March 4
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March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). There are 302 days remaining.
The United States Constitution originally provided that the President of the United States was to be inaugurated on this date, starting in 1793 and then repeating every four years until 1933, when the 20th Amendment changed the presidential inauguration date to January 20.
March 4th is the only day of the year that is a statement, "March Forth". Many schools celebrate this special event with an annual march around the school to symbolize positive change in their communities.
Events
- 303 or 304 - Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
- 1152 - Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of the Germans.
- 1461 - Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
- 1570 - King Philip II bans foreign Dutch students.
- 1611 - George Abbot is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 1621 - Jakarta, Java renamed Batavia.
- 1634 - Samuel Cole opens the first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1665 - English king Charles II declares war on The Netherlands which marked the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- 1675 - John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal of England.
- 1681 - Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
- 1699 - Jews are expelled from Lubeck, Germany.
- 1714 - English fleet under Admiral Ogle reaches Cartagena.
- 1774 - First sighting of Orion Nebula by William Herschel.
- 1789 - In New York City, the first U.S. Congress meets and declares the new Constitution of the United States is in effect.
- 1790 - France is divided into 83 départements, which cut across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on noble ownership of land.
- 1791 - Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
- 1793 - French troops conquer Geertruidenberg, Netherlands.
- 1801 - Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the USA, becomes the first US president inaugurated in Washington, DC.
- 1804 - The Battle of Vinegar Hill, colony of New South Wales (Australia).
- 1804 - The British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) was founded at a large interdenominational meeting in London.
- 1824 - The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded in Britain.
- 1829 - Unruly crowd mobs White House during the President Jackson inaugural ball.
- 1830 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi, premieres in Venice.
- 1837 - Chicago is granted a city charter by Illinois.
- 1841 - Inauguration of William Henry Harrison as 9th President of the USA. Harrison died exactly one month into his term—the briefest presidency in the history of the office.
- 1848 - Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will represent the first constitution of the Regno d'Italia
- 1849 - Zachary Taylor refuses to be sworn in office as 12th President of the USA on a Sabbath (Sunday). Consequently the office of President of the United States of America is vacant for a single day. Urban legend instead holds that David Rice Atchison, President pro tempore of the United States Senate was President de jure for a single day.
- 1853 - Pope Pius IX recovers Catholic hierarchy in Netherlands.
- 1861 - President Lincoln opens Government Printing Office.
- 1861 - Confederate States adopt "Stars & Bars" flag, on the same day that Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated.
- 1863 - Territory of Idaho established.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Thompson's Station in Tennessee.
- 1876 - US Congress ends "impeachment" of Minister of War Belknap.
- 1877 - Emile Berliner invents the microphone.
- 1877 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake debuts.
- 1880 - New York Daily Graphic publishes the first half-tone engraving, by S H Horgan.
- 1881 - A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story, begins.
- 1881 - South African President Kruger accepts ceasefire.
- 1885 - Gilbert & Sullivan's opera Mikado premieres in London.
- 1890 - The Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Albert Edward, eldest son of and heir apparent to Queen Victoria, opens the 1,710 foot Forth Bridge in Scotland.
- 1894 - Great fire in Shanghai. Over 1,000 buildings are destroyed.
- 1895 - Premiere of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony in Berlin.
- 1902 - In Chicago, the American Automobile Association is established.
- 1905 - Gerhart Hauptmann's 'Elga' premieres in Berlin.
- 1908 - Collingwood OH Primary School catches fire; 180 die.
- 1911 - Victor Berger (Wisconsin) becomes the first socialist congressman in US.
- 1913 - The United States Department of Commerce and United States Department of Labor are established by splitting the duties of the 10-year-old Dept. of Commerce and Labor.
- 1913 - First US law regulating the shooting of migratory birds passed.
- 1917 - Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
- 1921 - Hot Springs National Park created in Arkansas.
- 1923 - Lenin's last article about Red bureaucracy was published in Pravda.
- 1924 - The song 'Happy Birthday To You' is published by Claydon F. Summy.
- 1926 - De Geer government in Netherlands takes office.
- 1929 - Charles Curtis (R-Kansas) becomes the first native American Vice President.
- 1933 - Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, first female member of the United States Cabinet.
- 1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlines his "New Deal" in his inauguration speech.
- 1933 - The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates authoritarian rule by decree (see Austrofascism)
- 1936 - First flight of airship Hindenburg, Germany.
- 1941 - Britain launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands, during World War II.
- 1944 - First US bombing of Berlin and Anti-Germany strikes in northern Italy.
- 1944 - In Ossining, New York, Louis Buchalter, the leader of 1930s crime syndicate Murder, Inc., is executed at Sing Sing.
- 1945 - In Britain, Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the British Army as a driver.
- 1945 - Finland declares war on nazi-Germany.
- 1946 - The Voice Of Frank Sinatra, the first Frank Sinatra album ever, is released by Columbia Records.
- 1949 - Andrei Vishinsky succeeds Molotov as Soviet Foreign minister.
- 1949 - Security Council of UN recommends membership for Israel.
- 1950 - US Premiere of Walt Disney's animated film Cinderella.
- 1954 - Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston announces the first successful kidney transplant.
- 1955 - First radio facsimile transmission sent across the continent of America.
- 1959 - US Pioneer IV misses Moon and becomes the second (US first) artificial planet.
- 1960 - French freighter 'La Coubre' explodes in Havana, Cuba killing 100. Fidel Castro blames the U.S.
- 1960 - Lucille Ball files divorce from Desi Arnaz.
- 1961 - Paul-Henri Spaak resigns as Secretary General of NATO.
- 1962 - AEC announces that the first atomic power plant in Antarctica is in operation.
- 1963 - In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
- 1966 - North Sea Gas was first pumped ashore by BP.
- 1966 - John Lennon says The Beatles are "more popular than Jesus" which sparks controversy in the United States.
- 1966 - Canadian Pacific airliner explodes on landing at Tokyo, killing 64 people.
- 1970 - French submarine Eurydice explodes.
- 1972 - Last train run between Penrith to Keswick, UK.
- 1972 - Libya and USSR sign co-operation treaty.
- 1974 - Harold Wilson becomes British Prime Minister following the resignation of his predecessor Edward Heath.
- 1975 - Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England.
- 1976 - The Maguire Seven were found guilty of the offence of possessing explosives and were subsequently jailed for 14 years.
- 1977 - The 1977 Bucharest Earthquake in southern and eastern Europe kills more than 1,500.
- 1977 - First CRAY 1 supercomputer shipped to Los Alamos Laboratories, New Mexico.
- 1979 - US Voyager I photo reveals Jupiter's rings.
- 1978 - Chicago Daily News, founded in 1875, publishes last issue.
- 1980 - Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become the country's first black prime minister.
- 1986 - First issue of Today newspaper in the UK.
- 1989 - Six people die and 80 are injured, some of them seriously, in a train crash at Purley in Surrey, England.
- 1989 - Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger forming Time-Warner.
- 1993 - Authorities announce the capture of suspected World Trade Center bombing conspirator Mohammad Salameh.
- 1994 - Four terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing which killed six and injured more than a thousand.
- 1995 - Michael Johnson runs world record 400m indoor (44.63 sec).
- 1995 - Blind teenage boy receives a 'Bionic Eye' at a Washington Hospital.
- 1995 - George Foreman loses WBA boxing title, refusing to fight Tony Tucker.
- 1997 - In London, the match-fixing trial of footballers Bruce Grobbelar, John Fashanu and Hans Segers ends in deadlock with the jury failing to reach verdicts.
- 1998 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
- 1999 - In a military court, Captain Richard Ashby of the United States Marines is acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.
- 2001 - During the early hours a massive bomb located in a taxi explodes in front of BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring 11 people. The attack was attributed to dissident Irish republicans.
- 2004 - The guilty verdict for Moroccan al-Qaeda suspect Mounir el Motassadeq's involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks is overturned by the German appeals court, which orders a retrial.
- 2004 - The files of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun are released to the public five years after his death.
- 2004 - FIFA reveals its list of 100 Greatest Living Footballers (otherwise known as the "FIFA 100").
- 2005 - The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by US soldiers in Iraq, causing the death of one passenger and injuring two more.
- 2005 - Carly Kirkwood begins her role as the new presenter of TV3 New Zealand's highly successful, late-night news show: Nightline.
- 2005 - United Nations warns that about 90 million Africans could be infected by the HIV virus in the future without further action against the spread of the disease.
Births
- 1394 - Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese patron of exploration (d. 1460)
- 1492 - Francesco de Layolle, Italian composer
- 1651 - John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1716)
- 1665 - Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier
- 1678 - Antonio Vivaldi, Italian composer (d. 1741)
- 1719 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (d. 1777)
- 1793 - Karl Lachmann, German philologist (d. 1851)
- 1826 - Theodore Judah, American railroad engineer (d. 1863)
- 1859 - Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (d. 1905)
- 1876 - Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet (d. 1947)
- 1877 - Garrett Morgan, American inventor (d. 1963)
- 1888 - Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
- 1897 - Lefty O'Doul, baseball player and restaurateur (d. 1969)
- 1901 - Charles Goren, bridge expert (d. 1991)
- 1903 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (d. 1973)
- 1904 - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (d. 1968)
- 1906 - Meindert DeJong American author of children's books (d. 1991)
- 1909 - Harry Helmsley, American real estate entrepreneur (d. 1997)
- 1913 - John Garfield, American actor (d. 1952)
- 1914 - Ward Kimball, American animator (d. 2002)
- 1916 - Hans Eysenck, German-born psychologist (d. 1997)
- 1923 - Sir Patrick Moore, British astronomer and broadcaster
- 1925 - Paul Mauriat, French musician
- 1928 - Alan Sillitoe, English writer
- 1929 - Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor
- 1932 - Miriam Makeba, South African singer
- 1932 - Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, American custom car designer (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Janez Strnad, Slovenian physicist
- 1935 - Bent Larsen, Danish chess player
- 1936 - Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (d. 1968)
- 1937 - Graham Dowling, New Zealand cricketer
- 1938 - Don Perkins, American football player
- 1939 - Paula Prentiss, American actress
- 1941 - Adrian Lyne, English director
- 1942 - Charles C. Krulak, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps
- 1944 - Bobby Womack, American singer and songwriter
- 1947 - Jan Garbarek, Norwegian musician
- 1948 - Chris Squire, British musician (Yes)
- 1948 - Shakin' Stevens (Mike Barrett), Welsh rocker
- 1948 - James Ellroy, American writer
- 1950 - Rick Perry, Governor of Texas
- 1950 - Billy Gibbons, English musician (ZZ Top)
- 1951 - Kenny Dalglish Scottish footballer and football manager
- 1951 - Chris Rea, British singer, rock guitarist and musician
- 1952 - Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer
- 1953 - Emilio Estefan, Cuban musician
- 1954 - Willie Thorne, English snooker player
- 1954 - Adrian Zmed, American actor and dancer
- 1954 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress and comedienne
- 1954 - Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer
- 1958 - Patricia Heaton, American actress
- 1958 - Lennie Lee, British performance artist
- 1960 - Mykelti Williamson, American actor
- 1961 - Ray Mancini, American boxer
- 1961 - Steven Weber, American actor
- 1962 - Lolo Ferrari (Eve Valois), French dancer and porn actress (d. 2000)
- 1963 - Jason Newsted, American bassist (Metallica)
- 1965 - Gary Helms, American kickboxer
- 1966 - Kevin Johnson, American basketball player
- 1966 - Grand Puba, American rapper
- 1966 - Dav Pilkey, American author and illustrator
- 1967 - Evan Dando, American musician
- 1968 - Patsy Kensit, English actress
- 1971 - Fergal Lawler, Irish drummer (The Cranberries)
- 1982 - Landon Donovan, American soccer player'
- 1989 - Sabrina Abramovitz, student
Deaths
- 1193 - Saladin, Turkish sultan (b. 1137)
- 1238 - Joan of England, queen of Alexander II of Scotland (b. 1210)
- 1484 - Saint Casimir, Prince of Poland (b. 1458)
- 1496 - Archduke Sigismund of Austria (b. 1427)
- 1604 - Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian (b. 1539)
- 1615 - Hans von Aachen, German painter (b. 1552)
- 1619 - Anne of Denmark, queen of James I of England, (b. 1574)
- 1710 - Louis III, Prince of Condé (b. 1668)
- 1733 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (b. 1656)
- 1793 - Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre, French admiral (b. 1725)
- 1795 - John Collins, American politician (b. 1717)
- 1805 - Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (b. 1725)
- 1832 - Jean-François Champollion, French egyptologist (b. 1790)
- 1852 - Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (b. 1809)
- 1853 - Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist (b. 1774)
- 1858 - Matthew Perry, U.S. naval officer (b. 1794)
- 1868 - Jesse Chisholm, American pioneer (b. 1805)
- 1941 - Ludwig Quidde, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1858)
- 1946 - Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Danish big-game hunter (b. 1886)
- 1948 - Antonin Artaud, French actor, director, and author (b. 1896)
- 1952 - Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- 1954 - Noel Gay, composer, (b. 1899)
- 1959 - Maxey Long, American athlete, (b. 1878)
- 1963 - William Carlos Williams, American poet (b. 1883)
- 1977 - Andrés Caicedo, Colombian writer (b. 1951)
- 1979 - Willi Unsoeld, American mountain climber (b. 1926)
- 1986 - Richard Manuel, Canadian musician (b. 1943)
- 1990 - Hank Gathers, American basketball player (b. 1967)
- 1992 - Arthur Babbitt, animator (Mr Magoo, Goofy) (b. 1908)
- 1994 - John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (b. 1950)
- 1996 - Minnie Pearl, American comedienne (b. 1912)
- 1999 - Harry Blackmun, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1908)
- 1999 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (b. 1921)
- 2001 - Glenn Hughes, American musician (The Village People)
- 2001 - Harold Stassen, American politician (b. 1907)
- 2003 - Jaba Ioseliani, Georgian politician and bank robber (b. 1926)
- 2004 - John McGeoch, Scottish musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees and Public Image Ltd.) (b. 1955)
- 2004 - Claude Nougaro, French singer (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Nicola Calipari, Italian secret service agent (b. 1953)
Holidays and observances
- Catholicism - Feast day of St Casimir
- Catholicism - Commemoration of St Lucius I, pope, martyr
- Mauritius - Maha Shivaratree
- Wales - Feast day of Rhiannon
- Thailand - Magka Puja
- Pennsylvania - Charter Day
External links
March 3 - March 5 - February 4 - April 4 -- listing of all days