History of 20 March
1900 – It was announced that European powers had agreed to keep China’s doors open to trade.
1902 – France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance. They also asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.
1903 – In Paris, paintings by Henri Matisse were shown at the “Salon des Independents”.
1906 – In Russia, army officers mutiny at Sevastopol.
1911 – The National Squash Tennis Association was formed in New York City.
1914 – The first international figure skating championship was held in New Haven, CT.
1915 – The French called off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.
1918 – The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union asked for American aid to rebuild their army.
1922 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S. troops back from the Rhineland.
1922 – The USS Langley was commissioned. It was the first aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy.
1932 – The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, made the first flight to South America on the regular schedule.
1933 – The first German concentration camp was completed at Dachau.
1934 – Rudolf Kuhnold gave a demonstration of radar in Kiel Germany.
1940 – The British Royal Air Force conducted an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.
1943 – The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.
1947 – A blue whale weighing 180-metric tons was caught in the South Atlantic.
1952 – The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan.
1956 – Mount Bezymianny on the Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) exploded.
1956 – Tunisia gained independence from France.
1963 – The first “Pop Art” exhibit began in New York City.
1964 – The ESRO (European Space Research Organization) was established.
1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.
1967 – Twiggy arrived in the U.S. for a one-week stay.
1969 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S. to close all bases in Taiwan.
1972 – 19 mountain climbers were killed on Japan’s Mount Fuji during an avalanche.
1976 – Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.
1980 – The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.
1981 – Argentine ex-president Isabel Peron was sentenced to eight years in a convent.
1982 – U.S. scientists’ returned from Antarctica with the first land mammal fossils found there.
1984 – The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to permit spoken prayer in public schools.
1985 – For the first time in its 99-year history, Avon representatives received a salary. Up to that time they had been paid solely on commissions.
1985 – CBS-TV presented “The Romance of Betty Boop.”
1985 – Libby Riddles won the 1,135-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog race becoming the first woman to win the Iditarod.
1986 – Fallon Carrington and Jeff Colby were wed on the TV drama “The Colby’s”. “The Colby’s” was an offshoot of “Dynasty”.
1987 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved AZT. The drug was proven to slow the progress of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
1989 – A Washington, DC, district court judge blocked a curfew imposed by Mayor Barry and the City Council.
1989 – In Belfast, two policemen were killed. The IRA claimed responsibility.
1989 – It was announced that Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was under investigation.
1990 – The Los Angeles Lakers retired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s #33.
1990 – Namibia became an independent nation ending 75 years of South African rule.
1990 – Imelda Marcos, the widow of ex-Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went on trial for racketeering, embezzlement, and bribery.
1990 – In Rumania, tanks were sent to the town of Tirgu Mures to quell ethnic riots.
1991 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that employers could not exclude women from jobs where exposure to toxic chemicals could potentially damage a fetus.
1991 – The U.S. forgave $2 billion in loans to Poland.
1992 – Janice Pennington was awarded $1.3 million for the accident on the set of the “Price is Right” TV show.
1993 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared emergency rule. He set a referendum on whether the people trusted him or the hard-line Congress to govern.
1993 – An Irish Republican Army bomb was detonated in Warrington, England. A 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were killed.
1995 – About 35,000 Turkish troops crossed the northern border of Iraq in pursuit of the separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
1995 – In Tokyo, 12 people were killed and more than 5,500 others were sickened when packages containing the nerve gas Sarin was released on five separate subway trains. The terrorists belonged to a doomsday cult in Japan.
1996 – In Los Angeles, Erik and Lyle Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of their parents.
1996 – The U.K. announced that humans could catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease).
1997 – Brian Grazer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1997 – Liggett Group, the maker of Chesterfield cigarettes, settled 22 state lawsuits by admitting the industry marketed cigarettes to teenagers and agreed to warn on every pack that smoking is addictive.
1998 – India’s new Hindu nationalist-led government pledges to “exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons.”
1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones became the first men to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon. The non-stop trip began on March 3 and covered 26,500 miles.
1999 – Legoland California opened Carlsbad, California.
2000 – Former Black Panther Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was captured following a shootout that left a sheriff’s deputy dead.
2002 – Actress Pamela Anderson disclosed that she had hepatitis C.
2002 – Arthur Andersen pled innocent to charges that it had shredded documents and deleted computer files related to the energy company Enron.
2003 – Cisco Systems Inc. announced it was buying The Linksys Group Inc. for $500 million in stock.
2003 – U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq from Kuwait.
2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
2012 – At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.
2014 – Four suspected Taliban members attack the luxurious Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a Supermoon all occur on the same day.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Ian Murray, Scottish footballer
- 1981 – Carl Webb, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1982 – Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer
- 1982 – José Moreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 – Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist
- 1984 – Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer
- 1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress and singer
- 1984 – Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer
- 1985 – Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer
- 1985 – Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player
- 1985 – Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1986 – Julián Magallanes, the Argentinian footballer
- 1986 – Ruby Rose, Australian actress, and model
- 1986 – Román Torres, Panamanian footballer
- 1987 – Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer
- 1987 – Jô, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor, and director
- 1989 – Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi Cricketer
- 1990 – Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer
- 1991 – Mattia Destro, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer
- 1991 – Ethan Lowe, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Sloane Stephens, an American tennis player
- 1995 – Jack Bird, Australian rugby league player