History of 21 March
1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced to the U.S. Olympic Team that they would not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1980 – On the TV show “Dallas”, J.R. Ewing was shot.
1982 – The movie “Annie” premiered.
1982 – The United States, U.K., and other Western countries condemned the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
1984 – A Soviet submarine crashed into the USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of Japan.
1985 – Larry Flynt offered to sell his pornography empire for $26 million or “Hustler” magazine alone for $18 million.
1985 – Police in Langa, South Africa, opened fire on blacks marching to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville shootings. At least 21 demonstrators were killed.
1989 – Randall Dale Adams was released from a Texas prison after his conviction was overturned. The documentary “The Thin Blue Line” had challenged the evidence of Adams’ conviction for killing a police officer.
1990 – “Normal Life” with Moon Unit & Dweezil Zappa premiered on CBS-TV.
1990 – Australian businessman Alan Bond sold Van Gogh’s “Irises” to the Gerry Museum. Bond had purchased the painting for $53.9 million in 1987.
1990 – “Sydney” starring Valerie Bertinelli premiered on CBS-TV.
1990 – Namibia became independent of South Africa.
1991 – 27 people were lost at sea when two U.S. Navy anti-submarine planes collided.
1991 – The U.N. Security Council lifted the food embargo against Iraq.
1994 – Dudley Moore was arrested for hitting his girlfriend.
1994 – Steven Spielberg won his first Oscars. They were for best picture and best director for “Schindler’s List.”
1994 – Wayne Gretzky tied Gordie Howe’s NHL record of 801 goals.
1994 – Bill Gates of Microsoft and Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular Communications announced a $9 billion plan that would send 840 satellites into orbit to relay information around the globe.
1995 – New Jersey officially dedicated the Howard Stern Rest Area along Route 295.
1995 – Tokyo police raided the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo in search of evidence to link the cult to the Sarin gas released on five Tokyo subway trains.
1999 – Israel’s Supreme Court rejected the final effort to have American Samuel Sheinbein returned to the U.S. to face murder charges for killing Alfred Tello, Jr. Under a plea bargain, Sheinbein was sentenced to 24 years in prison.
2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had overstepped its regulatory authority when it attempted to restrict the marketing of cigarettes to youngsters.
2001 – Nintendo released Game Boy Advance.
2002 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was charged with murder for his role in the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pear. Three other Islamic militants that were in custody were also charged along with seven more accomplices that were still at large.
2002 – In Paris, an 1825 print by French inventor Joseph Nicephore Niepce was sold for $443,220. The print, of a man leading a horse, was the earliest recorded image taken by photographic means.
2003 – It was reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 235.27 (2.8%) at 8,521.97. It was the strongest weekly gain in more than 20 years.
2006 – The social media site Twitter is founded.
2009 – Four police officers are shot and killed and a fifth is wounded in two shootings at Oakland, California.
2016 – It was reported that the Kepler space telescope had captured the visible light of a “shock breakout” when the star KSN 2011a exploded. It was the first time an exploding star’s brilliant flash shockwave had been captured.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Germano Borovicz Cardoso Schweiger, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Sébastien Chavanel, French cyclist
- 1981 – Glenn Hall, Australian rugby league player
- 1981 – Jason King, Australian rugby league player
- 1981 – Todd Polglase, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Maria Elena Camerin, an Italian tennis player
- 1982 – Ejegayehu Dibaba, Ethiopian runner
- 1982 – Aaron Hill, American baseball player
- 1982 – Colin Turkington, Northern Irish race car driver
- 1983 – Lucila Pascua, Spanish basketball player
- 1983 – Jean Ondoa, Cameroonian footballer
- 1984 – Tiago dos Santos Roberto, Brazilian footballer
- 1984 – Guillermo Daniel Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1985 – Ryan Callahan, American ice hockey player
- 1985 – Adrian Peterson, American football player
- 1986 – Scott Eastwood, American actor
- 1986 – Michu, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Romanos Alyfantis, Greek swimmer
- 1986 – Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, Greek pole vaulter
- 1987 – Carlos Carrasco, Venezuelan baseball pitcher
- 1988 – Lee Cattermole, English footballer
- 1988 – Katerina Cechova, Czech sprinter
- 1988 – Erik Johnson, American ice hockey player
- 1988 – Eric Krüger, German sprinter
- 1989 – Jordi Alba, Spanish footballer
- 1989 – Nicolás Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer
- 1990 – Mandy Capristo, German singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1990 – Ryann Krais, American runner and heptathlete
- 1990 – Alex Nimo, Liberian-American soccer player
- 1991 – Luke Chapman, English footballer
- 1991 – Antoine Griezmann, French footballer
- 1992 – Lehlogonolo Masalesa, South African footballer
- 1992 – Erena Mizusawa, Japanese model, and actress
- 1992 – Karolina Plískova, a Czech tennis player
- 1993 – Jake Bidwell, English footballer
- 1993 – Jesse Joronen, Finnish footballer
- 1997 – Martina Stoessel, Argentine actress
- 2000 – Jace Norman, American actor