Today in History - March 16

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March 16

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines; Magellan was killed during a battle with natives the following month.

1751 - James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, was born in Port Conway, Virginia.

1802 - President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

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 by ordering the rearming of Germany.

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 during the Vietnam War as U.S. Army soldiers hunting for Viet Cong fighters and sympathizers killed unarmed villagers in two hamlets of Son My village; estimates of the death toll vary from 347 to 504.

1968 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1972 - In a nation-wide broadcast, 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 was 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 - American journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut, Lebanon; he was not released until December 4, 1991 after 2,454 days in captivity.

1988 - Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. 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 scandal.

2004 - China declared victory in its fight against bird flu, saying it had “stamped out” all its known cases.

2014 - Crimeans voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia, overwhelmingly approving a referendum that sought to unite the strategically important Black Sea region with the country it was part of for some 250 years.

2016 - President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month. (Republicans who controlled the Senate would stick to their pledge to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election; they confirmed Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch in April 2017.)

2020 - Global stocks plunged again amid coronavirus concerns, 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.

2022 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summoned the memory of Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terror attacks in an impassioned video plea to the U.S. Congress to send more help for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

2022 - The Federal Reserve launched a high-risk effort to tame the worst inflation since the 1970s, raising its benchmark short-term interest rate.

Birthdays
24 - Vladimir Guerrero (baseball player)
27 - Ajiona Alexus (actress)
29 - Sierra McClain (actress)
30 - Hannah Monds (singer)
32 - Wolfgang Van Halen (musician)
35 - Jhene Aiko (singer)
37 - Alexandra Daddario (actress)
40 - Brett Davern (actor)
45 - Brooke Burns (actress)
50 - Tim Kang (actor)
52 - Alan Tudyk (actor)
54 - Judah Friedlander (actor)
56 - Lauren Graham (actress)
56 - Tracy Bonham (singer)
59 - Patty Griffin (singer)
60 - Jerome Flynn (actor)
64 - Flavor Flav (rapper)
67 - Clifton Powell (actor)
69 - Nancy Wilson (singer)
74 - Victor Garber (actor)
74 - Erik Estrada (actor)
82 - Chuck Woolery (game show host)

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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 teams in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis.

1964 - Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were reinstated to the NFL after an 11-month suspension for betting on football games.

1991 - The U.S. won all three medals in the world figure skating championship. Kristi Yamaguchi won the championship, Tonya Harding finished second, and Nancy Kerrigan was third.

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 WBC 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.

2022 - After 20 seasons as Fox's NFL lead broadcast team, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman join ESPN as new lead commentators of Monday Night Football.
 
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