This Week in History

USPA NEWS - The FBI's "10 Most Wanted" program begins, Julius Caesar is murdered, the first Internet domain name is registered, a beached whale is found with 88 pounds of plastic inside, and the first space walk occurs, all this and more in this week in history.

March 14 (1812) US Congress authorizes war bonds to finance War of 1812. (1880) Salvation Army of England starts work in the US at Harry Hill’s Variety Theatre in New York City. (1888) Second largest snowfall in New York City history, 21 inches. (1950) FBI’s “10 Most Wanted Fugitives” program begins. (1967) John F. Kennedy’s body moved from temporary grave to a permanent memorial. (1973) Future US senator John McCain is released after spending over five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp. (1980) Polish airliner crash kills all 87 aboard, including 22 US amateur boxers. (1983) OPEC cut oil prices for first time in 23 years. (1990) Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Congress. (2016) President Putin orders Russian troops out of Syria.

March 15 (44 BC) Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome. (1493) Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first voyage to the New World (1848) A revolution breaks out in Hungary. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party. (1907) Finland is the first European country to give women the right to vote. (1939) Reneging on his pledge in the Munich Agreement, Adolf Hitler and Germany occupy and annex Czechoslovakia. (1951) UN forces recapture Seoul, the fourth and final time the city changes hands in the Korean War. (1955) US Air Force unveils self-guided missile. (1966) Racial riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles. (1985) The first Internet domain name, symbolics.com is registered. (2020) US Federal Reserve slashes interest rates to near zero to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 16 (1827) First US newspaper, “Freedom’s Journal” owned and operated by African Americans begins publishing in New York City. (1882) US Senate ratifies the Geneva Convention of 1864, legitimatizing the International Red Cross and the American Red Cross. (1939) Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine. (1955) President Eisenhower upholds the use of atomic weapons in case of war. (1988) Chemical attack on Kurdish town of Halabja by Iraqi forces kills 5000 civilians, largest ever chemical weapons attack. (1994) American figure skater Tonya Harding pleads guilty to felony attack on former Olympic teammate Nancy Kerrigan. (1998) Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust. (2014) Voters in Crimea vote overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia amid international condemnation of its design. (2019) Beached dead whale found to have 88 pounds of plastic inside it, including 40 pounds of plastic bags, in Mabini, Philippines. (2021) Declassified US intelligence report says Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized efforts to aid re-election of Donald Trump.

March 17 (432) Saint Patrick, aged about 16 is captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. (1845) Rubber band patented by Stephen Perry of London. (1891) British Steamer “Utopia” sinks off Gibraltar killing 574. (1905) Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his Quantum Theory of Light, one of the foundations of modern physics. (1930) Construction begins of the Empire State Building, the world’s first skyscraper of 100+ stories, on 5th Avenue in New York City. (1969) Golda Meir becomes Israel’s fourth Prime Minister, the first and only female to hold the office. (1992) South African referendum of white voters on an end to apartheid, over two-thirds vote for an end to the system. (1995) US approves first chickenpox vaccine, Varivax by Merck & Co. (2000) The 800+ deaths of members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. (2016) Archaeologists announce the discovery of an 2,500 year old iron age warrior king burial ground, with 75 graves in Pocklington, Northern England.

March 18 (1818) US Congress approves first pensions for government service. (1881) Barnum and Bailey Circus, traveling as “The Greatest Show on Earth,” debuts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (1921) Steamer “Hong Koh” runs aground off Swatow, China killing 1,000. (1940) Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler meet at Brenner Pass where the Itailian dictator agrees he will, in due course, joi Germany’s impending war effort in the west. (1944) Nazi Germany occupies Hungary. (1965) Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod II for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space. (1990) First free elections in East Germany, Conservatives beat Communists. (2014) Russia formally annexes Crimea, previously part of Ukraine, by signing Treaty of Accession. (2018) Vladimir Putin is elected to a new six-year term as Russian President with 76% of the vote, his fourth term. (2021) US President Joe Biden agrees Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “killer” in ABC New interview. Putin responds “it takes one to know one” a day later.

March 19 (1831) The first US bank robbery, the City Bank in New York robbed of $245,000. (1866) Immigrant ship “Monarch of the Seas” sinks off Liverpool, 738 die. (1918) US Congress authorizes time zones and approves daylight savings time. (1937) Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosion in which he coines the term “supernova” and hypothesizes that they were the origin of cosmic rays. (1985) US Senate votes 55-45 to authorize production of the MX “Peacekeeper” intercontinental ballistic missile. (1987) American televangelist Jim Bakker resigns amid rape accusation by his secretary, Jessica Hahn. (2001) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Aerosmith, Solomon Burke, The Flamingos, Michael Jackson, Queen, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Ritchie Valens, James Burton, Johnnie Johnson and Chris Blackwell. (2003) Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion. (2018) World’s last male, northern white rhino, 45 year old Sudan, dies in Kenya. (2021) Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall erupts for the first time in 800 years and after more than 50,000 earthquakes.

March 20 (1815) Napoleon Bonaparte enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule. (1868) Jesse James Gang robs a bank in Russelville, Kentucky, of $14,000. (1886) First AC power plant in US begins commercial operation in Massachusetts. (1933) Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed. (1945) US 70th Infantry Division captures Saarbrucken, immediately prior to the invasion of Germany by the western Allies. (1947) A record 180 tonne blue whale is caught in the South Atlantic. (1972) Donegall Street bombing: the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonate its first car bomb on Donegall Street in Belfast. Four civilians, two RUC officers and a UDR soldier killed while 148 people were wounded. (1991) Michael Jackson signs $65 million, six album deal with Sony Records. (2003) A US-led coalition launches a ground invation of Iraq, after an ultimatum for Saddam Hussein and his sons to leave Iraq expires. (2016) Barack Obama becomes the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a three day tour.

Thank you for reading my article. These are merely my thoughts and insights based on the facts. I use only verified sources. No fake news here. I write about a variety of subjects, mainly things I want to research and know more about. You can check out my website – Small Village Life at smallvillagelife.com, where I share useful articles and news.

Wendy writes for the United States Press Agency and is a former columnist with the Fulton County Expositor, Wauseon, Ohio.