigned as U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham A. Martin.
In 1975, North Vietnam captures the city of Danang and moved towards the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon
In 1976, The first Land Day protests are held in Israel/Palestine.
In 1979, Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Another two people are wounded at the same time.
In 1982, Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
In 1983, the first California condor chick born in captivity hatches at the San Diego Zoo.
In 1986, James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899) died at his Dutchess County farm in Stanfordville, New York, on Easter Sunday 1986, of a heart attack. He was 86 years old. was an American actor and dancer, both on stage and in film, though it is film where he has had his greatest impact. Known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal stylings and deadpan comic timing he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. He is best remembered for playing multi-faceted tough guys in movies like The Public Enemy and Angels With Dirty Faces and was even typecast or limited by this view earlier in his career. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among its 50 Greatest American Screen Legends. No less a student of drama than Orson Welles said of Cagney that he was “maybe the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera.” In his first professional acting performance, Cagney danced costumed as a woman in the chorus line of the 1919 revue Every Sailor. He spent several years in vaudeville as a hoofer and comedian, until he got his first major acting part in 1925. He secured several other roles, receiving good notices, before landing the lead in the 1929 play Penny Arcade. After rave reviews, Warner Bros. signed him for an initial $500-a-week, three-week contract to reprise his role; this was quickly extended to a seven-year contract. Cagney’s seventh film, The Public Enemy, became one of the most influential gangster movies of the period. Notable for a famous scene that makes dramatic use of a grapefruit, the film thrust Cagney into the spotlight, making him one of Hollywood’s biggest stars as well as one of Warner Brothers‘ biggest contracts. In 1938, he received his first Academy Award for Best Actor nomination, for Angels with Dirty Faces for his subtle portrayal of the tough guy/man-child Rocky Sullivan. In 1942 Cagney was awarded the Oscar for his energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was nominated a third time in 1955 for Love Me or Leave Me. Cagney retired from acting and dancing in 1961, deciding to spend time on his farm with his family. He exited retirement, twenty years later, for a part in the 1981 movie Ragtime, mainly to aid his recovery from a stroke. Cagney walked out on Warners several times over the course of his career, each time returning upon much improved personal and artistic terms. In 1935, he sued Warners for breach of contract and won; this marked one of the first times an actor had beaten a studio over a contract issue. He worked for an independent film company for a year while the suit was being settled, and also established his own production company, Cagney Productions, in 1942, before returning to Warners again four years later. Jack Warner called him “The Professional Againster”, in reference to Cagney’s refusal to be pushed around. Cagney also made numerous morale-boosting troop tours before and during World War II, and was president of the Screen Actors Guild for two years.
In 1990, Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoed a highly restrictive state abortion measure, saying the bill did not provide a woman and her family any flexibility in cases of rape and incest.
In 1993, after 43 years, the unthinkable happened on the comic pages, Charlie Brown was a hero when he hit a home run and his baseball team won for the first time.
In 1994, the Clinton administration announced it was lifting virtually all export controls on non-military products to China and the former Soviet bloc.
In 1995, Tens of thousands of Rwandan refugees, fleeing violence in Burundi, began a two-day trek to sanctuary in Tanzania.
In 1997, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he warned Chinese leaders that the United States would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan.
In 1999, A jury in Portland, Oregon, ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades. (Seriously!)
In 2000, In the midst of the 2000 presidential campaign, Vice President Al Gore broke with the Clinton administration, saying he supported legislation to allow six-year-old Elian Gonzalez to remain in the country while the courts resolved his custody case.
In 2003, Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952) died. He was a Tony– and Emmy-winning American actor of film, stage, and television. His most notable television roles are as Herman Stiles on the sitcom Evening Shade from 1990 until 1994 and for playing Mr. Noodle’s brother, Mr. Noodle on Elmo’s World from 2000 until 2003. His film roles include Zelig, Waterworld, Air Bud, The Green Mile, Jurassic Park III and The Polar Express among many others. Michael Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. His mother, Virginia (née Raines; May 6, 1927), was a housewife. His father, William Claud Jeter (March 10, 1922 – March 1, 2010), was a dentist. Jeter had one brother, William, and four sisters, Virginia, Amanda, Emily, and Larie. Jeter was a student at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) when his interests changed from medicine to acting. He performed in several plays and musicals at the Circuit Theatre and its sister theatre, the Playhouse on the Square, in midtown Memphis. He left Memphis to further pursue his stage career in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 2006, The United Kingdom Terrorism Act 2006 becomes a law.
In 2009, Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
In 2013, Bobby Parks, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962) died after a long battle with lung cancer, which developed from his previously untreated laryngeal cancer. He was an American professional basketball player from Grand Junction, Tennessee. He played for Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) from 1980-1984 and played internationally in the Philippines, Indonesia and France. As one of the most celebrated “import” players in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Parks became the second American ever inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 2009. He was a very good man.
In 2014, Turkish local elections.
In 2017, SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket
