History of 15 March
- 1990 – In Iraq, British journalist Farzad Bazoft was hanged for spying.
- 1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev was elected the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
- 1990 – The Ford Explorer was introduced to the public.
- 1990 – The Soviet parliament ruled that Lithuania’s declaration of independence was invalid and that Soviet law was still in force in the Baltic republic.
- 1991 – Four Los Angeles police officers were indicted in the beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991. (California)
- 1991 – Yugoslav President Borisav Jovic resigned after about a week of anit-communist protests.
- 1994 – U.S. President Clinton extended the moratorium on nuclear testing until September of 1995.
- 1996 – The aviation firm Fokker NV collapsed.
- 1998 – More than 15,000 ethnic Albanians marched in Yugoslavia to demand independence for Kosovo.
- 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 – Libyan Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi began his life sentence in a Scottish jail for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.
- 2002 – In the U.S., Burger King began selling a veggie burger. The event was billed as the first veggie burger to be sold nationally by a fast-food chain.
- 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 – Clive Woodall’s novel “One for Sorrow: Two for Joy” was published. Two days later Woodall sold the film rights to Walt Disney Co. for $1 million.
- 2007 – The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by member states of the European Union.
- 2011 – A murder-suicide in Liège, Belgium, kills six and wounds 125 people at a Christmas market.
- 2018 – A high-speed train crashes in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least nine people and injuring 84.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Amy Lee, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1981 – Mathis Bailey, American-Canadian novelist and fiction writer
- 1982 – Dan Hamhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1982 – Ayumi Kinoshita, Japanese actress and model
- 1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player
- 1982 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2019)
- 1982 – Koutaro Tanaka, Japanese actor
- 1982 – Dominik Werling, German footballer
- 1983 – Matt Deis, American bass player and songwriter
- 1983 – Otylia Jędrzejczak, a Polish swimmer
- 1983 – Janeth Jepkosgei, Kenyan runner
- 1984 – Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer
- 1984 – Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish swimmer
- 1985 – Michael Bumpus, American football player
- 1985 – Laurence Leboeuf, Canadian actress
- 1985 – Alby Mathewson, New Zealand rugby player
- 1986 – Mathieu Gnanligo, Beninese sprinter
- 1988 – Rickie Fowler, American golfer
- 1988 – Olly Lancashire, English footballer
- 1988 – James Tamou, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Hellen Onsando Obiri, Kenyan runner
- 1989 – Ben Ridge, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
- 1991 – Sénah Mango, Togolese footballer
- 1991 – Aaron Telitz, American race car driver
- 1996 – Gleyber Torres, Venezuelan baseball player