Today in World History
March 10 Events
1982:
People braced for the world to end as a result of all nine (now eight) planets of the solar system aligning on one side of the Sun. The panic had come about thanks to the 1974 book
The Jupiter Effect, written by scientists John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann. They had predicted global disasters such as tidal waves, catastrophic storms, and earthquakes if or when this were to occur. Despite the doomsday predictions, the world continued to turn, though some people did throw end-of-the-world parties.
241 BC:
At the Battle of the Aegates Islands the Romans sink the entire Carthaginian fleet of 50 ships, ending the First Punic War.
222 AD:
Hard-partying roman emperor Elagabalus angers city officials with his socially deviant behavior, leading them to assassinate him.
What happens when a 14-year-old boy becomes the world's most powerful man? This is the story of one of Rome's worst emperors, Elagabalus.
carpediemtours.com
1656:
In the colony of Virginia, suffrage is extended to all free men regardless of their religion.
1776:
”Common Sense” by Thomas Paine is published.
Penn experts share insights into Thomas Paine’s influential written work, 250 years after its publication.
penntoday.upenn.edu
1785:
Thomas Jefferson is appointed US minister to France.
1791:
John Stone of Concord, Massachusetts, patents a pile driver.
1831:
The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France.
1848:
The treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo is ratified by the US Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.
Signed February 2, 1848, the treaty compelled Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory, bringing more than 525,000 square miles under US sovereignty.
www.bunkhistory.org
1849:
Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions.
1862:
US issues first paper money in the form of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000 notes
1864:
Local hell-raiser Jack Slade is hanged in one of the more troubling incidents of frontier vigilantism.
Don’t cross him, don’t boss him He’s wild in his sorrow— Willie Nelson, The Red Headed StrangerDouble hanging, Montana VigilantesJack Slade (1) was hanged at Virginia City – in what was then Idaho Territory– by the local Committee of Vigilance on March 10, 1864. According to Frederick Allen’s...
www.pointshistory.org
One of the best-known desperados the West ever produced was Joseph A. Slade, agent of the Overland Stage Line on the mountain division.
www.legendsofamerica.com
1864:
President Abraham Lincoln signs a document officially promoting then-Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank of lieutenant general of the US Army, tasking the future president with the job of leading all Union troops against the Confederate Army.
On March 10, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signs a brief document officially promoting then-Major General Ulysses S...
www.history.com
1876:
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call to Thomas Watson, saying “Watson, come here. I need you.”
1888:
Heavyweight boxing champ John L. Sullivan fights Charlie Mitchell to a 30-round draw.
1891:
Almon Brown Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1893:
New Mexico State University cancels its first graduation ceremony, because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.
1902:
A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera.
Several leading inventors have been credited with inventing the first motion picture camera. Here are some of the best-known.
www.thecollector.com
1903:
Playwright, journalist and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce - who was noted for her satiric sense of humor, which she displayed in witty quips such as “No good deed goes unpunished”, was born in NYC.
1906:
An underground fire sparked a massive coal dust explosion that virtually destroyed a vast maze of mines, killing 1,060 workers in northern France.
1913:
In Toledo, Ohio, William Knox became the first bowler to make a perfect score of 300 in an American Bowling Congress tournament.
Philadelphia bowler William Knox wrapped up an American Bowling Congress (ABC) tournament with an exciting finale. During the third game, he rolled strike after strike, and the crowd began to pay attention. When the pins fell in the final strike of the final frame, the spectators and officials...
www.bowlingheritage.com
1913:
Harriett Tubman passes away at the age of 90.
"I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had the right to, liberty or death; if I could have one, I would have the other.” – Harriet Tubman, 1886
www.womenshistory.org
Harriet Tubman was an escaped enslaved woman who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading enslaved p...
www.history.com
1916:
James Herriot, Scottish writer (All Creatures Great and Small) and country veterinarian is born.
1920:
Home Rule Act is passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by the southern counties, where the Anglo-Irish War continues for a year.
1924:
The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
1927:
Prussia lifts its Nazi ban, allowing Adolf Hitler to speak in public.
1933:
Five weeks after Hitler became chancellor of Nazi Germany, the country's first concentration camp opened at Dachau. At least 32,000 people died there between 1933 and 1945.
1933:
Nevada becomes the first U.S. state to regulate drugs.
1937:
Benny Goodman unofficially crowned the “King of Swing” at New York City's Paramount Theater as his band plays before exuberant sell-out crowd filled with teens; unable to attend nightclub performances, kids dance in the aisles.
1940:
Chuck Norris is born in Oklahoma.
When Chuck Norris lifts weights, the weights get in shape.
www.menshealth.com
1945:
Deadliest air raid of World War II sets Tokyo on fire after nighttime B-29 bombings; more than 100,000 people die, mostly civilians.
1949:
American citizen Mildred Gillars, who earned the nickname “Axis Sally” as a radio propagandist for the Nazi government during World War II, was convicted of treason; she served 12 years in prison.
Mildred 'Axis Sally' Gillars taunted U.S. troops from a radio studio in Berlin, earning nearly universal animosity from her fellow Americans.
warfarehistorynetwork.com
1951:
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner.
1952:
Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba.
1953:
North Korean gunners at Wonsan fire on the USS Missouri, the ship responds by firing 998 rounds at the enemy position.
1954:
President Dwight Eisenhower calls Senator Joseph McCarthy a peril to the Republican Party.
www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov
Joseph R. McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, is best known for his high-profile attempts to expose communists i...
www.history.com
1957:
Osama bin laden is born in Saudi Arabia.
1958:
Sharon Stone is born in Pennsylvania.
1959:
Dorothy Comiskey Rigney sells her 54% share of MLB Chicago White Sox to Bill Veeck, for $27M
1962:
Gala preview dinner held atop the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, prior to opening of the Century 21 Exposition (World's Fair)
1963:
MLB infielder Pete Rose debuts with Cincinnati at spring training in Tampa with base hits in his first two at bats.
1965:
"I've Got a Tiger By the Tail" album by Buck Owens is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1965).
1968:
North Vietnamese and communist Laotion troops overrun a secret US radar facility, Lima Site 85, on a Laos mountaintop.
1969:
James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King and is sentenced to 99 years in jail.
1970:
The U.S. Army accuses Capt. Ernest Medina and four other soldiers of committing crimes at My Lai (also known in March 1968. The charges ranged from premeditated murder to rape and the “maiming” of a suspect under interrogation. Medina was the company commander of Lt. William Calley and other soldiers charged with murder and numerous crimes at My Lai.
The U.S. Army accuses Capt. Ernest Medina and four other soldiers of committing crimes at My Lai (also known as Songm...
www.history.com
1971:
The Senate approves a Constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 60s and was driven by the military draft held during the Vietnam War. The draft conscripted men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the US Armed Forces, primarily the Army, to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam. This meant men could be required to fight and possibly die for their nation in wartime at 18. However, these same citizens could not have a legal say in the government's decision to wage that war until the age of 21. A youth rights movement emerged in response, calling for a similarly reduced voting age. A common slogan of proponents of lowering the voting age stated "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote"
In 1971, the 26th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution lowered the voting age to 18.
www.rockthevote.org
1972:
"What's Up, Doc?", Peter Bogdanovich's film homage to screwball comedies, starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn & Kenneth Mars premieres.
1975:
The North Vietnamese Army attacks the South Vietnamese town of Buon Ma Thout, the offensive will end with total victory in Vietnam.
1977:
Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
Insert your own joke here.
1978:
"The Incredible Hulk", starring Bill Bixby as David Banner and Lou Ferrigno as his green alter-ego, premieres on CBS.
1980:
Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, lends his support to the militants holding the American hostages in Tehran.
1982:
The United States bans Libyan oil imports, because of the continued support of terrorism.
1983:
Carrie Underwood was born in Oklahoma.
1984:
Olivia Wilde was born in NYC.
1987:
The Vatican condemns surrogate parenting/embryo transfer, as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.
1988:
With his heart greatly weakened from years of cocaine abuse, 30-year old musician Andy Gibb dies due to an inflammatory heart virus.
1991:
Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert held at Carnegie Hall, NYC; performers include: Sting, Elton John, Gilberto Gil; Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Caetano Veloso.
1993:
Dr. David Gunn is shot and killed during an anti-abortion protest at the Pensacola Women’s Medical Services clinic. Dr. Gunn performed abortions at several clinics in Florida and Alabama and was getting out of his car in the clinic’s parking lot when Michael Griffin shouted, “Don’t kill any more babies!” and shot the doctor three times in the back.
1994:
Bad Bunny was born in Puerto Rico.
1997:
The PalmPilot, a pioneering computer PDA developed by Jeffrey Hawkins, is released.
The PalmPilotThe PalmPilot was the first wildly popular handheld computer. Its success helped bridge the previously separate worlds of the electronic organizer, the PC, and later, the mobile phone.The PalmPilot succeeded by redefining the handheld as an accessory to the personal computer, not...
www.computerhistory.org
1997:
The fledgling Warner Brothers (WB) television network airs the inaugural episode of what will become its first bonafide hit show,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The show, which emphasized feminist themes, centered on Buffy Summers, who battles vampires, demons, and other assorted supernatural forces of evil.
1998:
Lloyd Bridges passed away at the age of 85.
2000:
NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
2003:
18th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: AC/DC; The Clash; Elvis Costello and the Attractions; The Police; The Righteous Brothers; Benny Benjamin; Floyd Cramer; Steve Douglas; and Mo Ostin.
2008:
23rd Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Leonard Cohen; The Dave Clark Five; Madonna; John Mellencamp; The Ventures; Little Walter; Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff.
2010:
Carlos Slim becomes the first Mexican and person from an emerging economy to top Forbes Richest Person list, with net worth of $53.5 billion.
2019:
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 passengers and crew. This and the prior Lion Air Flight 610 led to all 387 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.
2020:
Russian lower house of Parliament passes legislation to allow Vladimir Putin to hold office of President for life.
2021:
Merrick Garland confirmed as US Attorney General by US Senate.
2021:
Video gaming platform Roblox goes public on the New York Stock Exchange, valued at $45 billion.
2022:
After a 99-day lockout, Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association reach a new collective bargaining agreement; MLB teams set to play full 162 game season in 2022.
2022:
True global death toll from COVID-19 estimated at 18.2 million in new study by Washington University.
2023:
Thai health authorities report 1.3 million people have suffered air pollution-related diseases in 2023 in northern Thailand due to smog nearly 125 times WHO standards from farm burning and forest fires.
2023:
Xi Jinping appointed to a historic third term as President of China (previously restricted to two terms).
2023:
California's Silicon Valley Bank, the main bank for tech-start ups, collapses after a sudden bank run and credit crisis - largest US bank fail since 2008.
2024:
"Barbenheimer"; at the 96th Academy awards, Oppenheimer wins seven oscars while Barbie wins one.
