March 16 March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). There are 290 days remaining. Events upto 19th century 1190 - Crusaders start to massacre the Jews of York, England. 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines. 1621 - Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset." 1660 - The Long Parliament disbands. 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29. 1802 - West Point is established. 1815 - Willem I becomes King of the Netherlands. 1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is published for the first time. 20th century 1900s-1980s 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos on Crete. 1926 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts. 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist. 1962 - A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean killing 107 1968 - Vietnam War: My Lai massacre American troops kill scores of women and children. 1969 - A Venezuelan Airlines DC-9 crashes shortly after takeoff in Maracaibo, Venezuela killing 155 1972 - Pruitt-Igoe housing complex is demolished. 1978 - Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas in Italy and is later killed by his captors. 1984 - CIA station chief stationed in Beirut, William Buckley, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity. 1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He would later be released on December 4, 1991. 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. 1988 - Kurdish town of Halabjah attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents killing 5000 1990s 1993 - A blizzard on the east coast of the United States kills 184 (see Great Blizzard of 1993). 1994 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. 21st century 2002- Closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA 2003 - Largest coordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against war on Iraq. Births upto 19th century 1585 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (d. 1618) 1751 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States, (d. 1836) 1789 - Georg Simon Ohm, physicist and discoverer of Ohm's law, (d. 1854) 1829 - René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, laureate of the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, (d. 1907) 1834 - James Hector, geologist, (d. 1907) 1878 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, archbishop of Münster and cardinal, (d. 1946) 1878 - Reza Pahlavi, shah of Iran (d. 1941) 1889 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951) 20th century 1900s-1940s 1901 - Edward Pawley, Broadway/Movie/Radio actor. Played Steve Wilson on radio's popular Big Town show. 1902 - Leon Roppolo, jazz clarinetist, (d. 1943) 1905 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt, actress, (d. 1977) 1906 - Henny Youngman, comedian, (d. 1998) 1911 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal, (d. 1979) 1912 - Pat Nixon, actress, First Lady, (d. 1993) 1918 - Frederick Reines, physicist (1995 Nobel Prize in Physics), (d. 1998) 1920 - Leo McKern, actor, (d. 2002) 1926 - Jerry Lewis, comedian 1926 - James N. Miller, microbiologist 1928 - Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano 1927 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut, (d. 1967) 1927 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator from New York, (d. 2003) 1929 - Nadja Tiller, actress 1934 - Ray Hnatyshyn, former Governor-General of Canada, (d. 2002) 1941 - Bernardo Bertolucci, film director 1942 - James Soong, politician 1949 - Erik Estrada, actor 1949 - Victor Garber, actor 1950s-1990s 1952 - Philippe Kahn, entrepreneur 1953 - Isabelle Huppert, actress 1953 - Richard Stallman, Free Software activist & founder of GNU 1954 - Nancy Wilson, guitarist, singer, actress 1955 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxing world champion 1959 - Flavor Flav, rap musician 1959 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway 1990 - James Bulger, abduction/murder victim, (d. 1993) 1992 - Carlie Brucia, kidnap/murder victim, (d. 2004) Deaths 455 - Valentinian III, Roman emperor, (b. 419) 1736 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, composer, (b. 1710) 1747 - Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (b. 1690) 1898 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist, (b. 1872) 1903 - Judge Roy Bean, jurist, Old West pioneer, (b. c. 1825) 1940 - Selma Lagerlöf, writer, (b. 1858) 1957 - Constantin Brancusi, sculptor, (b. 1876) 1970 - Tammi Terrell, singer 1971 - Thomas Dewey, candidate for President of the United States in 1944 and 1948, (b. 1902) 1975 - T-Bone Walker, musician, (b. 1910) 1977 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze, (b. 1917) 2003 - Rachel Corrie, International Solidarity Movement member, (b. 1979) 2003 - Major Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York 1988 - Edward Pawley, Broadway/Movie/Radio Actor. Played Steve Wilson on radio's Big Town show. (b. 1901) Holidays and observances The first day of the Bacchanalia in ancient Rome The controversial Latvia Legions is celebrated in Latvia, where about 140,000 men joined the Waffen SS National Legions during World War II, trying to defend Latvia. Since February 23 2000 this day is no longer an official celebration day. March 15 - March 17 - February 16 - April 16 -- listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_16