On This Day in History

0001 Origin of Dionysian Incarnation of the Word
0031 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus
0421 Friday at 12 Prime Minister: city of Venice founded
0708 Constantine begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0752 Stephen ends his reign as Catholic Pope (or 26th)
1133 William the Conqueror orders 1st Domesday Survey of England
1306 Robert the Bruce crowned king of Scotland
1409 Council of Pisa opens
1571 Catholic Italian businessman Roberto Ridolfi leaves Enngeland
1581 Portugese Cortes calls Philip II king of Portugal
1584 Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America
1598 Cornelis de Houtman's fleet departs for East-Indies
1609 Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co
1634 Lord Baltimore founded Catholic colony of Maryland
1647 Cape of Good Hope; tour ship Haerlem stranded in Tafel Bay
1655 Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, (Saturn's largest satellite)
1668 1st horse race in America takes place
1669 Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000
1700 England, France & Netherlands ratify 2nd Extermination treaty
1753 Voltaire leaves the court of Frederik II of Prussia
1774 English Parliament passes Boston Port Bill
1776 Continental Congress authorizes a medal for General George Washington
1802 France, Netherlands, Spain & England signs Peace of Amiens
1807 1st railway passenger service began in England
1807 British Parliament abolishes slave trade
1807 George Canning becomes British minister of Foreign affairs
1813 1st US flag flown in battle on the Pacific, frigate Essex
1814 Netherlands Bank established
1817 Tsar Alexander I recommends formation of Society of Israeli Christians
1820 Greece freedom revolt against anti Ottoman attack
1821 Greece gains independence from Turkey (National Day)
1847 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland"
1852 Friedrich Hebbel's "Agnes Bernauer" premieres in Munich
1856 A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine
1857 Frederick Laggenheim takes 1st photo of a solar eclipse
1863 1st Army Medal of Honor awarded
1863 Skirmish at Brentwood TN
1864 Battle of Paducah KY (Forrest's raid)
1865 Battle of Bluff Spring FL
1865 Battle of Fort Stedman VA: in front of Petersburg
1865 Battle of Mobile AL (Spanish Fort, Fort Morgan, Fort Blakely)
1865 SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras catches fire & sinks, killing 400
1876 Glasgow 1st soccer match Scotland-Wales (4-0)
1882 1st demonstration of pancake making (Department store in New York NY)
1888 Socialist leader Domela Nieuwenhuis elected to Dutch 2nd chamber
1889 1st Test Cricket match played at Newlands, Cape Town vs England
1894 Coxey's Army of the unemployed sets out from Massillon OH for Washington DC
1895 Italian troops invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1896 Modern Olympics begin in Athens Greece
1898 Intercollegiate Trapshooting Association formed in New York NY
1900 US Socialist Party is formed at Indianapolis
1901 55 die as Rock Island train derailed near Marshalltown IA
1902 Irving W Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine
1905 Rebel battle flags captured during war are returned to South
1907 Stanley Cup: Montréal Wanderers lose to Kenora Thistles but outscore them in 2 game set but outscore them 12-8 and win cup
1910 Chalmers Auto Co offers a new car to each leagues' batting champion
1911 146 die in a fire at Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York NY
1911 L D Swamikannu publishes "Manual of Indian Chronology" in Bombay
1913 Great Dayton Flood
1913 Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (New York NY) starring Ed Wynn
1915 1st submarine disaster; a US F-4 sank off Hawaii, killing 21
1915 German U boat torpedoes Netherlands merchant ship Medea
1916 Heavyweight Jess Willard & Franc Moran fight to no decision in 10 for boxing title (New York NY)
1916 Women are allowed to attend a boxing match
1920 Greek Independence Day
1923 British government grants Trans-Jordan autonomy
1924 Greek parliament selects Admiral Paul Koundouriótis as premier
1924 Stanley Cup: Montréal Canadiens (NHL) sweep Calgary Tigers (WCHL) in 2 (2nd of 1924)
1931 Hal Kemp & his Orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis
1931 Scottsboro Boys (accused of raping a white woman) arrested in Alabama
1934 1st Golf Masters Championship: Horton Smith wins, shooting a 284
1934 Horton Smith win 1st Masters golf championship
1935 1st Belgium government of Van Zealand resigns
1936 Detroit Red Wings beat Montréal Maroons in NHL longest game (2 hours 56 minutes 30 seconds)
1937 Italy & Yugoslavia sign no-attack treaty (Pact of Belgrade)
1937 It's revealed Quaker Oats pays Babe Ruth $25,000 per year for ads
1937 Lionel Conacher misses on 1st Stanley Cup penalty shot
1937 Washington Daily News is 1st US newspaper with perfumed advertising page
1938 1st US bred horse (Battleship) to win Grand National Steeplechase
1939 Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart
1941 Carolina Paprika Mills, Dillon SC, incorporated
1942 700 Jews of Polish Lvov-district reach Belzec Concentration camp
1943 97% of all Dutch physicians strike againt Nazi registration
1943 Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio
1944 Germany troop executes 335 residents of Rome
1944 RAF Sergeant Nickolas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet without a parachute
1945 US 1st army breaks out bridgehead near Remagen
1945 US 4th Armored division arrives at Hanau & Aschaffenburg
1945 US Northern Tractor Flotilla departs Ulithi to Okinawa
1946 1st performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto"
1947 9th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Holy Cross beats Oklahoma 58-47
1947 Agreement of Linggadjati ratified in Batavia
1947 Coal mine explosion in Centralia IL, claims 111 lives
1947 Last day of Test cricket for Walter Hammond (v New Zealand, Christchurch)
1949 SS police chief Rauter request for a pardon, denied
1951 5th Tony Awards: Guys & Dolls & Rose Tattoo win
1951 E Purcell & EM Ewen detect 21-cm radiation at Harvard physics lab
1954 26th Academy Awards: "From Here to Eternity", William Holden & Audrey Hepburn win
1954 Pope Pius XII encyclical "Sacra virginitas" (On consecrated virginity)
1954 RCA manufactures 1st color TV set (12½" screen at $1,000)
1955 East Germany granted full sovereignty by occupying power, USSR
1957 NBA modifies the free-throw rule
1957 Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (Common Market)
1958 Sugar Ray Robinson is 1st boxing champion to win 5 times
1958 West German parliament desires German atomic weapons
1959 Bill White traded to St Louis for pitchers Sam Jones & Don Choate
1959 French President De Gaulle acknowledges Oder-Neisse boundary
1960 1st guided missile launched from nuclear powered sub (Halibut)
1960 DH Lawrence' "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (New York NY)
1960 Ford Frick voids Indians-Red Sox deal as Sam White retires
1960 Italian government Tambroni forms
1961 "13 Daughters" closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 28 performances
1961 "Gypsy" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 702 performances
1961 23rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Cincinnati beats Ohio State 70-65 (OT)
1961 3rd place game is one of the wildest contests in NCAA Tournament history as St Joseph's defeats Utah 127-120 in 4 overtimes
1961 Elvis Presley performs live on the USS Arizona
1961 Explorer 10 launched into elongated Earth orbit (177/181,000 km)
1961 Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered
1962 "Family Affair" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 65 performances
1962 French OAS-leader ex-General Jouhaud arrested
1963 KWHY TV channel 22 in Los Angeles CA (IND) begins broadcasting
1964 Britain sets memorial for the late President John F Kennedy
1964 Egypt ends state of siege (1952-64)
1965 Martin Luther King Jr led 25,000 to state capitol in Montgomery AL
1965 West German Bondsdag extends war crimes retribution
1966 Beatles pose with mutilated dolls & butchered meat for the cover of the "Yesterday & Today" album, It is later pulled
1966 US Supreme court rules "poll tax" unconstitutional
1967 29th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Dayton 79-64
1967 The Turtles' "Happy Together" goes #1
1967 UCLA wins its 3rd national basketball championship in 4 years
1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
1967 Who & Cream make US debut at Murray the K's Easter Show
1968 KLVX TV channel 10 in Las Vegas NV (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 Andes Pact signed in Peru
1969 John & Yoko stage their 1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)
1969 Pakistan General Agha Mohammed Jagja Khan succeeds Ayub Chan as President
1970 Concorde makes its 1st supersonic flight (700 MPH/1,127 KPH)
1971 Boston Patriots become New England Patriots
1971 European council accepts Mansholt plan laying off 5 million farmers
1971 Tom Jones' "She's a Lady" goes gold
1972 "Selling of the President" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 5 performances
1972 34th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Florida 81-76; UCLA's 6th consecutive national basketball title
1972 America's LP "America" goes #1
1972 Bobby Hull becomes the 2nd NHLer to score 600 goals
1973 27th Tony Awards: That Championship Season & Little Night Music win
1973 Carol Mann wins LPGA Sears Women's Golf Classic
1973 Majid Khan & Mushtaq Mohammad both out for 99 in Test vs England
1974 Barbra Streisand records the album "Butterfly"
1975 Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz, king of Saudi-Arabia (1964-75), shot by nephew
1976 "My Fair Lady" opens at St James Theater NYC for 384 performances
1976 "Rex" opens at Lunt-Fontaine Theater NYC for 48 performances
1976 Argentine military junta bans leftist political parties
1979 Major riot at Bourda prevents day's play in WSC Supertest
1979 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Sahara National Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1982 Wayne Gretzky becomes 1st NHL to score 200 points in a season
1983 Christa Rothenburger skates world record 500 meter ladies (39.69 seconds)
1983 Pavel Pegov skates world record 1000 meter (1:12.58)
1984 Betsy King wins LPGA Women's Kemper Golf Open
1985 57th Academy Awards: "Amadeus", F Murray Abraham & Sally Field win
1985 Edwin Meese III becomes US Attorney General
1986 Supreme Court rules Air Force could ban wearing of yarmulkes
1987 Supreme Court rules women/minorities may get jobs if less qualified
1988 "Les Miserables" opens at Chunichi Theatre, Nagoya Japan
1988 NASA launches space vehicle S-206
1988 Robin Givens demands full access to husband Mike Tyson's money
1989 "Les Miserables" opens at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
1990 "Lettice & Lovage" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 284 performances
1990 10th Golden Raspberry Awards: Star Trek V wins
1990 Fire in illegal NYC social club, kills 87
1990 Pat Bradley wins LPGA Standard Register Turquoise Golf Classic
1991 63rd Academy Awards: "Dance with Wolves", Jeremy Irons & Kathy Bates win
1991 Allan Border takes 5-68 vs West Indies at Bourda (!), Georgetown
1992 British scientists find new largest perfect number (2 756839 -1 2 756839)
1992 Imran Khan scores 72 & takes 1-43 off 6 2 overs in last ODI
1992 Pakistan defeats England by 22 runs to win World Cup
1992 Russian manned space craft TM-14, lands
1993 "Candida" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1994 Gunda Niemann skates ladies world record 3 km (4:09.32)
1994 Yasunori Miyabe skates world record 1000 meter (1:12.37)
1995 Boxer Mike Tyson released from jail after serving 3 years
1996 68th Academy Awards: "Braveheart", Nicholas Cage & Susan Sarandon win
1996 Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) approaches within 0.1018 astronomical units (AUs) of Earth
1996 Freedom Shoemakers on Maryport's Solway Estate closes
1996 US issues newly-redesigned $100 bill
1996 World Ice Dance Championship in Edmonton won by Gritshuk & Platov (Russia)
1996 World Ice Pairs Figure Skating Championship in Edmonton won by Eltsova & Bushkov (Russia)
1996 World Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Edmonton won by Michelle Kwan (USA)
1996 World Men's Figure Skating Championship in Edmonton won by Todd Eldredge (USA)
1997 "Barrymore" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 240 performances
1997 Indians trade Lofton & Embree to Braves for Grissom & Justice
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Missing in Action...

1966 SMITH BRADLEY E. LAKE MILTON OH 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 SHERMAN JOHN B. DARIEN CT REMAINS RETURNED IDENTIFIED 06/30/98
1967 HISE JAMES H. DES MOINES IA REFNO 0631
1969 HERRERA FREDERICK D. ALBUQUERQUE NM
1969 HICKS PRENTICE W. HUNTSVILLE AL
1969 ROBERTS RICHARD D. LANSING MI
1971 MC DONNEL R.D. SWEETWATER TX "KIA, BY GRENADE, AMBUSH"
1971 PUENTES MANUEL R. EL PASO TX "WOUNDED, AMBUSH, LAST SEEN MOVING"
1971 ROSSANO RICHARD J. NEW YORK NY "KIA, PROB HIT BY GRENADE"

Births which occurred on March 25:

1133 Henry II King of England (1154-89)
1252 Konradijn Hohenstaufen [Koenrad van Zwaben], son of Konrad IV
1495 Leonhard Paminger composer
1528 Jacob Andreae German theologist (Schwäbische Konkordie)
1532 Pietro Pontio composer
1594 Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher Dutch writer
1653 Joseph Sauveur French physicist/mathematician
1688 Johann Gotthilf Ziegler composer
1699 Johann Adolf Hasse composer
1702 Christian Gottlieb Ziegler composer
1702 Pieter Teyler Van der Hulst Dutch silk merchant (Teyler's Museum)
1713 Jean-Baptiste Canavas composer
1723 Kaat Mussel [Catharina Mulder], Dutch demonstrater
1745 Nicolas Etienne Framery composer
1762 Francesco Giuseppi Pollini composer
1767 Joachim Murat marshal of France/King of Naples (1808-15)
1769 Salvatore Vigano composer
1770 Carl Friedrich Ebers composer
1782 Carolina [Maria A] Bonaparte (countess Lipona), sister of Napoleon)
1784 François-Joseph Fétis Belgian musicology/composer
1786 Giovanni B Amia Italian astronomer/physicist/botanist
1797 John Winebrenner US, clergyman, founded Church of God
1800 Paulin Paris French historian
1808 José de Espronceda y Delgado Spanish revolutionary/poet (Cortes)
1818 Isaac Ingalls Stevens Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1820 Xavier F M G Earl of Merode, Belgian minister to Pope (in Rome)
1823 William Thompson Martin Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1910
1830 Julius Caesar cricketer (prominent batsman for Surrey)
1839 William Bell Wait US, educated the blind
1867 Arturo Toscanini Parma Italy, temperamental conductor
1867 Gutzon Borglum sculptor (Mount Rushmore)
1868 Bill Lockwood cricketer (England all-rounder in 12 Tests 1893-1902)
1869 Gustaaf Schamelhout Flemish physician/writer
1871 John Gutzon Borglum sculptor (Mount Rushmore)
1872 Vito Pardo Italian sculptor (Columbus monument in Argentina)
1873 Rudolf Rocker German/US anarchist
1875 Spencer Charters Duncannon PA, actor (3 Faces West)
1877 Alphonse de Châteaubriant French writer (Instantanés aux Pays-Bas)
1878 Henry graaf de Baillet-Latour Belgian President of IOC (1925-42)
1878 Theodore Samuel Holland composer
1879 Otakar Zich composer
1881 Béla Bartók Hungary, composer/pianist (Concerto for Orchestra)
1881 Louis Dosfel Flemish lawyer/writer (Assault!)
1882 Haydn Wood composer
1885 Veit Valentin German/US historian (Deutsche Revolution)
1887 Josef Capek Czechoslovakian painter/author/critic (Kulhavy Poutník)
1890 Marten Baersma [MH Bottema], Friesan author (De ljochte kimen)
1892 Andy Clyde Scotland, actor (George-Real McCoys, Cully-Lassie)
1893 Edward Hart (Representative-Democrat-NJ)/1st chairman of Committee on Un-American Activities
1894 Erik William Gustav Leidzen composer
1897 John Laurie Dumfries Scotland, actor (Jericho, Island of Desire)
1899 Bella Spewack Hungary, playwright (Kiss Me Kate)
1899 Jacques Audiberti French poet (Race of Men)
1901 Ed Begley Hartford CT, actor (Mr Koppel-Leave it to Larry)
1902 Sten Broman composer
1903 Frankie Carle Providence RI, orchestra leader (Golden Touch)
1905 Binnie Barnes London, actress (Last of the Mohicans, 3 Musketeers)
1906 Alan J P Taylor British historian (English history 1914-1915)
1906 Howard Pyle (Governor-Republican-AZ, 1951-55)
1906 Jean Sablon crooner
1908 Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte British theater & hotel director
1908 David Lean Croydon England, director (Dr Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter)
1908 Helmut Käutner Düsseldorf Germany, director (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick)
1909 Dutch (Emil) Leonard baseball pitcher (Boston Red Sox, 1.01 ERA 1914)
1909 Jay Blackton New York NY, conductor/arranger (Guys & Dolls)
1910 Mario Peragallo Italian composer
1911 Willy Anthoons Flemish sculptor (Mystic verheffing)
1914 Marthe Robert essayist/translator
1914 Norman E Borlaug US agriculture scientist (Nobel 1970)
1916 Nikolay Ivanovich Peyko composer
1919 Jeanne Cagney actress (Lion is in the Streets, Quicksand)
1920 Patrick Troughton actor (Doctor Who)
1921 Nancy Kelly Lowell MA, actress (Double Exposure, Jesse James)
1921 Simone Signoret Wiesbaden Germany, actress (Casque d'Or, Room at the Top)
1922 Bruno VeSota Chicago IL, actor/director (Chopper, Teenage Doll, Wild Rovers)
1922 Eileen Ford modeling agency head (Ford Modeling Agency)
1923 Lee Hale Tacoma WA, choral director (The Entertainers)
1923 Wim Van Est [Locomotief/Pletmolen], Dutch cyclist
1924 Julia A Perry Lexington KY, US composer (Cask of Amontillado, Selfish Giant)
1924 Machiko Kyo Osaka Japan, actor (Gate of Hell, Rashomon, Ugetsu)
1925 Flannery O'Connor Georgia, novelist (A Good Man Is Hard to Find)
1926 Hans Rausing Swedish/British industrial/billionaire (Tetra Pak)
1926 Laszlo Papp Hungary, Olympics Boxer (Gold-1948, 1952, 1956)
1927 Leslie Claudius India, field hockey (Olympics-gold-1948, 52, 56)
1928 James A Lovell Jr Cleveland OH, USN/astronaut (Gemini 7, 12, Apollo 8, 13)
1929 Harris W Fawell (Representative-Republican-IL, 1985- )
1929 Kenneth Haigh Yorkshire England, actor (Search for the Nile)
1930 David Russell Burge composer
1931 Bohumil Golián Czechoslovakia, volleyball player (Olympics-bronze-1968)
1932 Wes Santee miler
1932 Woody (Woodson) Held baseball player
1934 Gloria Steinem Toledo OH, feminist/publisher (Ms Magazine)
1934 Johnny Burnette Memphis, guitarist (Trains Kept A-Rollin, You're 16)
1935 Susan Engel Vienna Austria, actress (Ascendancy)
1936 Lawrence Bernard "Larry" Gales bassist
1938 Hoyt Axton Duncan OK, actor (Black Stallion, Junkman, Rousters)
1939 Toni Cade Bambara director
1940 Anita Bryant Barnsdall OK, Miss Oklahoma-America (1958)/singer (George Gobel Show)/homophobe
1942 Aretha Franklin Memphis TN, Soul Sister #1/singer (Respect)
1942 Jacqueline Lichtenberg US, sci-fi author (Star Trek Lives!, Dreamspy)
1942 Paul Michael Glaser Cambridge MA, actor (Starsky-Starsky & Hutch)
1943 Pavel Lednev USSR, pentathlete (Olympics-gold-1980)
1943 Ronald Jeffers composer
1944 Frank Oz muppetteer (Grover-Sesame Street, Muppet Show)
1944 Ross Duncan cricketer (one Test Australia vs England 1971, 0-30)
1944 Terry L Bruce (Representative-Democrat-IL, 1985- )
1946 Bonnie Bedelia [Culkin] New York NY, actress (Die Hard, Heart Like a Wheel, New Land)
1947 Claudine Schneider (Representative-Republican-RI, 1981- )
1947 Elton John [Reginald Kenneth Dwight] Pinner Middlesex England, singer (Rocketman, Your Song, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)
1948 Kelly Garrett actress/singer (Holdin)
1948 Michael Stanley Cleveland OH, rocker (Michael Stanley Band)
1948 Richard Lundy horse trainer
1949 Jean Potvin NHLer
1949 Neil Jones musician (Bend Me Shape Me)
1949 Nick Lowe Woodchurch Suffolk England, rocker (Rockpile-Cruel to be Kind)
1951 Bob Pelander rock keyboardist/vocalist (Michael Stanley Band)
1951 Maisie Williams Montserrat, rock vocalist (Boney M)
1952 Ken Boyd basketball
1953 Haroon Rashid cricketer (Pakistani & WSC batsman late 70's)
1953 Mary Gross Chicago IL, actress/comedian (Saturday Night Live, Club Paradise, Feds)
1956 Sonia M Lannaman England, 4X100 meter relayer (Olympics-bronze-1980)
1958 James McDaniel Washington DC, actor (Arthur Fancy-NYPD Blue)
1958 María Caridad Colón Cuba, javelin thrower, (Olympics-gold-1980)
1958 Yograj Singh cricketer (Indian pace bowler early 80's)
1959 Vince Guerra jockey
1960 Haywood Nelson New York NY, actor (Haywood-Grady, Dwayne-What's Happening)
1960 Robert Green Omaha NE, tennis star
1960 Steve Norman London England, rock saxophone player (Spandau Ballet-True)
1961 John Stockwell Galveston TX, actor (Born to Ride, City Limits)
1961 Mark David Brooks Fort Worth TX, PGA golfer (1994 Kemper Open)
1964 Alex Solls jockey
1964 Eric Woods California, Canadian Tour golfer (1993 Xerox British Columbia Open)
1964 Ken Wregget Brandon Manitoba Canada, NHL goalie (Pittsburgh Penguins)
1965 Avery Johnson NBA guard (San Antonio Spurs)
1965 Sarah Jessica Parker Nelsonville OH, actress (Square Pegs, LA Story)
1965 Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton DJ (Hangin' With Hollywood, Z-100)
1966 David Hohl Winnipeg Manitoba, freestyle wrestler (Olympics-9-92, 96)
1966 Jeff Cross NFL defensive end (Miami Dolphins)
1966 Jeff Healey Canada, blind pop guitarist (See the Light)
1966 Tom Glavine Concord MA, pitcher (Atlanta Braves, Cy Young 1991)
1967 Debi Thomas US, figure skater (Olympics-bronze-1988)
1967 Takayuki Miura hockey defenseman (Team Japan 1998)
1968 Dixon Edwards NFL linebacker (Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings)
1968 Errol Martin CFL linebacker (Edmonton Eskimos)
1968 Peter Blackburn Australia, badminton player (Olympics-96)
1969 Dale Davis NBA forward (Indiana Pacers)
1969 Dan Wilson Arlington Height IL, catcher (Seattle Mariners)
1969 Guy Newman Australian water polo goalie (Olympics-96)
1969 Scott Sanders Hannibal MO, pitcher (San Diego Padres)
1970 Magnus Larsson Sweden, tennis star
1970 Shawn Antoski Brantford, NHL left wing (Philadelphia Flyers)
1971 Aashish Kapoor cricketer (Indian off-spin batsman 1994- )
1971 AndrÄ Bolduc CFL slot back (Edmonton Eskimos)
1971 Cammi Granato ice hockey forward (USA, Olympics-98)
1971 Perry Klein NFL quarterback (Atlanta Falcons)
1971 Sheryl Swoopes Lubbock TX, WNBA forward (Houston Comets, Olympics-gold-96)
1972 Demet Edwards WLAF defensive tackle (Barcelona Dragons)
1972 Howard Battle Biloxi MS, infielder (Philadelphia Phillies)
1972 Lawrence Moten NBA guard (Vancouver Grizzlies)
1973 Andrei Nikolishin Vorkuta Russia, NHL center (Hartford Whalers)
1973 Bob Sura NBA guard (Cleveland Cavaliers)
1973 Ray Zellars NFL fullback (New Orleans Saints)
1974 Mike Adams wide receiver (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1974 Vyninka Arlow Australia, diver (Olympics-96)
1975 Miguel Mejia San Pedro de Macoris, outfielder (St Louis Cardinals)
1976 Monica Croscicka-Wnetrzak Miss Poland-Universe (1996)
1989 Chicken Kentucky 1st partial birth in space (chicken)
2184 Pavel Andreivich Chekov Leningrad, USSR (Star Trek-character)

Deaths which occurred on March 25:

1223 Afonso II 3rd King of Portugal (1211-23), dies at 36
1458 Inigo López de Mendoza Spanish marquis of Santillana/poet, dies
1510 Georges d'amboise French archbishop of Narbonne/Rouen, dies at 49
1609 Johan Willem duke of Jülich/Cleef/Mark/Mountain/Ravensberg, dies
1692 Gerardus L Blasius Flemish anatomist, dies at about 66
1697 Hendrik Casimir II King of Nassau-Dietzstadhouder, dies
1751 Frederik of Hessen Kassel King of Sweden (1720-51), dies at 74
1766 Johannes Ritschel composer, dies at 26
1799 Constantin Reindl composer, dies at 60
1801 Anthony Ziesenis architect/sculptor (Camper), dies at 69
1801 Novalis writer, dies at 28
1823 Coelestin Jungbauer composer, dies at 75
1825 Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck Dutch patriot/earl, dies at 63
1835 Friederike Blum writer, dies
1852 Alexis Garaude composer, dies at 73
1880 Joseph Rummel composer, dies at 61
1880 Ludmilla Assing writer, dies
1909 Ruperto Chapi y Lorente composer, dies at 57
1910 Kálmán Mikszáth Hungarian author (Szent Péter Esernyöje), dies at 63
1914 Frédéric Mistral French poet (Nobel-1904), dies
1918 Claude A Debussy French composer (Iberia/La mer), dies in Paris France at 55
1924 John Reedman cricketer (Test for Australia 1894, 17 & 4, 1 for 24), dies
1937 John Drinkwater English poet/playwright (Bird in Hand), dies at 54
1940 Ion Nonna Otescu composer, dies at 51
1948 Warren Hymer actor (Show Them No Mercy), dies at 42
1949 Hanns A Rauter German SS-commandant in Netherlands, executed at 54
1951 Edward Collins Hall of Fame infielder (White Sox, A's), dies at 63
1954 Gertrud Bäumer writer, dies
1956 George Luther Foote composer, dies at 70
1956 Robert Newton actor (Henry V, Odd Man Out), dies at 50
1957 Fud Livingston composer, dies at 50
1958 Emerson Whithorne composer, dies at 73
1959 Billy Mayerl composer, dies at 56
1962 Auguste Piccard Swiss explorer/balloonist, dies at 78
1963 David Moore US feather weight boxer, dies at 29
1965 Giorgio Federico Ghedini composer, dies at 72
1965 Viola Gregg Liuzzo US civil rights activist, murdered
1966 Colin Campbell actor (Leather Boys), dies at 83
1968 Douglas Evans actor (South Pacific Trail), dies in Hollywood
1969 Alan Mowbray actor (Dante, Colonel Flack), dies at 72
1969 Max F Eastman US critic/essayist (Love & Revolution), dies at 86
1969 Norman Gallichan cricketer (one Test for New Zealand, 30 & 2, 3-113), dies
1973 Edward Steichen pioneer of American photography, dies at 92
1974 Otto Waldis actor (Unknown World, Whip Hand), dies at 72
1975 King Faisal of Saudi Arabia shot to death by his nephew
1978 Jack Hulbert actor (Bulldog Jack), dies at 85
1979 ... Sykes British ambassador in The Hague, murdered
1979 Anton Heiller composer, dies at 55
1983 Martha Sleeper actress (Spitfire), dies of a heart attack at 72
1987 Henry R LaBouisse headed UNICEF (1965-79), dies at 83
1991 Eileen Joyce pianist, dies at 78
1991 Lee Donn pianist, dies of stroke at 96
1992 Nancy Walker actress (Ida Morgenstern-Rhoda), dies of cancer at 69
1992 Noémie Perugia French mezzo soprano, dies
1994 David Miles Bensuan-Butt Economist , dies at 79
1994 Michel R Vassallucci French/Netherlands publisher (Arena), dies at 32
1995 James Gardner designer, dies at 87
1995 Peter Herbert Penwarden priest, dies at 73
1995 Warren E Burger chief justice of US (1969-86), dies
1996 John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge news commentator (BBC), dies at 91
1997 Roberto Sanchez Vilella Governor of Puerto Rico in (1965-69), dies

1774 Parliament passes the Boston Port Act

On this day in 1774, British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston and demanding that the city’s residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth (in today’s money) of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the “Boston Tea Party” of December 16, 1773.

The Boston Port Act was the first and easiest to enforce of four acts that together were known as the Coercive Acts. The other three were a new Quartering Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Massachusetts Government Act.

As part of the Crown’s attempt to intimidate Boston’s increasingly unruly residents, King George III appointed General Thomas Gage, who commanded the British army in North America, as the new governor of Massachusetts. Gage became governor in May 1774, before the Massachusetts Government Act revoked the colony’s 1691 charter and curtailed the powers of the traditional town meeting and colonial council. These moves made it clear to Bostonians that the crown intended to impose martial law.

In June, Gage easily sealed the ports of Boston and Charlestown using the formidable British navy, leaving merchants terrified of impending economic disaster. Many merchants wanted to simply pay for the tea and disband the Boston Committee of Correspondence, which had served to organize anti-British protests. The merchants’ attempt at convincing their neighbors to assuage the British failed. A town meeting called to discuss the matter voted them down by a substantial margin.

Parliament hoped that the Coercive Acts would isolate Boston from Massachusetts, Massachusetts from New England and New England from the rest of North America, preventing unified colonial resistance to the British. Their effort backfired. Rather than abandon Boston, the colonial population shipped much-needed supplies to Boston and formed extra-legal Provincial Congresses to mobilize resistance to the crown. By the time Gage attempted to enforce the Massachusetts Government Act, his authority had eroded beyond repair.
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1865 Battle of Fort Stedman, Virginia

Confederate General Robert E. Lee makes Fort Stedman his last attack of the war in a desperate attempt to break out of Petersburg, Virginia. The attack failed, and within a week Lee was evacuating his positions around Petersburg.

For nine months, Petersburg was under siege by the Army of the Potomac and the overall Union commander, General Ulysses S. Grant. The two great armies had fought a bloody campaign in the spring of 1864, and then settled into trenches that eventually stretched for fifty miles around Petersburg and the Confederate capital of Richmond. Lee could not win this war of attrition, but his men held out through the winter of 1864 to 1865. Now, Lee realized the growing Yankee army could overwhelm his diminishing force when the spring brought better weather for an assault. He ordered General John B. Gordon to find a weak point in the Federal defenses and attack.

Gordon selected Fort Stedman, an earthen redoubt with a moat and nine-foot walls. Although imposing, Gordon believed it offered the greatest chance for success since it was located just 150 yards from the Confederate lines--the narrowest gap along the entire front. At 4:00 a.m. on March 25, 11,000 Rebels hurled themselves at the Union lines. They overwhelmed the surprised Yankees in Fort Stedman and captured 1,000 yards of trenches. After daylight, however, the Confederate momentum waned. Gordon's men took up defensive positions, and Union reinforcements arrived to turn the tide. The Rebels were unable to hold the captured ground, and they were driven back to their original position.

The Union lost 1,000 men killed, wounded, and captured, while the Lee lost probably three times that number, including 1,500 captured during the retreat. Already outnumbered, these loses were more than Lee's army could bear. Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis that it would be impossible to maintain the Petersburg line much longer. On March 29, Grant began his offensive, and Petersburg fell on April 3. Two weeks after the Battle of Fort Stedman, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
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1918 Belarusian Peoples’ Republic established

Less than three weeks after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk formally brought an end to Russia’s participation in the First World War, the former Russian province of Belarus declares itself an independent, democratic republic on this day in 1918.

Modern-day Belarus—also known as Belorussia—was formerly part of Poland, its neighbor to the west, until a series of wars in the late 18th century ended with the partition of Poland and with Belarus in Russian hands. In 1917, Belarus capitalized on Russian weakness and disorder resulting from its participation in World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution of that year and proclaimed its independence, after more than a century of occupation by the czarist empire. At the time, Belarus was occupied by the German army, according to the terms formalized at Brest-Litovsk on March 3.

On March 25, a Rada (or council) pronounced the creation of the Belarussian People’s Republic. Eight months later, however, with the defeat of the Central Powers at the hands of the Allies in World War I, Brest-Litovsk was invalidated and the German army was forced to pull out of Belarus and the former Russian territories. This left the fledgling republic vulnerable to a new Russian invasion—that of the Bolshevik Red Guard, who entered the Belarussian capital city of Minsk on January 5, 1919, and crushed the republic’s government.

With the Rada in exile, the Bolsheviks declared the establishment of the Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Poland, determined to reestablish its historical dominance over the region, promptly invaded the new soviet state; the Treaty of Riga of 1921 gave Poland the western part of Belarus. The rest of it became a constituent of the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), founded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 1922. After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, the USSR took the opportunity to annex the part it had lost in 1921. These borders were confirmed in a treaty signed by the USSR and Poland at the end of World War II.

The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and Belarus became one of the founding members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an association of 12 former republics of the USSR formed to help regulate foreign affairs, as well as military and economic policy among the member states. On March 25, 1993, the anniversary of the proclamation of Belarusian independence was openly celebrated for the first time in Minsk and other cities in the republic.
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1941 Yugoslavia joins the Axis

On this day, Yugoslavia, despite an early declaration of neutrality, signs the Tripartite Pact, forming an alliance with Axis powers Germany, Italy, and Japan.

A unified nation of Yugoslavia, an uneasy federation of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, was a response to the collapse of the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires at the close of World War I, both of which had previously contained parts of what became Yugoslavia. A constitutional monarchy, Yugoslavia built friendships with France and Czechoslovakia during the years between the world wars. With the outbreak of World War II, and the Anschluss ("union") between Austria and Germany, pressure was placed on Yugoslavia to more closely ally itself Germany, despite Yugoslavia's declared neutrality. But fear of an invasion like that suffered by France pushed Yugoslavia into signing a "Friendship Treaty"--something short of a formal political alliance--on December 11, 1940.

With the war spreading to the Balkans after the invasion of Greece by Italy, it was important to Hitler that the Axis powers have an ally in the region that would act as a bulwark against Allied encroachment on Axis territory. Meeting on February 14, 1941, Adolf Hitler proved unable to persuade Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisa Cvetkovic to formally join the Axis. The next day, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill contacted the Yugoslav regent, Prince Paul, in an effort to encourage him to remain firm in resisting further German blandishments. It was essential to the Allies that Yugoslavia cooperate with Anglo-Greek forces in fending off an Axis conquest of Greece.

But with King Boris of Bulgaria caving into Germany, Prince Paul felt the heat of the Nazis, and on March 20 he asked the Yugoslav Cabinet for their cooperation in allowing the Germans access to Greece through Yugoslavia. The Cabinet balked, and four ministers resigned in protest at the suggestion. This gesture failed to prevent Prime Minister Cvetkovic from finally signing the Tripartite Pact in Vienna on March 25, 1941.

Within two days, the Cvetkovic government was overthrown by a unified front of peasants, the church, unions, and the military-an angry response to the alliance with Germany. Prince Paul was thrown from his throne in favor of his son, King Peter, only 17 years old. The new government, led by Air Force Gen. Dusan Simovic, immediately renounced the Tripartite Pact. In less than two weeks, Germany invaded the nation and occupied it by force.
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1967 Martin Luther King leads march against the war

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., leads a march of 5,000 antiwar demonstrators in Chicago. In an address to the demonstrators, King declared that the Vietnam War was "a blasphemy against all that America stands for." King first began speaking out against American involvement in Vietnam in the summer of 1965. In addition to his moral objections to the war, he argued that the war diverted money and attention from domestic programs to aid the black poor. He was strongly criticized by other prominent civil rights leaders for attempting to link civil rights and the antiwar movement.
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1968 Johnson meets with the "Wise Men"

After being told by Defense Secretary Clark Clifford that the Vietnam War is a "real loser," President Johnson, still uncertain about his course of action, decides to convene a nine-man panel of retired presidential advisors. The group, which became known as the "Wise Men," included the respected generals Omar Bradley and Matthew Ridgway, distinguished State Department figures like Dean Acheson and George Ball, and McGeorge Bundy, National Security advisor to both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. After two days of deliberation the group reached a consensus: they advised against any further troop increases and recommended that the administration seek a negotiated peace. Although Johnson was initially furious at their conclusions, he quickly came to believe that they were right. On March 31, Johnson announced on television that he was restricting the bombing of North Vietnam to the area just north of the Demilitarized Zone. Additionally, he committed the United State!

s to discuss peace at any time or place. Then Johnson announced that he would not pursue reelection for the presidency.

Also on this day: A Harris Poll reports that in the past six weeks "basic" support for the war among Americans declined from 74 percent to 54 percent. The poll also revealed that 60 percent of those questioned regarded the Tet Offensive as a defeat of U.S. objectives in Vietnam. Despite Gen. William Westmoreland's assurances in late 1967 that the United States was making headway in the war, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had launched a massive offensive during the Tet holiday that began in late January 1968. Although the communist forces were soundly defeated during this offensive, the scope and extent of the attacks won the communists a major psychological victory in the United States, where the events of Tet confirmed a growing disenchantment with the seemingly never-ending war for increasing numbers of Americans.