March 28
Events
845 - Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.
1776 - Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
1834 - The United States Senate censures President Andrew Jackson for his actions in defunding the Second Bank of the United States.
1854 - Crimean War: United Kingdom and France declare war on Russia.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Glorieta Pass - In New Mexico, Union forces succeed in stopping the Confederate invasion of New Mexico territory. The battle began on March 26.
1910 - Henri Fabre becomes the first person to fly a seaplane after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.
1920 - Actors Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. and Mary Pickford marry.
1930 - Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
1939 - Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the war.
1941 - World War II: Battle of Cape Matapan - In the Mediterranean Sea, British Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham leads the Royal Navy in the destruction of three major Italian battleships and two destroyers.
1942 - World War II: In occupied France, British naval forces raid the German-occupied port of St. Nazaire.
1946 - Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
1947 - The last episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs on radio.
1964 - The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established.
1978 - US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.
1979 - In Pennsylvania, a pump in the reactor cooling system fails at Three Mile Island, resulting in the evaporation of some contaminated water causing a nuclear meltdown.
1990 - President George H. W. Bush presents Jesse Owens with the Congressional Gold Medal.
1994 - In South Africa, Zulus and African National Congress supporters battle in central Johannesburg resulting in eighteen deaths.
2002 - The exhibit "The Italians: Three Centuries of Italian Art" opens at the National Gallery of Australia.
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Births
1569 - Ranuccio Farnese I, Duke of Parma (d. 1622)
1609 - King Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1670)
1760 - Thomas Clarkson, anti-slavery campaigner
1819 - Sir Joseph Bazalgette, civil engineer (d. 1891)
1862 - Aristide Briand, politician, winner of the Nobel Prize in peace 1926 (d. 1932)
1868 - Maxim Gorky, author (d. 1936)
1878 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951)
1890 - Paul Whiteman, bandleader (d. 1967)
1895 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1985)
1897 - Sepp Herberger, football coach (d. 1977)
1899 - Harold B. Lee, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1973)
1902 - Dame Flora Robson, actress (d. 1984)
1903 - Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (d. 1991)
1904 - Werner Bahlsen, biscuit producer (d. 1985)
1905 - Marlin Perkins, naturalist, television host (d. 1986)
1914 - Edmund Muskie, United States politician (d. 1996)
1921 - Dirk Bogarde, actor (d. 1999)
1924 - Freddie Bartholomew, actor (d. 1992)
1928 - Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor
1936 - Mario Vargas Llosa, author and politician
1941 - Jim Turner, American football player
1942 - Neil Kinnock, British statesman
1944 - Rick Barry, basketball player
1948 - Dianne Weist, actress
1955 - Reba McEntire, country music singer, actress
1962 - Jure Franko, Slovenian alpine skier
1968 - Iris Chang, author (d. 2004)
1970 - Vince Vaughn, actor
1974 - Mark King, English snooker player
1977 - Devon, pornographic film actress( I saw a porno with her in it once
)
1981 - Julia Stiles, actress
Deaths
193 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor (assassination) (b. 126)
1285 - Pope Martin IV (b. c. 1210)
1794 - Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (b. 1743)
1868 - James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, British military leader (b. 1797)
1870 - George Henry Thomas, American general (b. 1816)
1881 - Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (b. 1839)
1910 - David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1837)
1941 - Virginia Woolf, writer (b. 1882)
1943 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer and pianist (b. 1873)
1953 - Jim Thorpe, athlete (b. 1887)
1958 - W.C. Handy - Blues composer (b. 1873)
1969 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. General of the Army, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890)
1979 - Emmett Kelly, clown (b. 1898)
1987 - Maria von Trapp, singer
1994 - Eugène Ionesco, playwright (b. 1912)
2000 - Anthony Powell, British novelist (b. 1905)