DAY 90 - This day in legal and military history

March 31
 
End of first quarter
 
Cesar Chavez Day
 
NATIONAL Bunsen Burner Day
 
NATIONAL Clams on the Half-Shell Day
 
NATIONAL Crayon Day 

NATIONAL Prom Day
 
NATIONAL Tater Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1836 The first monthly installment of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens is published in London
 
1880 The first electric street lights ever installed by a municipality are turned on in Wabash, Indiana
 
1889 The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opens on the Left Bank as part of the Exhibition of 1889
 
1917 The United States purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million
 
1918 Daylight Saving Time goes into effect throughout the United States for the first time
 
1940 La Guardia airport in New York officially opens to the public
 
1949 Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province
 
1992 USS Missouri (BB-63), the last active American battleship, is decommissioned
 
1995 Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sent a final message by Morse Code and then signed off, officially ending more than 100 years of telegraph communication
 
1995 Major League Baseball players agreed to end the sport’s longest strike in history after a judge ordered a preliminary injunction against team owners
 
2005 Terry Schiavo died 13 days after her feeding tube was removed

DAY 89 - This day in legal and military history

March 30
 
NATIONAL Take a Walk in the Park Day
 
NATIONAL Doctors Day
 
NATIONAL I am in Control Day
 
NATIONAL Pencil Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1842 Anesthesia was used for the first time in an operation
 
1858 Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia patents the pencil with an eraser attached on one end
 
1870 The 15th Amendment passes, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race
 
1870 President US Grant signs bill readmitting Texas to the Union, the last Confederate state readmitted
 
1942 The Coast Guard was designated as a service of the Navy, similar to the Marine Corps
 
1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration, Oklahoma, opens on Broadway
 
1964 The game show Jeopardy debuted on television
 
1981 President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in Washington, DC by John W. Hinckley Jr.

DAY 88 - This day in legal and military history

March 29
 
NATIONAL Smoke and Mirrors Day
 
NATIONAL Mom and Pop Business Owners Day
 
NATIONAL Manatee Appreciation Day 

NATIONAL Vietnam Veteran Recognition Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1848 For the first time in recorded history, Niagara Falls stopped flowing. An ice jam in the Niagara River above the rim of the falls caused the water to stop.
 
1867 The United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million
 
1886 Coca-Cola goes on sale for the first time at a drugstore in Atlanta. Its inventor, Dr. John Pemberton, claims it can cure anything from hysteria to the common cold.
 
1903 A regular news service began between New York and London on Marconi’s wireless
 
1943 US begins rationing meat, butter, and cheese
 
1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I opens on Broadway starring Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner
 
1951 In one of the most sensational trials in American history, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of espionage for passing secrets to the Soviets during and after World War II
 
1961 The 23rd amendment is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, DC to vote for president
 
1974 The unmanned US space probe Mariner 10, launched by NASA in November 1973, becomes the first spacecraft to visit the planet Mercury

DAY 87 - This day in legal and military history

March 28
 
NATIONAL Something on a Stick Day
 
NATIONAL Black Forest Cake Day
 
NATIONAL Weed Appreciation Day [According to my research, this is about “garden-variety” weeds, not marijuana =) ]
 
NATIONAL American Diabetes Association Alert Day [Fourth Tuesday in March]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1885 The Salvation Army is officially organized in the United States
 
1930 Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara respectively
 
1979 A major accident occurs at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant 

1996 Congress passed the line-item veto, giving the president power to cut government spending by scrapping specific programs
 
2000 Supreme Court rules unanimously that an anonymous tip does not justify a stop-and-frisk action against a person

DAY 86 - This day in legal and military history

March 27
 
NATIONAL Joe Day
 
NATIONAL Spanish Paella Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1794 The US government establishes a permanent navy with the authorization to build six frigates, including The Constitution [Old Ironsides]
 
1884 The first long-distance telephone call was made, between Boston and New York
 
1866 President Andrew Johnson vetoes the civil rights bill, which later becomes the 14th Amendment
 
1912 The first cherry blossom trees, a gift from Japan, are planted in Washington, DC

1917 The Seattle Metropolitans became the first US hockey team to win the Stanley Cup
 
1930 First US radio broadcast from a ship at sea
 
1964 A 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit 80 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska, killing 117 and producing a 50-foot tsunami that traveled over 8,000 miles
 
1977 Pan American and KLM Boeing 747s collided on a runway in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands. The 542 people killed is the highest ever for an aviation disaster.

DAY 85 - This day in legal and military history

March 26
 
NATIONAL Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
 
NATIONAL Spinach Day
 
NATIONAL Epilepsy Awareness Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history

1951 The United States Air Force flag design is approved

1953 Dr. Jonas Salk announces a new vaccine against polio
 
1992 An Indianapolis court finds heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson guilty of rape
 
2008 California court ruling gives the heirs of Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster, who created 'Superman', serious money from the corporate descendants of Detective Comics for copyright violations

DAY 84 - This day in legal and military history

March 25
 
NATIONAL Pecan Day
 
NATIONAL Waffle Day
 
NATIONAL Tolkien Reading Day
 
NATIONAL Medal of Honor Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1668 The first horse race in America takes place
 
1669 Eruption of Mt Etna, 20,000 die
 
1804 The Secretary of the Navy approved the first formal uniform of the Marine Corps
 
1986 Supreme Court ruled that the Air Force could ban the wearing of yarmulkes
 
1911 A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, a sweatshop in New York City, claims the lives of 146 workers
 
1934 Horton Smith won the first Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Georgia
 
1954 RCA manufactures its first color TV set and begins mass production
 
1970 The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight

DAY 83 - This day in legal and military history

March 24
 
NATIONAL Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1883 Long-distance telephone service was inaugurated between Chicago and New York
 
1941 Donald Duck enlists in the Army, for the first of six war cartoons
 
1955 Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opens at the Morosco Theatre in New York City
 
1980 ABC’s nightly Iran Hostage crisis program was renamed “Nightline”
 
1989 The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spills 240,000 barrels of oil in Alaska’s Prince William Sound

DAY 82 - This day in legal and military history

March 23
 
NATIONAL Chip and Dip Day
 
NATIONAL OK Day
 
NATIONAL Puppy Day 

NATIONAL Near Miss Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1743 Handel’s Messiah is performed for the first time in London
 
1775 American revolutionary hero Patrick Henry, while addressing the House of Burgesses, declares “give me liberty, or give me death!”
 
1839 First recorded use of “OK” [oll korrect] was in Boston’s Morning Post
 
1857 Elisha Otis installs the first modern passenger elevator in a public building, at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway in New York City
 
1903 The Wright brothers obtain an airplane patent
 
1909 British Lt. Ernest Shackleton finds the magnetic South Pole
 
1981 US Supreme Court upholds a law making statutory rape a crime for men but not women
 
1998 The motion picture epic “Titanic” won 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, tying it with “Ben-Hur” for the most ever
 
2002 Girls in Afghanistan celebrated their return to school for the first time in years
 
2010 President Barack Obama signed a health-care overhaul bill, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law

DAY 81 - This day in legal and military history

March 22
 
INTERNATIONAL Goof Off Day
 
NATIONAL Bavarian Crepes Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1765 The Stamp Act is passed, the first direct British tax on the American colonists
 
1790 Thomas Jefferson becomes the first US Secretary of State
 
1834 Horace Greeley publishes New Yorker, a weekly literary and news magazine and forerunner of Harold Ross’ more successful The New Yorker
 
1895 Auguste and Louis Lumiere first demonstrated motion pictures using celluloid film in Paris
 
1904 The first color photograph is published in the London Daily Illustrated Mirror
 
1935 Persia is renamed Iran
 
1997 Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth in the skies over the northern hemisphere. The comet’s next pass is predicted for the year 4397.

DAY 80 - This day in legal and military history

March 21
 
NATIONAL Common Courtesy Day
 
NATIONAL California Strawberry Day
 
NATIONAL Fragrance Day
 
NATIONAL French Bread Day
 
NATIONAL Single Parent Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1788 Almost the entire city of New Orleans, Louisiana, 856 buildings, is destroyed by fire
 
1947 President Truman signed Executive Order 9835 requiring all federal employees to swear allegiance to the United States
 
1851 Yosemite Valley was discovered

Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0

1963 Alcatraz Island, the federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, California, closes
 
1980 President Jimmy Carter announces to the US Olympic Team that they will not participate in the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow as a boycott against Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
 
2001 Space shuttle Discovery glided to a predawn touchdown, bringing home the first residents of the international space station

DAY 79 - This day in legal and military history

March 20
 
First Day of Spring
 
WORLD Storytelling Day
 
NATIONAL Alien Abductions Day
 
NATIONAL Proposal Day [go ahead, pop the question]
 
NATIONAL Ravioli Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1841 Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, considered the first detective story, is published
 
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe‘s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
 
1916 Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity
 
1933 The Nazis open their first concentration camp, at Dachau, near Munich
 
1942 Gen MacArthur vows "I shall return"
 
1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
 
2003 (9:34 pm, 19 March EST) the military invasion of Iraq began

A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal

Today's the day!  Those of us participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge [and it's not too late for you to join the fun] reveal our themes, if we have one.

And I have one.

My theme this year is – US Supreme Court cases [and a few odd smatterings of other incidents] which changed the course of law, and life, in the USA.

US Supreme Court in 2009 [with Scalia]

To give you a little tidbit [taken from John Davis (manuscript) Frain's idea, visit his blog for more info], my first day is “A is for Arizona”.  Do you know what case I'm using, and what that case was about?  If you do, post your guess in the comments.  You'll find out on April 1 if your guess was right =)

I'll still be continuing my “this day in legal and military history” during April.  My "this day" posts will be live on the blog at 5am and my A to Z posts will go live at 6am [California time].

Hope you enjoy the month of April!

DAY 78 - This day in legal and military history

March 19
 
Swallows’ Day - The swallows return to Capistrano California

NATIONAL Corn Dog Day
 
NATIONAL Let's Laugh Day
 
NATIONAL Certified Nurses Day
 
NATIONAL Chocolate Caramel Day
 
NATIONAL Poultry Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1822 Boston is incorporated as a city
 
1917 The Adamson Act, eight hour day for railroad workers, is ruled constitutional by the US Supreme Court
 
1918 Congress authorizes time zones and Daylight Savings Time
 
1931 The state of Nevada legalizes gambling
 
1942 FDR orders men between the ages of 45 & 64 to register for non-military duty
 
1952 The 1,000,000th Jeep was produced
 
1953 The Academy Awards were first televised

DAY 77 - This day in legal and military history

March 18
 
NATIONAL Awkward Moments Day
 
NATIONAL Sloppy Joe Day
 
NATIONAL Supreme Sacrifice Day
 
NATIONAL Quilting Day [third Saturday in March]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1881 Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth opens in Madison Square Gardens
 
1925 The most violent single tornado in US history, the “Tri-State Tornado,” hit Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois, killing 689 people and injuring 13,000 others
 
1939 Georgia finally ratifies the Bill of Rights, 150 years after the birth of the federal government. Connecticut and Massachusetts, the only other states to hold out, also ratify the Bill of Rights in this year.
 
1942 The third military draft begins in the United States
 
1944 Mt Vesuvius begins an eleven day eruption, slightly inconveniencing World War II 

1953 The Braves baseball team announces that they are moving from Boston to Milwaukee
 
1963 The US Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v Wainwright that poor defendants have a constitutional right to an attorney. Gideon had been forced to defend himself in Florida in Jan 1962, and petitioned the Supreme Court to hear his complaint. [If you have a chance to see the movie Gideon's Trumpet with Henry Fonda, please do.  You won't be disappointed.]
 
1970 The US Postal Service is paralyzed by the first postal strike
 
2005 After a long legal battle, Terry Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. She died 13 days later.

DAY 76 - This day in legal and military history

March 17
 
Saint Patrick's Day
Irish toast: “May the enemies of Ireland never eat bread nor drink whisky, but be tormented with itching without benefit of scratching.” — Traditional St. Patrick’s Day toast
 
NATIONAL Corned Beef and Cabbage Day
 
NATIONAL Submarine Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1766 Britain repeals the Stamp Act but passes the Declaratory Act, which asserts Great Britain’s right to pass any laws governing the American colonies
 
1898 USS Holland, first practical submarine, launched

1910 The Camp Fire Girls are founded in Lake Sebago, Maine
 
1973 First POWs are released from the “Hanoi Hilton” in Hanoi, North Vietnam
 
2011 NASA’s MESSENGER space probe becomes the first space craft ever to enter into orbit around Mercury

DAY 75 - This day in legal and military history

March 16
 
My #2 son's 21st birthday
 
NATIONAL Everything You Do is Right Day
 
NATIONAL Absolutely Incredible Kid Day [no, I am not making up this date, it is entirely coincidental that this is also my #2 son's birthday =) ]
 
NATIONAL Artichoke Hearts Day
 
NATIONAL Freedom of Information Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is published
 
1882 US Senate ratifies treaty establishing the International Red Cross
 
1922 Marines guarded the US mail during a national crime wave
 
1930 USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) was floated out to become a national shrine

1959 John Sailling (111), last documented Civil War vet, died
 
1969 “1776,” a musical about the writing of the Declaration of Independence, opened on Broadway  [My husband loves the movie that was made from this play]
 
1995 Mississippi formally abolished slavery and ratified 13th Amendment
 
1996 NASA astronaut Norman Thagard was welcomed aboard the Russian space station Mir as the first American to visit the orbiting outpost

DAY 74 - This day in legal and military history

March 15
 
Beware the Ides of March 

NATIONAL Buzzards Day 

NATIONAL Everything You Think is Wrong Day
 
NATIONAL Shoe the World Day
 
NATIONAL Kick Butts Day [activism against smoking]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1820 Maine is admitted to the union as the 23rd state
 
1934 Henry Ford restores the $5-a-day wage
 
1968 The US mint halts the practice of buying and selling gold
 
1985 The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com)
 
1991 Four Los Angeles police officers are charged in the beating of Rodney King

DAY 73 - This day in legal and military history

March 14
 
NATIONAL Potato Chip Day 

NATIONAL Pi Day [3.14]
 
NATIONAL Children's Craft Day
 
NATIONAL Learn About Butterflies Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1794 Inventor Eli Whitney receives a patent for his cotton gin
 
1812 The US issues the first War Bonds
 
1900 United States currency goes on the gold standard
 
1923 President Warren G. Harding becomes the first US President to file an income tax report
 
1947 The United States signs a 99-year lease on naval bases in the Philippines
 
1950 The FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list made its debut
 
1967 John F. Kennedy‘s body is moved from a temporary grave to a permanent one in Arlington Cemetery

DAY 72 - This day in legal and military history

March 13
 
NATIONAL Ear Muffs Day 

NATIONAL Jewel Day
 
NATIONAL Good Samaritan Day
 
NATIONAL K9 Veterans Day
 
NATIONAL Open an Umbrella Indoors Day
 
NATIONAL Napping Day [day after return of daylight saving time]


Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
607 The 12th recorded passage of Halley’s Comet occurs
 
1639 Cambridge College was renamed Harvard University
 
1781 Astronomer William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus, which he names ‘Georgium Sidus’ in honor of King George III
 
1852 "Uncle Sam" cartoon appeared for the first time in NY Lantern weekly
 
1868 The US Senate begins the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson
 
1884 Standard Time was adopted throughout the United States
 
1935 A three thousand year old archive is found in Jerusalem confirming biblical history
 
1941 Hitler issues an edict calling for an invasion of the Soviet Union
 
1942 Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps becomes the first woman colonel in the US Army.
 
1974 The US Senate votes 54-33 to restore the death penalty
 
1991 Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and costs for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill
 
2012 The Encyclopaedia Britannica discontinued its print edition after 244 years
 
2015 NASA reports that scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have found a salty ocean lurking beneath the surface of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede

DAY 71 - This day in legal and military history

March 12
 
Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the US [spring ahead]

NATIONAL Alfred Hitchcock Day
 
NATIONAL Girl Scout Day
 
NATIONAL Plant a Flower Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1789 The United States Post Office is established
 
1863 President Jefferson Davis delivers his State of the Confederacy address
 
1894 Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time
 
1912 Juliet Low founds the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia
 
1933 President Roosevelt makes the first of his Sunday evening fireside chats
 
1945 Diarist Anne Frank dies in a German concentration camp

DAY 70 - This day in legal and military history

March 11

NATIONAL Johnny Appleseed Day
 
NATIONAL Oatmeal Nut Waffle Day
 
NATIONAL Worship of Tools Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1669 Eruption of Mt. Etna kills 15,000 

1888 A disastrous blizzard hits the northeastern United States. More than 400 people die, mainly from exposure.
 
1969 Levi-Strauss starts to sell bell-bottomed jeans
 
1993 Janet Reno won unanimous Senate confirmation to be the first female US Attorney General
 
1999 The US Rodman naval base in Panama was transferred to Panama
 
2004 In Madrid, Spain, a series of bombs hidden in backpacks exploded in quick succession at three stations, blowing apart four commuter trains and killing 202 people and wounding over 1,450
 
2011 Japan is hit by an enormous earthquake that triggers a deadly 23-foot tsunami in the country's north, about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. Cooling systems in one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station fail shortly after the earthquake, causing a nuclear crisis.

DAY 69 - This day in legal and military history

March 10
 
NATIONAL Blueberry Popover Day
 
NATIONAL Pack Your Lunch Day 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1776 “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine is published.
 
1876 Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call to Thomas Watson saying “Watson, come here. I need you.”
 
1924 The US Supreme Court upholds a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
 
1969 James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King and is sentenced to 99 years in jail.

DAY 68 - This day in legal and military history

March 9
 
NATIONAL Panic Day
 
NATIONAL Barbie Day
 
NATIONAL Crabmeat Day
 
NATIONAL Get Over It Day
 
NATIONAL Meatball Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1788 Connecticut becomes the fifth state admitted into the Union
 
1862 The first battle between two ironclad ships, the Monitor (Union) and Merrimack (Confederate) occurred, revolutionizing naval warfare

1864 General Ulysses Grant is appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces
 
1933 The special session of Congress known as the "100 days" opened, launching FDR's New Deal
 
1953 US vs. Reynolds was a landmark ruling that formally established the government’s “state secrets” privilege
 
1959 The Barbie doll is unveiled at a toy fair in New York City

1964 The first Ford Mustang rolls off the Ford assembly line
 
1964 The US Supreme Court, in its New York Times v. Sullivan decision, ruled that public officials who charged libel could not recover damages for defamatory statements related to their official duties unless they proved actual malice on the part of the news organization
 
1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrendered, 29 years after World War II ended
 
1976 The first female cadets were accepted to West Point Military Academy

DAY 67 - This day in legal and military history

March 8
 
NATIONAL Proofreading Day
 
NATIONAL Peanut Cluster Day
 
NATIONAL Registered Dietician / Nutritionist Day [second Wednesday in March]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1790 George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address.
 
1855 The first train crosses Niagara Falls on a suspension bridge. 

1948 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional.
 
1913 Internal Revenue Service began to levy and collect income taxes.
 
1979 Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time.

DAY 66 - This day in legal and military history

March 7
 
NATIONAL Alexander Graham Bell Day
 
NATIONAL Cereal Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1876 Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for the telephone.
 
1927 A Texas law that bans Negroes from voting is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
 
1933 The board game Monopoly is invented. 

1965 The Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, begins
 
1979 Voyager 1 reached Jupiter.

DAY 65 - This day in legal and military history

March 6
 
NATIONAL Frozen Foods Day
 
NATIONAL Dentist's Day 

NATIONAL Oreo Cookie Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1820 The Missouri Compromise is enacted by Congress and signed by President James Monroe, providing for the admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state, but prohibits slavery in the rest of the northern Louisiana Purchase territory.
 
1831 Edgar Allan Poe failed out of West Point for “gross neglect of duty.” His parade uniform was supposedly incorrect.
 
1836 After fighting for 13 days, the Alamo falls
 
1857 The Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision holds that slaves cannot be citizens
 
1930 Clarence Birdseye started to sell prepackaged frozen food for the first time, in Springfield, Massachusetts
 
1967 Selective Service System orders induction of Muhammad Ali
 
1981 Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," retired from the CBS Evening News and was replaced by Dan Rather
 
2008 A bomb causes minor damage to the door of a US military recruiting center in Times Square, New York City

DAY 64 - This day in legal and military history

March 5
 
NATIONAL Learn What Your Name Means Day
http://www.thenamemeaning.com/dena/
 
NATIONAL Cheese Doodle Day
 
NATIONAL Multiple Personality Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1942 Navy “Seabees” and insignia officially authorized. 

1956 The US Supreme Court affirms the ban on segregation in public schools in Brown vs. Board of Education.
 
1984 The US Supreme Court rules that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.

DAY 63 - This day in legal and military history

March 4

NATIONAL Holy Experiment Day
 
NATIONAL March Forth and Do Something Day
 
NATIONAL Grammar Day
 
NATIONAL Hug a GI Day 

NATIONAL Pound Cake Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1789 The first Congress of the United States meets in New York and declares that the Constitution is in effect.
 
1791 Vermont is admitted as the 14th state. It is the first addition to the original 13 colonies.
 
1849 The US had no President. Polk’s term ended on a Sunday and Taylor couldn’t be sworn in until Monday; Senator David Atchison (pres pro tem) term had ended March 3rd.
 
1908 The New York board of education bans the act of whipping students in school.
 
1955 First radio facsimile transmission (fax) was sent across the continent.
 
1999 In North Carolina a military jury acquitted Captain Richard J. Ashby of all charges in the 1998 death of 20 people who died when his jet cut the cable of their ski gondola in the Italian Alps. Italian authorities were outraged.

DAY 62 - This day in legal and military history

March 3
 
NATIONAL I Want You to be Happy Day
 
NATIONAL Anthem Day 

Click here for US Navy band 

NATIONAL Day of Unplugging [first Friday in March]
 
NATIONAL Employee Appreciation Day [first Friday in March]
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1791 Congress established the US Mint.
 
1803 The first impeachment trial of a US Judge, John Pickering, begins.
 
1845 Florida admitted as the 27th US state.
 
1845 For the first time, the US Congress passed legislation on this day overriding a President’s veto. President John Tyler was in office at the time.
 
1871 Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act, which revoked the sovereignty of Indian nations and made Native Americans wards of the American government.
 
1879 Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood became the first woman lawyer to be admitted to appear before the Supreme Court of the United States.
 
1931 President Herbert Hoover signs a bill that makes Francis Scott Key’s “Star Spangled Banner,” the national anthem.
 
1952 The US Supreme Court upholds New York’s Feinberg Law banning Communist teachers in the United States.
 
1969 Sirhan Sirhan testifies in a court in Los Angeles that he killed Robert Kennedy.
 
1991 Rodney King's vicious beating by Los Angeles police officers was caught on videotape.

DAY 61 - This day in legal and military history

March 2
 
NATIONAL Old Stuff Day
 
NATIONAL Banana Cream Pie Day
 
NATIONAL Read Across America [Doctor Seuss] Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1799 Congress standardized US weights and measures.
 
1865 President Abraham Lincoln rejects Confederate General Robert E. Lee‘s plea for peace talks, demanding unconditional surrender.
 
1877 Rutherford B. Hayes is declared president by one vote the day before the inauguration.
 
1917 Congress passes the Jones Act making Puerto Rico a territory of the United States and makes the inhabitants US citizens.
 
1923 The first issue of TIME magazine appeared on newsstands.
 
1933 "King Kong" opens in New York
 
1949 Captain James Gallagher completed the first non-stop around the world flight. He completed the 23,452-mile journey in 94 hours, 1 minute.
 
1950 Silly Putty was introduced as a toy.
 
1962 Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain scored an NBA-record 100 points in a basketball game.
 
1973 Women begin pilot training in the US Navy.
 
1974 A grand jury in Washington, DC concludes that President Nixon was indeed involved in the Watergate cover-up.

DAY 60 - This day in legal and military history

March 1
 
WORLD Compliment Day
 
NATIONAL Plan a Solo Vacation Day
 
NATIONAL Pig Day
 
NATIONAL Horse Protection Day
 
NATIONAL Peanut Butter Lover's Day
 

Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
 
1780 Pennsylvania becomes the first US state to abolish slavery.
 
1790 Congress authorized the first US census.
 
1803 Ohio becomes the 17th state to join the Union.
 
1867 Nebraska becomes the 37th state to join the Union.
 
1875 Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which is invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1883.
 
1893 Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri.
 
1913 Federal income tax takes effect, as per 16th Amendment
 
1941 “Captain America” first appeared in a comic book.
 
1954 US detonates 15 megaton hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll
 
1961 The Peace Corps is established
 
1864 Rebecca Lee was the first black woman awarded a medical degree.
 
1872 Yellowstone became the world's first National Park.
 
1977 US extended territorial waters to 200 miles.
 
1985 The Pentagon accepted the theory that an atomic war would block the sun, causing a “nuclear winter”.
 
2002 NASA scientists said that vast ice fields had been detected under the surface of Mars with a gamma ray spectrometer on the Odyssey orbiter.
 
2003 Administrative control of the Coast Guard, Customs Service, and the United States Secret Service transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
 
2008 USS 'New York' (LPD-21), incorporating steel from the World Trade Center, is christened at New Orleans