Leland Stanford, tycoon, robber baron, and former California Governor was born on this day in 1824.
Today is Friday, March 9, 2018, the 68th day of the year with 297 days remaining.
- Sunrise: 6:30am
- Sunset: 6:11pm
...giving us 11 hours and 42 minutes of daylight. 56% of the waning moon will be visible.
Tides at the Golden Gate
- High: 4:43am/7:18pm
- Low: 11:47am/11:50pm
Special international celebrations today…
- Baron Bliss Day - Belize
It’s also…
- Barbie Day
- Get Over It Day
- Joe Franklin Day
- Middle Name Pride Day
- National Day of Unplugging
- Panic Day
- Shabbat Across America/Canada
- US Snow Shoe Days
- National Crabmeat Day
- National Meatball Day
On this day in…
1454 - Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy. Matthias Ringmann, a German mapmaker, named the American continent in his honor.
1617 - The Treaty of Stolbovo ended the occupation of Northern Russia by Swedish troops.
1734 - The Russians took Danzig (Gdansk) in Poland.
1745 - The first carillon was shipped from England to Boston,MA.
1793 - Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first balloon flight in North America. The event was witnessed byU.S. President George Washington.
1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine de Beauharnais were married. They were divorced in 1809.
1799 - TheU.S. Congress contracted with Simeon North, of Berlin,CT, for 500 horse pistols at the price of $6.50 each.
1812 - Swedish Pomerania was seized by Napoleon.
1820 - TheU.S. Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for westward expansion of North America.
1822 - Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth.
1832 - Abraham Lincoln announced that he would run for a political office for the first time. He was unsuccessful in his run for a seat in theIllinois state legislature.
1839 - The French Academy of Science announced the Daguerreotype photo process.
1858 - Albert Potts was awarded a patent for the letter box.
1859 - The National Association of Baseball Players adopted the rule that limited the size of bats to no more than 2-1/2 inches in diameter.
1860 - The first Japanese ambassador to theU.S. was appointed.
1862 - During theU.S. Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (built from the remnants of the USS Merrimack fought to a draw in a five-hour battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1863 - General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
1897 - A patent was issued to William Spinks and William Hoskins for cue chalk.
1900 - In Germany, women petition Reichstag for the right to take university entrance exams.
1905 - In Egypt,U.S. archeologist Davies discovered the royal tombs of Tua and Yua.
1905 - In Manchuria, Japanese troops surrounded 200,000 Russian troops that were retreating from Mudken.
1905 - In Congo, Belgian Vice Gov. Costermans committed suicide following an investigation of colonial policy.
1906 - In the Philippines, fifteen Americans and 600 Moros were killed in the last two days of fighting.
1909 - The French National Assembly passed an income tax bill.
1910 - Union men urged for a national sympathy strike for miners inPennsylvania.
1911 - The funding for five new battleships was added to the British military defense budget.
1916 - Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus,New Mexico. 17 people were killed by the 1,500 horsemen.
1929 - Eric Krenz became the first athlete to toss the discus over 160 feet.
1932 - Eamon De Valera was elected president of the Irish Free State and pledged to abolish all loyalty to the British Crown.
1933 - TheU.S. Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
1936 - The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.
1945 - "Those Websters" debuted on CBS radio.
1945 - During World War II,U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan.
1946 - The A.F.L. accused Juan Peron of using the army to establish a dictatorship over Argentine labor.
1949 - The first all-electric dining car was placed in service on the Illinois Central Railroad.
1954 - WNBT-TV (now WNBC-TV), in New York, broadcast the first local color television commercials. The ad was Castro Decorators of New York City. (New York)
1956 - British authorities arrested and deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus. He was accused of supporting terrorists.
1957 - Egyptian leader Nasser barred U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
1959 - Mattel introduced Barbie at the annual Toy Fair in New York.
1964 - Production began on the first Ford Mustang.
1965 - The firstU.S. combat troops arrived in South Vietnam.
1967 - Svetlana Alliluyeva, Josef Stalin's daughter defected to the United States.
1969 - "The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour" was canceled by CBS-TV.
1975 - Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline.
1975 - Iraq launched an offensive against the rebel Kurds.
1977 - About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington,DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.
1983 - The official Soviet news agency TASS says that U.S. President Reagan is full of "bellicose lunatic anti-communism."
1985 - "Gone With The Wind" went on sale in video stores across theU.S. for the first time.
1986 -U.S. Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
1987 - Chrysler Corporation offered to buy American Motors Corporation.
1989 - TheU.S. Senate rejected John Tower as a choice for a cabinet member. It was the first rejection in 30 years.
1989 - In Malaysia, 30 Asian nations conferred on the issue of "boat people."
1989 - In theU.S., a strike forced Eastern Airlines into bankruptcy.
1989 - In theU.S.,President George H.W. Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
1990 - Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as the first female and Hispanic surgeon general.
1993 - Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights. (California)
1995 - The Canadian Navy arrested a Spanish trawler for illegally fishing off of Newfoundland.
2000 - In Norway, the coalition government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned as a result of an environmental dispute.
2011 - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation that abolished the death penalty in his state
Today’s birthday celebrants include (or included)...
- Amerigo Vespucci 1454
- Leland Stanford 1824
- Eddie Foy, Sr. 1854
- Will Geer 1902
- Samuel Barber 1910
- Fred Clark 1914
- Mickey Spillane 1918
- Carl Betz 1920
- Andre Courreges 1923
- Billy Ford (Billy & Lillie) 1925
- Keely Smith 1932 - Actress, singer
- Lloyd Price 1933 - Singer
- Yuri Gagarin 1934
- Joyce Van Patten 1934 - Actress
- Marty Ingels 1936 - Actor, comedian
- Mickey Gilley 1936 - Country singer
- Raul Julia 1940
- Jim Colbert 1941
- Mark Lindsay 1942 - Singer (Paul Revere & the Raiders)
- Bobby Fischer 1943 - Chess player
- Charles Gibson 1943 - TV host ("Good Morning America")
- Trevor Burton 1944 - Musician (The Move)
- Gary Leeds (The Walker Brothers) 1944
- Trish Van Devere 1945 - Actress
- Robin Trower 1945 - Musician (Procol Harum)
- Jim Cregan 1946 - Musician (Family)
- Jeffrey Osborne 1948 - Singer (L.T.D.)
- Jimmie Fadden 1948 - Country singer (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
- Jaime Lyn Bauer 1949 - Actress
- Andy North 1950
- Michael Kinsley 1951 - Journalist
- Martin Fry 1958 - Musician (ABC)
- Benito Santiago 1960 - Baseball player
- Linda Fiorentino 1960 - Actress
- Juliette Binoche 1964 - Actress
- Robert Sledge 1968 - Musician (Ben Folds Five)
- Emmanuel Lewis 1971 - Actor ("Webster")
- Kerr Smith 1972 - Actor ("Dawson's Creek)
