845 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
1584 – Ivan the Terrible, Russian king (b. 1530) was born.
1854 – Crimean War: France and Britain declare war on Russia.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass – in New Mexico, Union forces stop the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory. The battle began on March 26.
1871 – The Paris Commune is formally established in Paris.
1928 – Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-American geostrategist and politician, 10th United States National Security Advisor was born.
1933 – The Imperial Airways biplane City of Liverpool is believed to be the first airline lost to sabotage when a passenger sets a fire on board.
1941 – Virginia Woolf, English author and critic (b. 1882) died.
1946 – Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
1959 – The State Council of the People’s Republic of China dissolves the Government of Tibet.
1969 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890) died.
1969 – The McGill français movement protest occurs, the second largest protest in Montreal’s history with 10,000 trade unionists, leftist activists, college students, and some McGill students at McGill’s Roddick Gates. The majority of the protesters are arrested.
1978 – The US Supreme Court hands down 5–3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
1979 – Emmett Kelly, American clown (b. 1898) died.
1979 – Radiation is released at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station when a cooling plant malfunction releases radioactive steam and radiation near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, The authorities declare a general emergency but did not inform the public until five hours after the gas escaped.
1987 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (Second Doctor Who) (b. 1920) died
1990 – President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
2003 – In a friendly fire incident, two A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft from the United States Idaho Air National Guard’s 190th Fighter Squadron attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing British soldier Matty Hull.
ALSO -
HAPPY RE-BIRTHDAY TO:
1836 - Frederick Pabst, American brewer (d. 1904)
1909 - Nelson Algren, US, novelist (Man with the Golden Arm)
1970 - Vince Vaughn, Minneapolis, Minnesota, American actor (Swingers, Wedding Crashers)
RIP
1953 - Jim Thorpe, versatile American athlete (Olympic gold 1912), dies at 64
1980 - Jesse Owens, (Oly-gold-36), dies at the age of 66
1985 - Marc Chagall, French painter, dies at 97
1994 - Albert Goldman, US rock biographer (Lives of John Lennon, Elvis), dies at 66
2004 - Peter Ustinov, British actor (b. 1921)
2006 - Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1917)
2012 - Earl Scruggs, American bluegrass musician, dies from natural causes at 88
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