March 12

March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). There are 294 days remaining.

Events

  • 515 BC - Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
  • 1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
  • 1894 - Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time
  • 1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
  • 1913 - Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
  • 1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing 400 people.
  • 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march known as Dandi March to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
  • 1933 - Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats."
  • 1938 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
  • 1940 - Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.
  • 1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
  • 1951 - The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the USA for the first time.
  • 1956 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time (500.24)
  • 1958 - In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love).
  • 1960 - A fire at a chemical plant in Pusan, Korea kills 68.
  • 1967 - Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
  • 1968 - Mauritius achieves independence.
  • 1987 - Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
  • 1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
  • 1993 - Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
  • 1993 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
  • 1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
  • 1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
  • 1997 - Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
  • 1999 - Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
  • 2002 - In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
  • 2003 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.
  • 2004 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
  • 2005 - Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stepped down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.

Births

  • 1270 - Charles of Valois, French royal (d. 1325)
  • 1386 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Ashikaga shogun (d. 1428)
  • 1607 - Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist, (d. 1676)
  • 1626 - John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
  • 1637 - Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (d. 1671)
  • 1685 - George Berkeley, Irish theologian, (d. 1753)
  • 1718 - Joseph Damer, English politician (d. 1798)
  • 1806 - Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States, (d. 1863)
  • 1831 - Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)
  • 1824 - Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
  • 1863 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (d. 1938)
  • 1888 - Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer, (d. 1950)
  • 1895 - William C. Lee, U.S. Army general (d. 1948)
  • 1896 - Sir John Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada, (d. 1893)
  • 1912 - Irving Layton, Canadian poet
  • 1918 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
  • 1921 - Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
  • 1921 - Gordon MacRae, American singer, actor, (d. 1986)
  • 1922 - Jack Kerouac, American writer, (d. 1969)
  • 1922 - Lane Kirkland, American union leader (d. 1999)
  • 1923 - Wally Schirra, astronaut
  • 1925 - Harry Harrison, American science fiction author
  • 1928 - Edward Albee, American dramatist
  • 1932 - Andrew Young, American civil rights activist, politician, and ambassador to the United Nations
  • 1932 - Barbara Feldon, American actress
  • 1940 - Al Jarreau, American singer
  • 1941 - Barbara Feldon, American actress and model
  • 1942 - Ratko Mladic, Republika Srpska leader
  • 1945 - Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, American gangster
  • 1946 - Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
  • 1947 - Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist, (d. 1987)
  • 1948 - James Taylor, American musician
  • 1950 - Jon Provost, American actor
  • 1953 - Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and author
  • 1953 - Ron Jeremy, actor
  • 1957 - Steve Harris, English musician (Iron Maiden)
  • 1957 - Marlon Jackson, American singer (The Jackson 5)
  • 1962 - Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
  • 1963 - Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
  • 1965 - Steve Finley, Major League Baseball player
  • 1969 - Graham Coxon, German drummer
  • 1979 - Pete Doherty, English singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)

Deaths

  • 604 - Pope Gregory I
  • 1507 - Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1475)
  • 1889 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
  • 1925 - Sun Yat Sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician (b. 1866)
  • 1935 - Michel Pupin, telephone pioneer
  • 1937 - Charles-Marie Widor, organist and composer (b. 1844)
  • 1943 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor
  • 1944 - Werner Drechsler, German prisoner of war
  • 1944 - Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (b. 1861)
  • 1945 - Anne Frank, diarist (b. 1929)
  • 1947 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
  • 1948 - William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
  • 1955 - Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
  • 1978 - John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
  • 1984 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (b. 1896)
  • 1985 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
  • 1987 - Woody Hayes, college American football coach (b. 1913)
  • 1989 - Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
  • 1990 - Wallace Breem, British author (b. 1926)
  • 1995 - Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
  • 1998 - Beatrice Wood, artist/ceramist (b. 1893)
  • 1999 - Sir Yehudi Menuhin, violinist (b. 1916)
  • 2001 - Morton Downey, Jr., American television talk show host (b. 1933)
  • 2001 - Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels (b. 1927)
  • 2002 - Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
  • 2003 - Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist
  • 2003 - Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
  • 2003 - Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)
  • 2003 - Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

  • Roman Catholic Church - Feast day of St Theophanes
  • Mauritius - National Day
  • Sweden - Namesday of Crown Princess Victoria, an Official Flag Day
  • Ancient Latvia - Gregoru Diena observed

 

Fiction

  • In Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the character Andy Dufresne escapes from Shawshank Prison on March 12, 1975.

External links

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March 11 - March 13 - February 12 - April 12 -- listing of all days