ThisDayThatYear.com - Events from History on March 20

Events from History on March 20

1345 : Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction: thought "cause of plague epidemic"
1525 : Paris' parliament begins pursuit of Protestants
1569 : Duke van Alva leads "tenth penning" in Ponts the C‚
1598 : French king Henri IV & duke van Mercour sign treaty
1602 : United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) forms
1616 : Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1627 : France & Spain signs accord for fighting protestantism
1697 : Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"
1760 : Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1800 : French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, & advance to Cairo
1814 : Prince Willem Frederik becomes monarch of Netherlands
1815 : Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
1816 : US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions
1833 : US & Siam sign commercial treaty
1848 : King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez
1852 : Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)
1863 : Battle of Pensacola FL -evacuated by Federals
1865 : 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville NC
1865 : Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
1868 : Jesse James Gang robs bank in Russelville Kentucky of $14,000
1883 : Unity treaty of Paris signed: protects industrial property
1885 : John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine
1885 : Yiddish theater opens in NY with Golldfaden operetta
1886 : 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Mass
1888 : Start of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia"
1890 : General Federation of Womans' Clubs founded
1890 : German emperor Wilhelm II fires republic chancellor Otto Von Bismarck
1896 : Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens
1896 : Uprising in Matabeleland
1897 : 1st US orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in NY
1897 : France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
1906 : George B Shaws "Captain Brassbound's Conversion," premieres in London
1911 : National Squash Tennis Association forms (NYC)
1911 : Winter Garden Theater opens at 1634 Broadway NYC
1914 : 1st international figure-skating tournament held in US, New Haven
1916 : Allies attack Zeebrugge Belgium
1920 : 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (1« months)
1920 : US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld
1920 : US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
1922 : USS Langley is commissioned, Navy's 1st aircraft Carrier
1922 : WIP-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions
1923 : Bavarian minister of Interior refuses to forbid Nazi SA
1923 : Belgian Senate rejects Dutch University in Ghent
1924 : Finnair begins scheduled flight of Helsinki-Tallinn
1930 : Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph
1931 : Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin
1932 : Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kara-Kalpak ASSR
1933 : Dachau, 1st concentration camp, completed
1934 : Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Phila A's in
1934 : Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany
1934 : Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany
1934 : exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers
1935 : "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio
1937 : Franco-offensive at Guadalajara Spain
1939 : 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania
1940 : Paul Reynoud becomes French premier
1941 : Nazi-German/Yugoslav pact drawn
1942 : Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia
1942 : Gen MacArthur vows, "I shall return"
1942 : Major German assault on Malta
1943 : British offensive against Mareth-line
1943 : German U-384 bombed & sinks
1944 : Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16
1944 : Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes
1945 : US 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar
1946 : Belgian govt of Spaak, resigns
1947 : 180-metric ton blue whale (record) caught in South Atlantic
1948 : 1st live televised musical Eugene Ormandy on CBS followed in 90
1948 : 20th Academy Awards - "Gentleman's Agreement," L Young, R Colman win
1948 : minutes by 2nd live televised musical Arturo Toscvanni on NBC
1951 : Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1952 : 24th Academy Awards - "American in Paris," H Bogart & Vivian Leigh win
1952 : Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan
1952 : US senate ratifies peace treaty with Japan
1953 : Senator Edwin C Johnson offers a bill to give clubs the sole
1954 : "King & I" closes at St James Theater NYC after 1246 performances
1954 : 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76
1954 : 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)
1955 : KXTV TV channel 10 in Sacramento, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 : 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends
1956 : E Ochab succeeds Beirut as 1st secretary of Polish CP
1956 : Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes
1956 : Tunisia gains independence from France
1956 : USSR performs nuclear test
1956 : Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp
1957 : Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it
1958 : 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon line
1958 : Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting
1958 : Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission
1960 : Asteroid #2103 discovered
1962 : Sjoukje Dijkstra becomes world champion figure skater
1963 : 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)
1963 : Sikkim crown prince Paldan Thondup Namgyal marries Hope Cooke
1964 : ESRO established, European Space Research Organization
1965 : 27th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Michigan 91-80
1965 : Venkataraghavan takes 8-72 v NZ at Delhi
1967 : Supremes release "The Happening"
1967 : WOET (now WPTD) TV channel 16 in Dayton, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 : LBJ signs a bill removing gold backing from US paper money
1968 : Military intervene in South-Yemen (leftist ministers resign)
1969 : Abebe Bikila's auto-accident, near Addis Ababa
1969 : Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1969 : US president Nixon proclaims he will end Vietnam war in 1970
1972 : 19 mountain climbers killed on Japan's Mount Fuji during an avalanche
1972 : S Mansholt succeeds Malfatti as chairman of European Committee
1973 : Roberto Clemente elected to Hall of Fame, 11 weeks after his death
1976 : Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.70)
1976 : Patricia Hearst convicted of armed robbery
1977 : Communists/socialists win French municipal elections
1977 : Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as 1st mayor in a century
1977 : Premier Indira Gandhi loses election in India
1978 : Flyers' Rick MacLeash scores on 6th penalty shot against Islanders
1979 : Columbia flies on Shuttle carrier aircraft to Kennedy Space Center
1980 : The Mi Amigo ship containing England's pirate Radio Caroline sinks
1980 : US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran
1981 : Argentine ex-president Isabel Per¢n sentenced to 8 years
1981 : Jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Dr
1982 : 1st-class debut of Richie Richardson, Leeward Is v Barbados
1982 : France performs nuclear test
1982 : Joan Jett & Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" goes #1 for 7 wks
1982 : Rev A Treurnicht forms Conservative Party of South Africa
1984 : Andy Kaufman & Fred Blassie's "My Breakfast With Blassie" premieres
1984 : Senate rejects amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools
1985 : Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race
1986 : 228 KPH gust of wind strikes Cairngorm (UK record)
1986 : Jacques Chirac forms French government
1987 : FDA approves sale of AZT (AIDS treatment)
1987 : NASA launches Palapa B2P
1987 : Soap opera "Capitol" final episode
1987 : Soviet filmmakers arrive in Hollywood for an entertainment summit
1987 : Yvonne van Gennip skates ladies world record 5 km (7:20.36)
1988 : David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly," premieres in NYC
1989 : Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation
1989 : Richard J Kerr replaces Robert M Gates as deputy director of CIA
1990 : LA Lakers retires Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's #33
1990 : Singer Gloria Estefan breaks her collarbone in a bus accident
1991 : Court awards Peggy Lee $3 million in suit against Disney
1991 : Michael Jackson signs $65M 6 album deal with Sony records
1991 : Supreme Court rules unanimously employers can't exclude women from
1991 : US forgives $2 billion in loans to Poland
1991 : jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage fetus
1992 : Janice Pennington is awarded $1.3M for accident on Price is Right set
1992 : Noriega's wife Felicidad arrested for stealing buttons from dresses
1993 : Dan Jansen skates world record 500m (36.02 sec)
1993 : IRA-bomb kills 3 year old in Warrington England
1993 : Morton Downey Jr weds Lori Krebs
1994 : "Cyrano - The Musical" closes at Neil Simon NYC after 137 perfs
1994 : "Flowering Peach" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 41 performances
1994 : "No Man's Land" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 61 performances
1994 : 14th Golden Raspberry Awards: Indecent Proposal wins
1994 : Brett Hart wins WWF championship at Wrestlemania X
1994 : El Salvador's 1st pres election following 12-year-old civil war
1994 : Mashonaland U-24 beat Matabeleland on 1st inn to win Logan Cup
1994 : Wrestlemania X at MSG NY, Bret Hart pins Yokozuna
1994 : Zulu-king Goodwill Zwelithini founds realm in South Africa
1995 : Beatles song, "Baby It's You," with late John Lennon as lead singer,
1995 : Dow-Jones hits 4083.68 (record)
1995 : Poison Gas released in Tokyo subway 12 killed, 4,700 injured
1995 : is released, 1st Fab Four single in more than 30 years
1996 : "Love Thy Neighbor," opens at Booth Theater NYC
1996 : Erik & Lyle Menendez found guilty of killing their parents
1996 : UK admits humans can catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease)
1997 : "Play On!," opens at Brooks Atkinson Theater NYC for 61 performances
1997 : Liggett admits cigarettes are addictive
1997 : Mens Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne won by Elvis Stojko (CAN)

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