- Mar 1 Bank of America adopts the name VISA for its credit cards
- Mar 1 US extends territorial waters to 200 miles
- Mar 1 PGA of America announces a sudden-death playoff format for the PGA Championship to be implemented; previously an 18-hole playoff applied after tie in regulation 72 holes
Event of Interest
Mar 2 Bette Davis is 1st woman to receive American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award
Bette Davis
Event of Interest
Mar 2 Future The Tonight Show host Jay Leno debuts with host Johnny Carson
Jay Leno
Johnny Carson
- Mar 2 Libya amends constitution
- Mar 3 Ice Pairs Champs at Tokyo won by Irina Rodnina/Alexandr Zaitsev (URS)
- Mar 3 Islanders allow Red Wings only 11 shots on goal
- Mar 3 Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms
- Mar 3 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Tokyo won by Vladimir Kovalev (USSR)
- Mar 3 World Ladies' Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Linda Fratianne (USA)
- Mar 4 1st CRAY 1 supercomputer shipped, to Los Alamos Laboratories, NM
- Mar 4 West Indian cricket fast bowler Colin Croft takes 8-29 against Pakistan in 2nd Test win at Port-of-Spain; best Test figures by a pace bowler from the West Indies
- Mar 4 Earthquake in Romania kills 1,541
Film and TV Awards
Mar 5 3rd People's Choice Awards: John Wayne & Barbra Streisand win (Motion Picture) and Telly Savalas & Mary Tyler Moore win (TV)
Meeting of Interest
Mar 7 Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin meets US President Jimmy Carter
Yitzhak Rabin
Jimmy Carter
- Mar 8 Henry L Marsh III elected mayor of Richmond, Virginia
- Mar 8 Princess Anne announces she's expecting her 1st child (Peter)
- Mar 9 Hanafi Muslims invade 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., siege ended Mar 11th
- Mar 9 Adm Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), becomes 12th director of CIA replacing acting director Knoche
- Mar 10 Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
- Mar 10 CBS' premiere of "A Circle of Children", starring Jane Alexander and based on the life and book about this by Mary Mac Cracken
- Mar 11 Hanafi Muslims hold 130 hostages in Washington, D.C.
Event of Interest
Mar 12 Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet bans the Christian-Democratic Party
Augusto Pinochet
Event of Interest
Mar 12 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel
Anwar Sadat
- Mar 13 Dennis Lillee takes 6-26, England all out 95 in Centenary Test
- Mar 15 "Eight is Enough" premieres on ABC-TV
- Mar 15 US House of Representatives begins 90 day test of televising its sessions
- Mar 15 TV comedy "Three's Company" starring Jack Ritter, Suzanne Somers and Joyce DeWitt premieres on ABC
Event of Interest
Mar 16 US President Jimmy Carter pleads for a Palestinian homeland
Jimmy Carter
- Mar 17 Australia wins cricket Centenary Test by 45 runs, same result as 1877
- Mar 18 The Clash release their first recording "White Riot"
- Mar 18 US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea & Cambodia
- Mar 18 Vietnam hands over MIA to US
- Mar 19 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Mar 19 Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.33)
- Mar 19 France beats Ireland, 15-6 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin to clinch its 6th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 2nd Grand Slam
- Mar 20 Communists and socialists win French municipal elections
Election of Interest
Mar 20 Parisians elect former PM Jacques Chirac as 1st mayor in a century
Jacques Chirac
Election of Interest
Mar 20 Premier Indira Gandhi loses election in India
Indira Gandhi
- Mar 20 PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass CC: Mark Hayes wins in windy conditions, 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Mike McCullough
- Mar 22 Indira Gandhi resigns as Prime Minister of India
- Mar 22 Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) government under Joop den Uyl falls
- Mar 26 Elvis Costello releases his 1st record "Less Than Zero"
- Mar 26 Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson
- Mar 26 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Delta State beat Louisiana State University 68-55 in Minneapolis
Tenerife Airport Disaster
Mar 27 583 die in aviation's worst ever disaster when two Boeing 747s collide at Tenerife airport in Spain
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Event of Interest
Mar 27 American tennis star Chris Evert wins her 4th and final WTA Tour Championship 2–6, 6–1, 6–1 against England's Sue Barker at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Chris Evert
- Mar 28 39th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Marquette beats North Carolina, 67-59; Warriors' first title; coach Al McGuire retires
Academy Awards
Mar 28 49th Academy Awards: "Rocky", Peter Finch & Faye Dunaway win
Faye Dunaway
Peter Finch