TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MARCH 29
1461 The armies of two kings, Henry VI and Edward IV, collide at Towton.
1638 A permanent European colony is established in present-day Delaware.
1673 English King Charles II accepts Test Act: Roman Catholic excluded of public functions
1798 Republic of Switzerland forms
1848 For the first time in recorded history, Niagara Falls stopped flowing. An ice jam in the Niagara River above the rim of the falls caused the water to stop.
1867 The United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars.
1867 The North America Act was passed by the British parliament, creating the dominion of Canada.
1879 British troops of the 90th Light Infantry Regiment repulse a major attack by Zulu tribesmen in northwest Zululand.
1886 Coca-Cola goes on sale for the first time at a drugstore in Atlanta. Its inventor, Dr. John Pemberton, claims it can cure anything from hysteria to the common cold.
1912 Captain Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in his diary “the end cannot be far”
1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Russians and were sentenced to death.
1952 President Harry Truman removes himself from the presidential race.
1961 The 23rd amendment, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote for president, is ratified.
1971 Lt. William L. Calley Jr. is found guilty for his actions in the My Lai massacre.
1973 The last U.S. troops withdraw from South Vietnam.
1974 Chinese farmers discover the Terracotta Army near Xi’an, 8,000 clay warrior statues buried to guard the tomb of China’s 1st emperor, Qin Shi Huang
1976 Eight Ohio National Guardsmen are indicted for shooting four Kent State students during an anti-war protest on May 4, 1970.
1983 Erno Rubik was granted a patent for his Magic Cube. (U.S. Patent 4,378,116)
1987 Hulk Hogan took 11 minutes, 43 seconds to pin Andre the Giant in front of 93,136 at Wrestlemania III fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI.
1992 Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton said “I didn’t inhale and I didn’t try it again” in reference to when he had experimented with marijuana.
1993 The South Korean government agreed to pay financial support to women who had been forced to have sex with Japanese troops during World War II.
1995 The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment that would have limited terms to 12 years in the U.S. House and Senate.
1999 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever
2004 Ireland becomes the first country to ban smoking in all workplaces
2010 Two Chechen suicide bombers detonate their devices in the Moscow underground
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
