March 3
March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years ). There are 303 days remaining.
Events
1431 - Eugenius IV becomes Pope .
1791 - The United States Mint is created by the U.S. Congress .
1820 - The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise .
1845 - Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state .
1845 - For the first time the U.S. Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto .
1849 - Minnesota Territory organized as a political division of the United States .
1849 - The United States Department of the Interior is established.
1849 - The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins .
1857 - France and the United Kingdom declare war on China .
1863 - Idaho Territory organized as a political division of the United States .
1865 - The U.S. Congress authorizes formation of the Freedmen's Bureau .
1873 - Censorship : The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law , making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.
1877 - Rutherford B. Hayes is privately inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States (his public inauguration coming on March 5 ).
1878 - Bulgaria regains its independence from Ottoman Empire .
1879 - The United States Geological Survey is created.
1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State as a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone . (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.)
1904 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison 's cylinder.
1905 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly (the Duma ).
1910 - Rockefeller Foundation : J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he could devote full time to being a philanthropist .
1915 - NACA , the predecessor of NASA founded.
1918 - Germany , Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I , and leading to the independence of Finland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania and Poland .
1923 - TIME 1931 - The United States officially adopts "The Star-Spangled Banner " as its national anthem.
1933 - Mount Rushmore National Memorial is dedicated.
1938 - Glenn Cunningham breaks the world record for the indoor mile run by completing the distance in 4 minutes, 4.4 seconds.
1939 - In Mumbai , Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India .
1943 - World War II : In London , 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station .
1945 - World War II: Previously neutral Finland declares war on the Axis powers .
1945 - World War II: Hundreds of people die in The Hague after the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombs a civilian area in the city.
1949 - The Tucker Automobile Corporation folds.
1953 - A Canadian Pacific Comet Jet crashes in Karachi , Pakistan killing 11.
1955 - Elvis Presley appears on television for the first time.
1957 - In Frankfurt . Germany , Corry Brokken wins the second Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Net als toen" (Like it used to be).
1958 - Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
1959 - The San Francisco Giants officially name their new stadium Candlestick Park .
1961 - Hassan II becomes King of Morocco .
1969 - Apollo program : NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module .
1969 - In a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy .
1971 - Beginning of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and India's official entry to the Bangladesh Liberation War in support of Mukti Bahini
1972 - The space probe Pioneer X is launched by NASA .
1974 - A Turkish DC-10 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris , killing all 346 aboard.
1974 - Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials reach an agreement for eventual reconciliation into one communion , marking the first agreement between the two churches since the Reformation .
1976 - Fleetwood Mac records Rumours 1978 - Charles Chaplin 's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey , Switzerland but are recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva .
1985 - Censorship : Women Against Pornography award their "Pig Award" to Huggies Diapers , claiming that the television ads had "crossed the line between eye-catching and porn ."
1991 - An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
1995 - In Somalia , the United Nations peacekeeping mission ends.
1997 - The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere , Sky Tower in downtown Auckland , New Zealand , was opened after two and a half years of construction.
1999 - LaGrand case : The State of Arizona executes Walter LaGrand , a German despite German legal action in the International Court of Justice .
1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones begin their successful attempt to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon without stopping.
2001 - A U.S. Air Force Materials Command C-23 Sherpa transport crashes during stormy weather in the U.S. state of Georgia , killing 21.
2002 - Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favour of their country becoming a member of the United Nations .
2005 - Mayorthorpe Massacre : Four members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are gunned down during a drug bust near Mayorthorpe, Alberta in the worst attack on the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion .
2005 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane around the world solo without any stops without refuelling - a journey of 40,234 km/25,000 mi completed in 67 hours and 2 minutes.
2005 - At 18:17Z , a 3500-tonne freighter , M/V Karen Danielsen , crashes into the Western bridge of the Great Belt Bridge of Denmark , 800 m from Funen . All traffic across the bridge stopped, effectively separating Denmark in two.
Births
1455 - King John II of Portugal , (d. 1495 )
1606 - Edmund Waller , English poet (d. 1687 )
1792 - Jean-Jacques Willmar , luxembourgish politician (d. 1866 )
1805 - Jonas Furrer , Swiss politician and first President of the Swiss Confederation , (d. 1861 )
1831 - George Pullman , inventor, industrialist, (d. 1897 )
1839 - Jamshedji Tata , industrialist, father of Indian Industry,Philanthropist (d. 1904 )
1845 - Georg Cantor , German mathematician, (d. 1918 )
1847 - Alexander Graham Bell , Scottish inventor, (d. 1922 )
1873 - William Green , labor union leader, President of the American Federation of Labor , (d. 1952 )
1892 - Fred A. Busse , mayor of Chicago (d. 1914 )
1893 - Beatrice Wood , artist, ceramicist, (d. 1998 )
1895 - Matthew Ridgway , Supreme Allied Commander of NATO , United States Army Chief of Staff , (d. 1993 )
1911 - Jean Harlow , actress, (d. 1937 )
1918 - Fritz Thiedemann , equestrian, (d. 2000 )
1920 - Ronald Searle , illustrator
1920 - James Doohan , actor
1920 - Julius Boros , golfer (d. 1994 )
1923 - Barney Martin , American actor
1923 - Doc Watson , American bluegrass musician
1926 - James Merrill , Pulitzer Prize winning poet, (d. 1995 )
1926 - Lys Assia , singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner
1928 - France Križanič , Slovene mathematician , (d. 2002 )
1930 - Heiner Geißler , German politician
1930 - Ion Iliescu , former President of Romania
1933 - Lee Radziwill , socialite, fashion executive
1937 - Bobby Driscoll , American actor (d. 1968 )
1940 - Perry Ellis , fashion designer (d. 1986 )
1941 - Jutta Hoffmann , actress
1945 - George Miller , Australian film director
1946 - John Virgo , English snooker player
1947 - Jennifer Warnes , American singer, songwriter
1949 - Jüri Allik , Estonian psychologist
1949 - Gloria Hendry , actress
1950 - Tim Kazurinsky , American actor, comedian
1953 - Robyn Hitchcock 1958 - Miranda Richardson , actress
1959 - Ira Glass , radio host
1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee , athlete
1962 - Herschel Walker , American football player
1966 - Tone-Loc , musician
1970 - Julie Bowen , American actress
1974 - David Faustino , actor
1977 - Ronan Keating , Irish singer
1981 - Lil' Flip , rap musician
1982 - Jessica Biel , American actress
Deaths
1111 - Bohemund I , prince of Antioch
1703 - Robert Hooke , scientist (b. 1635 )
1706 - Johann Pachelbel , German composer (b. 1653 )
1707 - Aurangzeb , Mughal emperor (b. 1618 )
1792 - Robert Adam , architect , (b. 1728 )
1850 - Oliver Cowdery , American religious leader (b. 1806 )
1937 - Amelia Earhart , American aviatrix, apparently disappeared over the Pacific Ocean
1943 - George Thompson , English cricketer (b. 1877 )
1959 - Lou Costello , actor, comedian (b. 1906 )
1961 - Paul Wittgenstein , pianist (b. 1887 )
1966 - Maxfield Parrish , American artist (b. 1870 )
1966 - Alice Pearce , American actress
1966 - William Frawley , American actor
1982 - Georges Perec , novelist and essayist (b. 1936 )
1983 - Hergé , Belgian comics creator (b. 1907 )
1987 - Danny Kaye , American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1913 )
1988 - Sewall Wright , biologist, (b. 1889 )
1990 - Gerard Blitz , Belgian swimmer
1991 - Arthur Murray , dancer, dance instructor (b. 1895 )
1993 - Albert Sabin , Polish-American medical researcher
1993 - Carlos Marcello , gangster
1994 - Howard W. Hunter , president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1907 )
1994 - Anita Morris , American actress, dancer
1996 - John Cardinal Krol , American Catholic clergyman
1998 - Fred Friendly , American broadcast executive
1999 - Walter LaGrand , German national, (executed)
1999 - Gerhard Herzberg , German-Canadian chemist
2001 - Louis Edmonds , American actor
2002 - Harlan Howard , American country musician
2003 - Horst Buchholz , German actor (b. 1933 )
2003 - Peter Smithson , architect (b. 1923 )
2003 - Hank Ballard , American singer
2005 - Rinus Michels , Dutch football coach (b.1928 )
Holidays and observances
External links
March 2 - March 4 - February 3 - April 3 -- listing of all days
