March 22:

1765: The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. It was the first tax designed explicitly for revenue as opposed to mercantilist regulation (which the colonists often found easy to ignore). The colonists hated this "taxation without representation" and organized protests and boycotts to fight it. They succeeded but the British Parliament kept trying.

1820: Stephen Decatur, American naval hero from the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, was mortally wounded in a duel. He died hours later.

1933: Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Beer and Wine Revenue Act to tax the sell of alcoholic beverages for the first time in years. Prohibition had been repealed.

1945: Representatives of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabi, Iraq, and Yemen met in Cairo to form the Arab League to promote economic growth.

1947: Pres. Harry S. Truman ordered loyalty checks on federal employees due to fears that many of them might be communists or communist sympathizers. This inspired politicians of both parties and both houses of Congress to exploit the issue for their own advantage, including Sen. Joseph McCarthy and Rep. Richard M. Nixon.

1972: Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment. It was never ratified by enough states. Although the deadline has expired, some are still seeking ratification of this broad, open-ended amendment.

March 23:

1775: Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. In less than a month, the colonists would be at war with the British.

1806: Lewis & Clark left the fort they had established on the Pacific coast to begin their return journey to the east.

1919: Benito Mussolini established the Fascist Party in Italy.

1983: Pres. Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). He believed the U.S. was capable of developing a missile defense system to make nuclear weapons obsolete. But the technology did not yet exist, hence the press's "Star Wars" label. SDI would prove instrumental in ending the Cold War and the technology would come as demonstrated during the Gulf War.

2011: death of Elizabeth Taylor

historian said:

---

March 23:

1775: Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. In less than a month, the colonists would be at war with the British.

1806: Lewis & Clark left the fort they had established on the Pacific coast to begin their return journey to the east.

1919: Benito Mussolini established the Fascist Party in Italy.

1983: Pres. Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). He believed the U.S. was capable of developing a missile defense system to make nuclear weapons obsolete. But the technology did not yet exist, hence the press's "Star Wars" label. SDI would prove instrumental in ending the Cold War and the technology would come as demonstrated during the Gulf War.

2011: death of Elizabeth Taylor

---

1983 was a great move

We won the cold war because we were the lone economic super power.

Keyser Soze said:

---

We won the cold war because we were the lone economic super power.

---

i think we are saying the same thing. The USSR didn't have the money/economy to develop the system.

Side note: the Soviets also didn't have a partner like Thatcher and a Polish Pope.

Yep

The Soviets also did not have the technology. Most of their technology was stolen from us or others.

We won the Cold War without firing a shot. The world is better off with the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, although the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Cubans, etc. don't know better. I almost added Venezuela to the list but the people there no do know how rotten socialism is. Unfortunately, their politicians love power too much.

historian said:

---

The Soviets also did not have the technology. Most of their technology was stolen from us or others.

We won the Cold War without firing a shot. The world is better off with the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, although the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, Cubans, etc. don't know better. I almost added Venezuela to the list but the people there no do know how rotten socialism is. Unfortunately, their politicians love power too much.

---

Technically not exactly without firing a shot - there was the Korean War and Vietnam - but we definitely won it without the catastrophic nuclear World War III that so many people feared throughout most of the 40 plus years that the Cold War raged. And yes, the greatest single thing that has happened to the free world since World War II was the fall of communism in the old Soviet Union and Eastern Europe thanks largely to the persistence and wisdom of President Reagan's policies that George H.W. Bush at least had the good sense to continue.

There were lots of shots fired during the 40+ years of the Cold War. I may have exaggerated a bit, but I was talking about the events that ended the Cold War, during which the US did not fight anybody on the battlefield--and certainly not the Soviets.

Reagan's SDI was instrumental. It terrified the Russians because they knew they had no way to counter it and could not compete with it on any level. Their top officials have said so since then.

The reality is that Soviet communism was collapsing under its own weight. Gorbachev initiated reforms because he really had no choice and at least had the good sense to realize what needed to be done. Some even credit the downfall of communism to Boris Yeltsin visiting a grocery store in Clear Lake outside Houston:

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/13/how-a-russians-grocery-store-trip-in-1989-exposed-the-lie-of-socialism/

That probably is hyperbole but it certainly does illustrate the stark contrasts. Check out the video of a Soviet grocery store. Even in the worse case of coronavirus hoarding, we don't have anything as bad as that!

March 24:

1603: Death of Queen Elizabeth I

1765: Britain's Parliament passed the Quartering Act, requiring the American colonies to provide room and board to British soldiers stationed there.

1918: German forces crossed the Somme River, achieving the first major goal of their Spring offensive. However, the push would soon bog down ending all hopes they had for winning WWI.

1958: Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army.

1975: Ignoring the Peace Accords signed two years earlier, North Vietnamese forces attacked South Vietnam Congress refused Pres. Ford's request to aid our allies and so they fell to the communists soon thereafter.

1989: Exxon Valdez crashed causing a massive oil spill. Extremists worried about the irreparable environmental damage but within a few years, Prince William Sound was returning to normal.

1996: American astronaut Shannon Lucid transferred from space shuttle Atlantis to the Russian Mir space station. She became the first American female astronaut to live aboard a space station.

1999: NATO forces began air strikes against Serbian positions in Kosovo.

March 25:

1634: The first colonists arrived in Maryland due to a charter granted by King Charles I to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore.

1774: The British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston until the city's citizens paid for the damages from the Boston Tea Party. This was one of the Coercive Acts, dubbed Intolerable Acts by the colonists, designed to punish the city for the tea party (collective guilt) and helped to unite the colonists against Britain like never before.

1911: Triangle Shirtwaist fire killed 146 in NYC. This led to fire safety laws in the work place.

1957: Establishment of the European Common Market, a precursor to the EU.

1975: Assassination of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

March 26:

1920: F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published.

1953: Dr. Jonas Salk announced the polio vaccine.

1979: Menachim Begin and Anwar el-Sadat signed a historic peace agreement. Egypt was the first Arab nation to normalize relations with Israel paving the way for a productive relationship to this day. They would earn the Nobel Peace Prize but Sadat would be assassinated.

historian said:

---

March 26:

1920: F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published.

1953: Dr. Jonas Salk announced the polio vaccine.

1979: Menachim Begin and Anwar el-Sadat signed a historic peace agreement. Egypt was the first Arab nation to normalize relations with Israel paving the way for a productive relationship to this day. They would earn the Nobel Peace Prize but Sadat would be assassinated.

---

Sadat's murder speaks volumes to the hatred in that part of the world.

The handshake when the agreement was signed was the most uncomfortable handshake I'd ever seen until about a 10-14 days ago.

March 27:

1775: Thomas Jefferson was elected to the Second Continental Congress by the voters of Virginia.

1829: Pres. Andrew Jackson appointed John Eaton as his Secretary of War, defying Washington society and leading to scandal: Eaton's wife had a colorful background concerning her first husband, divorce, and his death so was shunned by elite society.

1836: Soldiers from the Mexican army massacred 417 Texas revolutionaries under James W. Fannin at Goliad.

1865: Pres. Abraham Lincoln met with Gens. Grant & Sherman to plan the last stages of the Civil War.

1905: Fingerprint evidence was used to solve a British murder.

1912: Japanese cherry trees were planted along the Potomac in Washington, D.C.

1939: First "March Madness" and first NCAA MBB champion (Oregon)

1958: Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier.

1964: Largest earthquake in American history: a 9.2 quake rocked Alaska and created a deadly tsunami.

1977: Two 747 jumbo jets collided on the runway at Canary Islands airport killing 592 people.

March 28:


1774: Britain's Parliament adopted the Coercive Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party. The American colonists made their opinions clear when they nicknamed them the "Intolerable Acts."

1834: Congress censured Pres. Andrew Jackson for his refusal to turn over documents. Congress was upset that Jackson had vetoed a bill to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States. (He was the first president to veto extensively and for political reasons).

1939: The Spanish Civil War ended with a victory for Gen. Francisco Franco.

1969: Death of Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower

1979: The worst accident in the history of America's nuclear power industry began at Three Mile Island in central Pennsylvania.

2006: Duke's lacrosse team was suspended after fraudulent sexual assault allegations.

I was watching the movie The China Syndrome.... amazing, it was released a few weeks before 3 Mile Island

It greatly added to the panic & paranoia and you can imagine what the media did with it. Unfortunately, the reality of what happened was nothing like the over the top melodrama of the propaganda film. But the two together are the main reason the US does not have more nuclear power today.

March 29:

1865: Beginning of the Appomattox campaign, the final campaign of the Civil War. Gen. Robert E. Lee desperately tried to avoid the inevitable but after a few weeks he was forced to surrender.

1929: First telephone was installed in the Oval Office for Pres. Herbert Hoover.

1951: Julius & Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage.

1971: Lt. William Calley was found guilty of the My Lai murders.

1973: U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam.

1974: America's Marinerbecame the first space probe to reach Mercury.

March 30:

1867: Sec. of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia to purchase Alaska. It was known as "Seward's folly" because many thought the territory was worthless. They were wrong.

1981: John Hinckley, Jr. shot Pres. Ronald Reagan in a failed assassination attempt.

March 31:

1492: Spain announced the expulsion of all Jews.

1776: In a private letter, Abigail Adams urged her husband John Adams, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, to "remember the ladies."

1854: Com. Matthew C. Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan opening the country to trade. Japan had been closed to all outside influence except a brief annual trade in Nagasaki. By forcing the issue, the U.S. created turmoil that ultimately caused the collapse of the shogunate, the establishment of a new regime under the Meiji Restoration, and the modernization of Japan throughout all aspects of society.

1889: The Eiffel Tower opened. Built to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution, it was the tallest man made structure until the completion of the Chrysler Building in NYC.

1905: First Moroccan Crisis: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany arrived in Germany to declare his support of the sultan of Morocco angering France and creating an international crisis.

1959: The Dalai Lama fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet and began his long exile.

1991: The Warsaw Pact, the military alliance of the Soviet Union and communist nations of eastern Europe during the Cold War, ceased to exist.

historian said:

---

March 31:

1492: Spain announced the expulsion of all Jews.

1776: In a private letter, Abigail Adams urged her husband John Adams, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, to "remember the ladies."

1854: Com. Matthew C. Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa with Japan opening the country to trade. Japan had been closed to all outside influence except a brief annual trade in Nagasaki. By forcing the issue, the U.S. created turmoil that ultimately caused the collapse of the shogunate, the establishment of a new regime under the Meiji Restoration, and the modernization of Japan throughout all aspects of society.

1889: The Eiffel Tower opened. Built to commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution, it was the tallest man made structure until the completion of the Chrysler Building in NYC.

1905: First Moroccan Crisis: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany arrived in Germany to declare his support of the sultan of Morocco angering France and creating an international crisis.

1959: The Dalai Lama fled the Chinese invasion of Tibet and began his long exile.

1991: The Warsaw Pact, the military alliance of the Soviet Union and communist nations of eastern Europe during the Cold War, ceased to exist.

---

Pop a cork for 1991!!!

I remember in the euphoric days of the post-1989 revolutions when the catch phrase was "freedom is breaking out everywhere!" Well, that was not entirely true as the Chinese dictatorship demonstrated at Tiananmen Square in earlier that year. But it was true for most of eastern Europe.

Personally, I remember November 9 and beyond quite vividly: watching the Berlin Wall come down and the people dancing and celebrating something they thought they would never see. I remember thinking that it was probably a good thing I did not have a passport because if I had one I would find a way to get there to see it first hand and there was no way I could afford to do that!

There is no question that the world is better off without the Soviet Union. Now, if we could only find another peaceful way to rid ourselves of other totalitarian dictatorships such as China, North Korea, Cuba, Burma, etc.

historian said:

---

I remember in the euphoric days of the post-1989 revolutions when the catch phrase was "freedom is breaking out everywhere!" Well, that was not entirely true as the Chinese dictatorship demonstrated at Tiananmen Square in earlier that year. But it was true for most of eastern Europe.

Personally, I remember November 9 and beyond quite vividly: watching the Berlin Wall come down and the people dancing and celebrating something they thought they would never see. I remember thinking that it was probably a good thing I did not have a passport because if I had one I would find a way to get there to see it first hand and there was no way I could afford to do that!

There is no question that the world is better off without the Soviet Union. Now, if we could only find another peaceful way to rid ourselves of other totalitarian dictatorships such as China, North Korea, Cuba, Burma, etc.

---

FWIW, Tiananmen Square was late May/early June 1989; Berlin Wall fell in November 1989.

I know. I guess was unclear but it was in the context of the events of 1989. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9--which was the same date as the German Revolution of 1918 and Kristallnacht in 1938.

historian said:

---

I know. I guess was unclear but it was in the context of the events of 1989. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9--which was the same date as the German Revolution of 1918 and Kristallnacht in 1938.

---

The Germans are going to have all sorts of trouble printing calendar pages for November. So much to choose from.

April 1:

1621: Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty between colonists in Plymouth on behalf of King James I and Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags.

1873: Birthday of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff

1918: Founding of the RAF

1924: Adolf Hitler sentenced to five years in prison for his treasonous attempt to overthrow the government in the Beer Hall Putsch. This would take place in Landsberg jail, dictating Mein Kampfto his personal secretary but would only serve nine months.

1945: American forces landed on Okinawa.

2000: Baylor introduced Kim Mulkey as new WBB head coach.

One of my favorites

I tend to prefer the Piano Concertos, especially #2:



or Piano Concerto #3:



I am partial to Van Cliburn but I actually prefer the Rubenstein versions. Rachmaninoff himself also recorded wonderful versions.

I cannot leave out the beautiful Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini:



The 18th variation is the most famous but the entire piece is gorgeous.

historian said:

---

April 1:

1621: Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty between colonists in Plymouth on behalf of King James I and Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags.

1873: Birthday of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff

1918: Founding of the RAF

1924: Adolf Hitler sentenced to five years in prison for his treasonous attempt to overthrow the government in the Beer Hall Putsch. This would take place in Landsberg jail, dictating Mein Kampfto his personal secretary but would only serve nine months.

1945: American forces landed on Okinawa.

2000: Baylor introduced Kim Mulkey as new WBB head coach.

---

Corrected to add an important bit of Baylor WBB history!

April 2:

1513: Ponce de Len claimed Florida for Spain.

1805: Birthday of Hans Christian Andersen

1917: Pres. Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany.

1982: Argentina invaded the Falklands.

1992: Mob boss John Gotti was convicted of murder.

2005: Death of Pope John Paul II

historian said:

---

historian said:

---

April 1:

1621: Pilgrim-Wampanoag peace treaty between colonists in Plymouth on behalf of King James I and Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags.

1873: Birthday of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff

1918: Founding of the RAF

1924: Adolf Hitler sentenced to five years in prison for his treasonous attempt to overthrow the government in the Beer Hall Putsch. This would take place in Landsberg jail, dictating Mein Kampfto his personal secretary but would only serve nine months.

1945: American forces landed on Okinawa.

2000: Baylor introduced Kim Mulkey as new WBB head coach.

---

Corrected to add an important bit of Baylor WBB history!

---

This one got left off yesterday

1985 Sidd Finch Introduced as a New York Met

April 3:

1776: Congress authorized American privateers to attack British vessels.

1860: Debut of the Pony Express

1865: Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia was captured by Union forces.

1882: Notorious outlaw Jesse James was shot to death by fellow gang member Bob Ford.

1936: Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles Lindbergh.

1948: Pres. Harry S. Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan through which the US financed the economic recovery of postwar Europe.

1996: Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, was arrested by FBI agents in Montana.

1996: Secretary of Commerce under Pres. Bill Clinton was killed in a plane crash along with 32 others.

April 4:

1841: Pres. William Henry Harrison became the first president in U.S. history to die while in office. He died of pneumonia only 32 days after his inauguration, the shortest presidency on record. He also holds the distinction of delivering the longest inaugural addressalmost 2 hours on a cold, wet day in March.

1949: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Pact was signed

1960: Ben Hurwon 11 Academy Awards.

1967: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. publicly spoke out against the Vietnam War.

1968: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while standing outside his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray.

1973: The World Trade Center, the world's tallest building at the time, opened in New York City.

1974: Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's home run record.

1975: Founding of Microsoft

historian said:

---

April 4:

1841: Pres. William Henry Harrison became the first president in U.S. history to die while in office. He died of pneumonia only 32 dies after his inauguration, the shortest presidency on record. He also holds the distinction of delivering the longest inaugural addressalmost 2 hours on a cold, wet day in

---

Just curious, how long is 32 dies?