TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – 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
1341 During the Hundred Years War, an alliance was signed between Roman Emperor Louis IV and France’s Philip VI.
1729 Sister St Stanislas Hachard, 1st American nun, takes her vows in New Orleans
1781 During the American Revolution, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse took place in North Carolina. British General Cornwallis’ 1,900 soldiers defeated an American force of 4,400.
1820 Maine is admitted as the 23rd state.
1892 New York State unveils the new automatic ballot voting machine
1903 The British complete the conquest of Nigeria.
1913 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson held the first open presidential news conference.
1916 General John Pershing and his 15,000 troops chase Pancho Villa into Mexico.
1917 Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar abdicates and nominates his brother Grand Duke Michael to succeed him
1919 American Legion forms (Paris France)
1937 The first hospital blood bank in the United States was established, in Chicago, at Cook County Hospital.
1949 Almost four years after the end of World War II, clothes rationing in Great Britain ends.
1955 The U.S. Air Force unveils the first self-guided missile
1965 T.G.I. Friday’s 1st restaurant opens in NYC
1966 Racial rioting broke out again in the Watts area of Los Angeles.
1977 US House of Representatives begins 90 day test of televising its sessions
1985 The first Internet domain name, symbolics.com is registered
1989 The U.S. Food and Drug administration decided to impound all fruit imported from Chili after two cyanide-tainted grapes were found in Philadelphia, PA.
1991 Four Los Angeles police are charged in the beating of Rodney King.
2001 The world’s largest oil rig, located off Brazil and operated by Petrobras, suffers three explosions
2004 Scientists reported the discovery of Sedna, the most distant object in the solar system.
2017 Disney refuses to cut gay moment in film “Beauty and the Beast” for Malaysian censors, instead pulls film from Malaysia
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
