March 16
1521 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.
1751 - James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Virginia.
1802 - Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
1836 - The Republic of Texas approved a constitution.
1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter was published.
1926 - The first liquid-fueled rocket was successfully launched by Prof. Robert Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds.
1935 - Adolf Hitler canceled the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
1945 - During World War II, American forces declared they had secured Iwo Jima, although pockets of Japanese resistance remained.
1968 - The My Lai massacre occurred in Vietnam by U.S. troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr as hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians were gunned down.
1972 - In a nationally broadcast address, President Richard Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.
1978 - Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the Red Brigades.
1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by Hezbollah militants (he was tortured by his captors and killed in 1985).
1985 - U.S. journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut; he was not released until December 4, 1991 after 2,454 days in captivity.
1988 - Lt. Col. Oliver L. North and Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter of the National Security Council are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for their role in the Iran-Contra affair.
2003 - Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC's "Meet the Press" that American troops would be "greeted as liberators" by the Iraqi people.
2003 - Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block Israeli troops from demolishing a Palestinian home in Gaza.
2004 - China declared victory in its fight against bird flu, saying it had “stamped out” all its known cases.
2005 - A judge in Redwood City, California sent Scott Peterson to death row for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci.
2008 - Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces; the Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland.
2016 - President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month; Republicans pledged to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election and said they wouldn’t even hold confirmation hearings.
2020 - Global stocks plunged again, with Wall Street seeing a 12% decline, its worst in more than 30 years; the S&P 500 was down 30% from its record set less than a month earlier.
2020 - The White House released a set of guidelines for the next 15 days; Americans were urged not to gather in groups of more than 10 people and older Americans were told to stay home. President Donald Trump acknowledged that the pandemic could send the economy into a recession; he suggested that the nation could be dealing with the virus until “July or August.” Canada closed its borders to non-citizens; Americans were exempted. (The two countries agreed two days later to close their shared border to nonessential travel.)
Birthdays
25 - Ajiona Alexus (actress)
27 - Joel Embiid (basketball player)
27 - Sierra McClain (actress)
30 - Wolfgang Van Halen (musician)
32 - Blake Griffin (basketball player)
33 - Jhene Aiko (singer)
35 - Alexandra Daddario (actress)
38 - Brett Davern (actor)
39 - Kimrie Lewis (actress)
43 - Brooke Burns (actress)
48 - Tim Kang (actor)
50 - Alan Tudyk (actor)
52 - Judah Friedlander (actor)
54 - Lauren Graham (actress)
54 - Tracy Bonham (country singer)
58 - Jerome Flynn (actor)
62 - Flavor Flav (rapper)
65 - Clifton Powell (actor)
67 - Nancy Wilson (singer)
72 - Victor Garber (actor)
72 - Erik Estrada (actor)
80 - Chuck Woolery (game show host)
=============================================
Today in Sports History - March 16
1900 - Ban Johnson, after presiding over a meeting of baseball owners, announced that the new American League would begin play in April with the following teams: Chicago White Stockings, Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Blues, Boston Americans, Philadelphia Athletics and Baltimore Orioles.
1964 - Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were reinstated to the NFL after an 11-month suspension for betting on football games.
1991 - American figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan swept the medals at the World Figure Skating Championships in Munich, Germany.
1991 - New Jersey Nets coach Bill Fitch becomes the fourth coach in NBA history to win 800 games.
1994 - Figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine.
1996 - Mike Tyson won the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship with a technical knockout of Frank Bruno in the third round.
2000 - WRAL-TV Digital broadcast offered viewers the first opportunity to watch any one of the games played during the NCAA basketball tournament. WRAL broadcast four separate channels with each carrying a different game.
2002 - Brittanie Cecil was hit by a puck while watching a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena. The 13-year-old died two days later from a rare injury caused when her head snapped back.
2004 - WrestleMania XX took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event was headlined with Chris Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship and Eddie Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship.
2020 - Major League Baseball suspends remainder of Spring Training and delays start of regular season in response to COVID-19 pandemic; return dependent on recommendations by Centers for Disease Control.
1521 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines, where he was killed by natives the following month.
1751 - James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Virginia.
1802 - Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
1836 - The Republic of Texas approved a constitution.
1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter was published.
1926 - The first liquid-fueled rocket was successfully launched by Prof. Robert Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds.
1935 - Adolf Hitler canceled the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles.
1945 - During World War II, American forces declared they had secured Iwo Jima, although pockets of Japanese resistance remained.
1968 - The My Lai massacre occurred in Vietnam by U.S. troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr as hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians were gunned down.
1972 - In a nationally broadcast address, President Richard Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.
1978 - Italian politician Aldo Moro was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the Red Brigades.
1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by Hezbollah militants (he was tortured by his captors and killed in 1985).
1985 - U.S. journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut; he was not released until December 4, 1991 after 2,454 days in captivity.
1988 - Lt. Col. Oliver L. North and Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter of the National Security Council are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for their role in the Iran-Contra affair.
2003 - Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC's "Meet the Press" that American troops would be "greeted as liberators" by the Iraqi people.
2003 - Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American, was killed when she was run over by a bulldozer while trying to block Israeli troops from demolishing a Palestinian home in Gaza.
2004 - China declared victory in its fight against bird flu, saying it had “stamped out” all its known cases.
2005 - A judge in Redwood City, California sent Scott Peterson to death row for the slaying of his pregnant wife, Laci.
2008 - Protests spread from Tibet into three neighboring provinces; the Dalai Lama decried what he called the "cultural genocide" taking place in his homeland.
2016 - President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month; Republicans pledged to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election and said they wouldn’t even hold confirmation hearings.
2020 - Global stocks plunged again, with Wall Street seeing a 12% decline, its worst in more than 30 years; the S&P 500 was down 30% from its record set less than a month earlier.
2020 - The White House released a set of guidelines for the next 15 days; Americans were urged not to gather in groups of more than 10 people and older Americans were told to stay home. President Donald Trump acknowledged that the pandemic could send the economy into a recession; he suggested that the nation could be dealing with the virus until “July or August.” Canada closed its borders to non-citizens; Americans were exempted. (The two countries agreed two days later to close their shared border to nonessential travel.)
Birthdays
25 - Ajiona Alexus (actress)
27 - Joel Embiid (basketball player)
27 - Sierra McClain (actress)
30 - Wolfgang Van Halen (musician)
32 - Blake Griffin (basketball player)
33 - Jhene Aiko (singer)
35 - Alexandra Daddario (actress)
38 - Brett Davern (actor)
39 - Kimrie Lewis (actress)
43 - Brooke Burns (actress)
48 - Tim Kang (actor)
50 - Alan Tudyk (actor)
52 - Judah Friedlander (actor)
54 - Lauren Graham (actress)
54 - Tracy Bonham (country singer)
58 - Jerome Flynn (actor)
62 - Flavor Flav (rapper)
65 - Clifton Powell (actor)
67 - Nancy Wilson (singer)
72 - Victor Garber (actor)
72 - Erik Estrada (actor)
80 - Chuck Woolery (game show host)
=============================================
Today in Sports History - March 16
1900 - Ban Johnson, after presiding over a meeting of baseball owners, announced that the new American League would begin play in April with the following teams: Chicago White Stockings, Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Blues, Boston Americans, Philadelphia Athletics and Baltimore Orioles.
1964 - Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were reinstated to the NFL after an 11-month suspension for betting on football games.
1991 - American figure skaters Kristi Yamaguchi, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan swept the medals at the World Figure Skating Championships in Munich, Germany.
1991 - New Jersey Nets coach Bill Fitch becomes the fourth coach in NBA history to win 800 games.
1994 - Figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine.
1996 - Mike Tyson won the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship with a technical knockout of Frank Bruno in the third round.
2000 - WRAL-TV Digital broadcast offered viewers the first opportunity to watch any one of the games played during the NCAA basketball tournament. WRAL broadcast four separate channels with each carrying a different game.
2002 - Brittanie Cecil was hit by a puck while watching a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames at Nationwide Arena. The 13-year-old died two days later from a rare injury caused when her head snapped back.
2004 - WrestleMania XX took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event was headlined with Chris Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship and Eddie Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship.
2020 - Major League Baseball suspends remainder of Spring Training and delays start of regular season in response to COVID-19 pandemic; return dependent on recommendations by Centers for Disease Control.