March 12

March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). There are 294 days remaining.

Events

• 515 BC – Construction is completed on the Temple in Jerusalem.
• 1664 – New Jersey becomes a colony of Britain.
• 1894 – Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time
• 1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts in the US) are founded in the US.
• 1913 – Canberra becomes the capital of Australia.
• 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing 400 people.
• 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march known as Dandi March to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
• 1933 – Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats."
• 1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation declared the following day.
• 1940 – Winter War: Finland signs a harsh peace treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and remaining population are immediately evacuated.
• 1947 – The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
• 1951 – The Dennis the Menace comic strip appears in newspapers across the USA for the first time.
• 1958 – In Hilversum, Netherlands, André Claveau wins the third Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love).
• 1960 – A fire at a chemical plant in Pusan, Korea kills 68.
• 1967 – Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
• 1968 – Mauritius achieves independence.
• 1987 – Les Misérables opens on Broadway.
• 1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the British Commonwealth.
• 1993 – Several bombs explode in Bombay, India killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
• 1993 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to nuclear sites.
• 1994 – A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell, previously touted as 'proof' of the Loch Ness monster, is confirmed to be a hoax.
• 1994 – The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
• 1997 – Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
• 1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
• 2002 – In Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
• 2003 – Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia, assassinated in Belgrade.
• 2004 – Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
• 2005 – Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, stepped down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.

Births

• 1270 – Charles of Valois, French royal (d. 1325)
• 1386 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Ashikaga shogun (d. 1428)
• 1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German hymnist, (d. 1676)
• 1626 – John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)
• 1637 – Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (d. 1671)
• 1685 – George Berkeley, Irish theologian, (d. 1753)
• 1718 – Joseph Damer, English politician (d. 1798)
• 1806 – Jane Pierce, First Lady of the United States, (d. 1863)
• 1831 – Clement Studebaker, American automobile pioneer (d. 1901)
• 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (d. 1887)
• 1863 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (d. 1938)
• 1888 – Vaslav Nijinsky, ballet dancer, (d. 1950)
• 1895 – William C. Lee, U.S. Army general (d. 1948)
• 1896 – Sir John Abbott, third Prime Minister of Canada, (d. 1893)
• 1912 – Irving Layton, Canadian poet
• 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Gordon MacRae, American singer, actor, (d. 1986)
• 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American writer, (d. 1969)
• 1922 – Lane Kirkland, American union leader (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Wally Schirra, astronaut
• 1925 – Harry Harrison, American science fiction author
• 1928 – Edward Albee, American dramatist
• 1932 – Andrew Young, American civil rights activist, politician, and ambassador to the United Nations
• 1932 – Barbara Feldon, American actress
• 1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer
• 1941 – Barbara Feldon, American actress and model
• 1942 – Ratko Mladic, Republika Srpska leader
• 1945 – Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, American gangster
• 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
• 1947 – Kalervo Palsa, Finnish artist, (d. 1987)
• 1948 – James Taylor, American musician
• 1950 – Jon Provost, American actor
• 1953 – Carl Hiaasen, American journalist and author
• 1953  – Ron Jeremy, actor
• 1957 – Steve Harris, English musician (Iron Maiden)
• 1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer (The Jackson 5)
• 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
• 1963 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
• 1965 – Steve Finley, Major League Baseball player
• 1969 – Graham Coxon, German drummer
• 1979 – Pete Doherty, English singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
• 1982 – Samm Levine, American actor

Deaths

• 604 – Pope Gregory I
• 1507 – Cardinal Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1475)
• 1889 – Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
• 1925 – Sun Yat Sen, Chinese revolutionary, politician (b. 1866)
• 1935 – Michel Pupin, telephone pioneer
• 1937 – Charles-Marie Widor, organist and composer (b. 1844)
• 1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor
• 1944 – Werner Drechsler, German prisoner of war
• 1944 – Artur Gavazzi, Croatian geographer (b. 1861)
• 1945 – Anne Frank, diarist (b. 1929)
• 1947 – Winston Churchill, American novelist (b. 1871)
• 1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
• 1955 – Charlie Parker, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1920)
• 1978 – John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
• 1984 – Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (b. 1896)
• 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
• 1987 – Woody Hayes, college American football coach (b. 1913)
• 1989 – Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
• 1990 – Wallace Breem, British author (b. 1926)
• 1995 – Juanin Clay, American actress (b. 1949)
• 1998 – Beatrice Wood, artist/ceramist (b. 1893)
• 1999 – Sir Yehudi Menuhin, violinist (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Morton Downey, Jr., American television talk show host (b. 1933)
• 2001 – Robert Ludlum, author of spy novels (b. 1927)
• 2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot politician (b. 1932)
• 2003 – Ronnie Burk, surrealist and AIDS activist
• 2003 – Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
• 2003 – Howard Fast, American author (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Catholic Church – Feast day of St Theophanes
• Mauritius – National Day
• Sweden – Namesday of Crown Princess Victoria, an Official Flag Day
• Ancient Latvia – Gregoru Diena observed

External links

• BBC: On This Day

March 11 – March 13 – February 12 – April 12 — listing of all days