TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MARCH 15
44 BC Julius Caesar is assassinated by high-ranking Roman Senators.
221 Liu Bei, a Chinese warlord and member of the Han royal house, declares himself Emperor of Shu-Han, claiming legitimate succession to the Han Dynasty
1493 Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.
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.
1783 In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d’etat never takes place.
1820 Maine is admitted as the 23rd state.
1892 New York State unveils the new automatic ballot voting machine.
1892 Jesse W. Reno patented the Reno Inclined Elevator. It was the first escalator.
1903 The British complete the conquest of Nigeria.
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
1934 Henry Ford restores the $5-a-day wage.
1935 Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda bans four Berlin newspapers.
1937 The first hospital blood bank in the United States was established, in Chicago, at Cook County Hospital.
1937 1st state contraceptive clinic opens – Raleigh – NC
1938 Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia.
1949 Almost four years after the end of World War II, clothes rationing in Great Britain ends.
1951 The Persian parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry.
1955 The U.S. Air Force unveils the first self-guided missile.
1965 President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress for legislation guaranteeing every American the right to vote.
1968 The U.S. mint halts the practice of buying and selling gold.
1977 The U.S. House of Representatives began a 90-day test to determine the feasibility of showing its sessions on television.
1979 Pope John Paul II published his first encyclical “Redemptor Hominis.” In the work he warned of the growing gap between the rich and poor.
1985 The world’s first internet domain name is registered symbolics.com was registered by the Symbolics Computer Corporation of Massachusetts. There are over 1 billion domains today.
1989 The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs became the 14th Department in the President’s Cabinet.
1990 In Iraq, British journalist Farzad Bazoft was hanged for spying.
1991 Four Los Angeles police are charged in the beating of Rodney King.
1998 CBS’ “60 Minutes” aired an interview with former White House employee Kathleen Willey. Wiley said U.S. President Clinton made unwelcome sexual advances toward her in the Oval Office in 1993.
2002 In Texas, Andrea Yates received a life sentence for drowning her five children on June 20, 2001.
2002 U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Associated Press that the U.S. would stand by a 24-year pledge not to use nuclear arms against states that don’t have them.
2004 Scientists reported the discovery of Sedna, the most distant object in the solar system.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
