- March 1st, 1961 – President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps, an organization sending young American volunteers to developing countries to assist with health care, education, and all basic human needs.
- March 2nd, 1903 – Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children’s books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- March 3rd, 1913 – A women’s suffrage march in Washington D.C. was attacked by angry onlookers while police stood by. Many of the thousands of women participating were spat upon and struck in the face as a riot nearly broke out. This happened a day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.
- March 4th, 1933 – Newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office and delivered his inaugural address, attempting to restore public confidence during the Great Depression, stating, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”
- March 5th, 1770 – The Boston Massacre occurred as a group of rowdy Americans harassed British soldiers who then opened fire, killing five and injuring six. This was one of the many events leading up to the Revolutionary War.
- March 6th, 1475 – Renaissance genius Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and visionary best known for his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his sculptures David and The Pieta.
- March 7th, 1965 – State troopers and a sheriff’s posse in Selma, Alabama attacked 525 civil rights demonstrators taking part in a civil rights march between Selma and Montgomery, the state capital. It is known as Bloody Sunday.
- March 8th, 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional.
- March 9th, 1451– Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci was born in Florence, Italy. He explored South America and the Amazon River. A German mapmaker first referred to the lands discovered in the New World as America, after Vespucci’s name.
- March 10th, 1862 – The first issue of U.S. government paper money occurred as $5, $10, and $20 bills began circulation.
- March 11th, 1941 – During World War II, the Lend-Lease program began allowing Britain to receive American weapons, machines, raw materials, training, and repair services.
- March 12th, 1888 – The Great Blizzard of ’88 struck the northeastern U.S. The storm lasted 36 hours, with snowfall totaling over 40 inches in New York City. Over 400 people died due to the surprise storm.
- March 13th, 1930 – It was announced that the planet Pluto had been discovered by scientist Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory. It was later recategorized as a dwarf planet in 2006.
- March 14th, 1879 – Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. His theory of relativity led to new ways of thinking about time, space, matter, and energy. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 and emigrated to the U.S. in 1933.
- March 15th, 44 B.C. – Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Brutus and fellow conspirators. After first trying to defend himself against the attack, Caesar saw Brutus with a knife and asked “Et tu, Brute?” He was stabbed to death.
- March 16th, 1751 – James Madison, the 4th U.S. President, was born in Port Conway, Virginia. He played an important role in the formation of the U.S. Constitution following the American Revolutionary War.
- March 17th – Celebrated as Saint Patrick’s Day, commemorating the patron saint of Ireland.
- March 18th, 1837 – Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. President, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was the only President to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
- March 19th, 1628 – The Massachusetts colony was founded by Englishmen.
- March 20th, 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” subtitled “Life Among the Lowly,” was first published.
- March 21st, 1965 – More than 3,000 civil rights demonstrators, led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
- March 22, 1972 – The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Senate, and then sent to the states for ratification. The ERA, as it became known, prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender.
- March 23, 1775 – Patrick Henry ignited the American Revolution with a speech before the Virginia convention in Richmond, stating, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
- March 24th, 1934 – The Philippine Islands in the South Pacific were granted independence by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after nearly 50 years of American control.
- March 25th, 1911 – A huge fire erupted inside a garment factory in New York City, killing 123 young women employed as low-paid seamstresses, along with 23 men. The fast-spreading flames engulfed the 8th and 9th floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in lower Manhattan in minutes. About 50 of the victims had jumped to their deaths rather than be burned. The tragedy spurred national interest concerning the rights of workers.
- March 26th, 1911 – Playwright Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Mississippi. His works featured Southern settings and include; The Glass Menagerie, Night of the Iguana, and two Pulitzer Prize winning plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof .
- March 27th, 1794 – The U.S. Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Navy.
- March 28th, 1979 – Near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident occurred, in which uranium in the reactor core overheated due to the failure of a cooling valve. The accident caused the release of radioactive steam into the atmosphere, and created controversy over the safety needs of nuclear power plants.
- March 29th, 1790 – John Tyler, the 10th U.S. President, was born in Charles City County, Virginia. He became president when William H. Harrison died, and served from 1841 to 1845.
- March 30th, 1853 – Vincent Van Gogh was born in Groot Zundert, Holland. He was a Post Impressionist painter, generally considered one of the greatest painters. During his life, he suffered from despair and bouts of mental illness, at one point cutting off part of his own left ear. He committed suicide in 1890 by gunshot.
- March 31, 1968 – President Lyndon Johnson made a surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election as a result of the Vietnam conflict.