March 18

March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap
years). There are 288 days remaining.

Events

   * 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula
     emperor.
   * 1229 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor declares himself King of
     Jerusalem.
   * 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany.
   * 1673 - Lord Berkeley sells his part of New Jersey to the Quakers.
   * 1766 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp
     Act, which was very unpopular in the British colonies.
   * 1850 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
   * 1865 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of
     America adjourns for the last time.
   * 1874 - Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive
     trading rights.
   * 1909 - Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter becoming the
     first to broadcast as a ham radio operator.
   * 1913 - George I of Greece is assassinated.
   * 1915 - World War I: British attack on the Dardanelles fails.
   * 1921 - The second Peace of Riga expands Poland's territory.
   * 1922 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison
     for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.
   * 1937 - A natural gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas kills
     298 (most are children).
   * 1938 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its
     borders.
   * 1940 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
     meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against
     France and the United Kingdom.
   * 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
   * 1945 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
   * 1953 - An earthquake hits western Turkey killing 250.
   * 1959 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for
     Hawaiian statehood.
   * 1962 - France and Algeria sign an agreement ending the Algerian War.
   * 1965 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in
     space from spacecraft Voskhod 2.
   * 1968 - Gold standard: The United States Congress repeals the
     requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
   * 1970 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
   * 1971 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing
     200.
   * 1974 - Oil embargo: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo
     against the United States, Europe and Japan.
   * 1980 - In Russia, a Vostok rocket explodes on its launch pad during a
     fueling operation killing 50.
   * 1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of
     Cheops.
   * 1990 - 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen by two
     thieves posing as police officers from the Isabella Stewart Gardner
     Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest art theft in US
     history and the paintings (as of 2003) have not been recovered.
   * 1992 - Microsoft ships Windows 3.1.
   * 1997 - The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while
     en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board
     and later the grounding of all An-24s.

Births

   * 1782 - John Calhoun, Vice President of the United States (+ 1850)
   * 1837 - Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (+ 1908)
   * 1844 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composer (+ 1908)
   * 1858 - Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the compression ignition engine (+
     1913)
   * 1869 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+
     1940)
   * 1877 - Edgar Cayce, psychic (+ 1945)
   * 1886 - Edward Everett Horton, actor (+ 1970)
   * 1903 - O. E. Plauen, illustrator and cartoonist (+ 1944)
   * 1905 - Robert Donat, actor (+ 1958)
   * 1905 - Thomas Townsend Brown, scientist (+ 1985)
   * 1922 - Egon Bahr, politician
   * 1926 - Peter Graves, actor
   * 1927 - George Plimpton, writer
   * 1932 - John Updike, author
   * 1936 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, South African politician
   * 1938 - Charley Pride, country musician
   * 1941 - Wilson Pickett, singer
   * 1950 - Brad Dourif, actor
   * 1959 - Luc Besson, producer, writer, director
   * 1963 - Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, Miss America
   * 1964 - Irene Cara, actress, singer
   * 1964 - Bonnie Blair, Olympic gold medalist in speed skating
   * 1970 - Queen Latifah, singer, actress

Deaths

   * 978 - King Edward the Martyr of England
   * 1745 - Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain
   * 1947 - William Durant, automobile pioneer, founder of General Motors
   * 1965 - King Farouk I of Egypt
   * 1977 - Marien Ngouabi, President of The Congo
   * 1978 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction author
   * 2001 - John Phillips, musician ("The Mamas and the Papas")
   * 2003 - Adam Osborne, computer pioneer.

Holidays and observances

   * Ancient Latvia - Bindus Diena

   * According to Donald Rumsfeld, the American war with Iraq began at 1:00
     March 21, 2003, not today.

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