On This Day in History for March 9

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 133

• 141 BC Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years
• 590 Bahram Chobin is crowned as King Barham VI of Persia.

• 1009 First known written mention of Lithuania, in the annals of Quedlinburg
• 1230 Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus near the village of Klokotnitsa
• 1276 Augsburg becomes an Imperial Free City
• 1496 Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria

• 1551 Emperor Karel appoints son Philip as heir to the throne
• 1562 Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
• 1566 David Rizzio, the private secretary to Mary I of Scotland, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
• 1617 Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Stolbowa
• 1640 Pierre Corneilles "Horace" premieres in Paris
• 1642 English Queen Henriette Maria arrives in Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands
• 1689 Thomas Shadwell appointed second English Poet Laureate by William and Mary after John Dryden refuses to swear The Oath allegiance


• 1701 France, Cologne & Bavaria sign alliance
• 1721 British Chancellor Exchequer John Aislabie confined in London Tower
• 1741 British fleet under admiral Ogle begins assault on Cartagena
• 1745 Bells for 1st American carillon shipped from England to Boston

• 1798 Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US navy
• 1820 -11) Philippines chases out foreigners; about 125 die
• 1822 Charles Graham of NY granted first US patent for artificial teeth
• 1834 French Foreign Legion is founded.
• 1839 Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours
• 1841 US Supreme Court rules the kidnapped slaves from the Spanish schooner the Amistad are free
• 1856 Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama
• 1858 Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox
• 1860 1st Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington
• 1861 Confederate currency authorized - $50, $100, $500, $1,000
• 1862 USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack battle in Hampton Roads

• 1889 Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
• 1889 Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
• 1891 Great Blizzard of 1891 begins in England (lasts until 13th March; 200 people and 6,000 animals killed)
• 1893 Congo cannibals kill thousands of Arabs
• 1897 Cleveland Spiders sign Louis Sockalexis, full-blooded Penobscot
• 1897 Indians fans start calling the team "Indians" (in 1915 becomes official)
• 1907 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana


• 1907 Lady Gregory's "Rising of the Moon" premieres in Dublin
• 1914 Henry Colijn appointed as director of Bataafsche Petroleum Co

• 1916 Mexican General Francisco "Pancho" Villa invades US (18 killed)
• 1916 Germany declares war against Portugal
• 1918 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
• 1918 Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
• 1918 Wageningen Agricultural College Neth opens
• 1922 Eugene O'Neill's "Hairy Ape" premieres in NYC
• 1922 KJR-AM in Seattle Washington begins radio transmissions
• 1923 Amsterdam taxi strike ends
• 1923 Elmer Rice's "Adding Machine" premieres in NYC
• 1924 South Slavia aproves Italy's annexation of Fiume (Rijeka)
• 1925 Pink's War, the first RAF operation conducted independently of the Army or Navy, begins
• 1926 Bertha Landes elected 1st woman mayor of Seattle
• 1929 Marcel Pagnol's "Marius" premieres in Paris

• 1932 Former Chinese emperor Henry Pu-Yi installed as head of Manchuria
• 1933 Bulgarian communists Dimitrov, Popov & Vassili arrested in Berlin

• 1942 Construction of the Alaska Highway began
• 1943 Delft opposition group-Pahud de Mortanges overthrown
• 1943 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps

• 1945 Japanese proclaim "independence" of Indo-China
• 1946 Dutch troops land at Batavia/Semarang
• 1947 US Ladies' Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill
• 1947 US Men's Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
• 1948 Provisionary Indonesian government installed in Batavia
• 1949 Brigadier General Edwin K Wright, USA, ends term as deputy director of CIA
• 1949 England beat South Africa by scoring 174 runs in 94 minutes

• 1956 Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrested & exiled to Seychelles
• 1956 Weather forecasting phone line set up in London England
• 1957 8.1 earthquake shakes Andreanof Islands, Alaska
• 1959 1st known radar contact is made with Venus
• 1959 Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Over a billion have been sold worldwide since.
• 1961 Soviet flight Sputnik 9 carries and returns from orbit a dog named Chernushka (Blackie), frogs and a guinea pig
• 1961 Mine cave-in in Japan, kills 72
• 1962 Egyptian President Nasser declares Gaza belongs to Palestinians
• 1962 US advisors in South-Vietnam join the fight
• 1964 1st Ford Mustang produced
• 1964 Creighton's Paul Silas grabs Midwest record 27 rebounds against Okla
• 1964 Supreme Court issues NY Times vs Sullivan decision, public officials must prove malice to claim libel & recover damages
• 1966 Andrew Brimmer becomes 1st black governor of Federal Reserve Board
• 1967 Svetlana Allilueva, Stalin's daughter, defected to the West
• 1971 J M Noreiga takes 9-95 WI v India at Port-of-Spain
• 1971 Three off-duty Scottish soldiers are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; 4000 shipyard workers take to the streets to demand internment in response
• 1972 Four members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) die in a premature explosion at a house in Clonard Street, Lower Falls, Belfast
• 1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
• 1975 Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
• 1977 Hanafi Muslims invade 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., siege ended Mar 11th
• 1977 Adm Stansfield Turner, USN (Ret), becomes 12th director of CIA replacing acting director Knoche
• 1978 Ice Pairs Championship at Ottawa won by Rodnina & Zaitsev (Soviet Union)
• 1978 Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Ottawa won by Anett Pötzsch (East Germany)

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Birthdays in History

• 1213 Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader, born in Villaines-en-Duesmois, France (d. 1271)
• 1285 Emperor Go-Nijō of Japan (d. 1318)

• 1564 David Fabricius, German astronomer (discovered variable star), born in Esens, Germany (d. 1617)
• 1568 Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian aristocrat and saint, born in Duchy of Mantua, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1591)
• 1629 Tsar Alexis I of Russia [Aleksey Mikhaylovich], Tsar of Russia (1645-76), born in Moscow (d. 1676)
• 1720 Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (d. 1790)

• 1753 Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general, born in Strasbourg, France (d. 1800)
• 1758 Franz Joseph Gall, German-French physician (phrenology), born in Tiefenbronn, Germany (d. 1828)
• 1763 William Cobbett, English journalist and author, born in Farnham, Surrey (d. 1835)
• 1777 Aleksander Orłowski, Polish painter, cartoonist and graphic artist, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1832)
• 1791 George Hayward, American surgeon, 1st to use ether (d. 1863)
• 1814 Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian national poet and painter, born in Moryntsi, Ukraine (d. 1861) [NS]
• 1815 David Davis, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, born in Cecil County, Maryland (d. 1886)
• 1820 Samuel Blatchford, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, born in Auburn, New York (d. 1893)

• 1825 Alexander F. Mozhaiski, Russian aviation pioneer, born in Rochensalm, Russian Empire (d. 1890)
• 1833 Frederick A. Schroeder, American tobacco industrialist and mayor of Brooklyn, born in Trier, Germany (d. 1899)
• 1839 Felix Huston Robertson, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas (d. 1928)
• 1865 Margaret Murray Washington, Wife of Booker T. Washington and Lady Principal of Tuskegee, born in Macon, Mississippi (d. 1925)
• 1877 Emil Abderhalden, Swiss physiologist and biochemist, born in Oberuzwil, Switzerland (d. 1950)
• 1881 Ernest Bevin, British Minister of Labour (1940-45) and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1945-51), born in Winsford, Sommerset (d. 1951)
• 1883 Umberto Saba, Italian writer, born in Trieste, Austria-Hungary (d. 1957)
• 1887 Fritz Lenz, German geneticist, born in Redło, Goleniów County, Poland (d. 1976)

• 1892 David Garnett, English novelist and editor (Lady into Fox), born in Brighton, East Sussex (d. 1981)
• 1892 Josef Weinheber, Austrian poet and writer (Adel und Untergang), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1945)
• 1892 Vita Sackville-West, English novelist, poet (The Land) and gardener (Sissinghurst), born in Knole House, Kent (d. 1962)
• 1893 Edgar Scauflaire, Belgian painter and decorator, born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1960)
• 1894 Frank Arnau [Heinrich Schmitt], German crime fiction writer, born in Vienna (d. 1976)
• 1900 Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta, Italian king of Croatia (1941-43), born in Turin, Italy (d. 1948)
• 1902 Edward Durell Stone, American architect (US Embassy, New Delhi), born in Fayetteville, Arkansas (d. 1978)
• 1904 Paul Klipsch, American engineer, noted for his loudspeaker designs, born in Elkhart, Indiana (d. 2002)
• 1905 Félix Labisse, French painter (libidoscaphes), born in Marchiennes, France (d. 1982)
• 1905 Peter C. Quennell, English biographer and critic (Byron in Italy), born in Bickley, Kent (d. 1993)
• 1905 Rex Warner, English poet and writer (Wild Goose Chase), born in Birmingham (d. 1986)
• 1909 Derk Bodde, American sinologist and historian of China, born in Marshfield, Massachusetts (d. 2003)
• 1910 Ed Hoornik, Dutch writer and poet (Survivor), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1970)
• 1912 Alan David Melville, polymath
• 1913 Gerarda Brautigam, Dutch journalist and politician (Partij van de Arbeid), born in Rotterdam (d. 1982)
• 1917 Dante Fascell, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives from Florida), born in Bridgehampton, New York (d. 1998)
• 1918 Mickey Spillane [Frank Morrison Spillane], American mystery writer (I the Jury), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2006)
• 1923 James L. Buckley, American politician, Senator from New York (1971-77), born in NYC, New York
• 1923 André Courrèges, French fashion designer, born in Pau, French Basque country (d. 2016)
• 1923 Walter Kohn, Austrian-born American scientist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 1998), born in Vienna (d. 2016)
• 1926 Gerrit A. Kooy, Dutch sociologist (Apartheid & work in South Africa), born in Kedichem, The Netherlands
• 1928 Gerald Bull, Canadian long range artillery designer and engineer, born in North Bay, Ontario (d. 1990)
• 1929 Hugh Desmond Hoyte, Guyanese politician and President of Guyana (1985-92), born in Georgetown, Guyana (d. 2002)
• 1929 Marie Cardinal, French writer (La Clé Sur La Porte), born in French Algeria (d. 2001)
• 1930 Harry Aarts, Dutch politician and 2nd chamber member (CDA), born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
• 1931 Thore Skogman, Swedish entertainer, born in Hallstahammar, Sweden (d. 2007)
• 1932 Simon Heere Heeresma, Dutch writer and poet (Han de Wit goes in development aid), born in Amsterdam (d. 2011)
• 1932 Sister Bernard Ncube, South African religious sister and anti-apartheid, born in Johannesburg (d. 2012)
• 1933 Mel Lastman, Canadian businessman and politician, born in Toronto, Ontario

• 1935 Andrew Viterbi, American telecommunications scientist and businessman (Qualcomm Inc.), born in Bergamo, Italy
• 1937 Bernard Landry, Premier of Quebec (2001-2003), born in Saint-Jacques, Quebec, Canada
• 1941 Ger van Elk, Dutch sculptor, born in Amsterdam (d. 2014)
• 1941 Ernesto Miranda, American litigant, conviction on kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery charges, born in Mesa, Arizona (d. 1976)
• 1943 Charles Gibson, American television journalist (Good Morning America), born in Evanston, Illinois
• 1945 Dennis Rader, American serial killer who murdered ten people in Sedgwick County, Kansas, born in Pittsburg, Kansas
• 1946 Gherman Semyonovich Arzamazov, Russian cosmonaut (backup TM-6), born in Shubino, Russia
• 1947 Keri Hulme, New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer, born in Christchurch, New Zealand
• 1948 Jaime Lyn Bauer, American actress (Young & Restless, Centerfold Girls), born in Phoenix, Arizona
• 1948 Emma Bonino, Italian politician, Senator for Rome, born in Bra, Italy
• 1951 Michael Kinsley, American journalist and editor, born in Detroit, Michigan
• 1951 Helen Zille, South African politician, born in Johannesburg
• 1954 Bobby Sands, Irish IRA member and leader of the hunger strike at Maze Prison where he died, born in Newtownabbey, Northern Abbey (d. 1981)
• 1954 Carlos Ghosn, French Brazilian automobile executive (Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors), born in Porto Velho, Brazil
• 1956 Shashi Tharoor, Indian politician and diplomat (United Nations Under-Secretary General), born in London
• 1956 David Willetts, English Conservative Party politician, born in Birmingham, England
• 1957 Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician, leader of Swedish Social Democratic Party, born in Sollefteå, Västernorrland County, Sweden
• 1963 David Pogue, American technology columnist and TV science presenter, born in Shaker Heights, Ohio
• 1964 Herbert Fandel, German football referee, born in Kyllburg, Germany
• 1966 Tony Lockett, Australian Rules full-forward (highest goalscorer in VFL/AFL history, 1,360 in 281 games), born in Ballarat, Victoria
• 1966 Michael Patrick MacDonald, Irish-American activist against crime and violence and author (All Souls: A Family Story From Southie), born in Boston, Massachusetts
• 1970 Melissa Rathburn-Nealy, US soldier (Iraqi POW)
• 1972 Spencer Howson, Australian radio broadcaster, born in England
• 1973 Matteo Salvini, Italian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy (2018-), born in Milan, Italy
• 1976 Thor Halvorssen, Venezuelan human rights activist, born in Venezuela
• 1983 Clint Dempsey, American footballer, born in Nacogdoches, Texas

Weddings in History

Deaths in History

• 1202 King Sverre of Norway (1184-1202), dies
• 1422 Jan Zelivsky, Hussite priest (b. 1380)
• 1440 St Frances of Rome, Italian nun (b. 1384)
• 1566 David Rizzio, Italian secretary of Mary Queen of Scots, murdered by Protestant nobles
• 1620 Aegidius Albertinus, German writer (Lucifer's Kingdom), dies at 59
• 1649 James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman, dies at 42
• 1649 Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier, executed at 58
• 1661 Jules "Cardinal" Mazarin, chief minister of France, dies at 58
• 1688 Claude Mellan, French engraver, cartoonist and painter, dies at 89
• 1709 Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, English diplomat, dies at 70
• 1747 Jacob Campo Weyerman, Dutch painter and writer during Dutch Englightenment, dies at 69
• 1808 Joseph Bonomi the Elder, architect (b. 1739)
• 1809 Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French ballonist (1st balloon flights in England and U.S.), dies at 55
• 1824 Jacobus J Cramer, priest of Holland/Zealand/Friesland, dies at 79
• 1831 Friedrich M Klinger, German (stage)author (Plimplamplasko), dies at 79
• 1836 Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French Enlightenment philosopher, dies at 81
• 1847 Mary Anning, British fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist (Jurassic marine fossil beds of Lyme Regis in Dorset), dies of breast cancer at 47

• 1877 Mark Prager Lindo, English/Dutch author (Neth Spectator), dies at 58
• 1883 Arnold Toynbee, English economic historian and social reformer, dies at 30
• 1888 William I, German Emperor (b. 1797)
• 1895 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (Masochism), dies at 59
• 1897 Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier and pioneer of modern skiing, dies at 71
• 1907 John Alexander Dowie, Scottish-American evangelist (founded the city of Zion, Illinois), dies at 59
• 1913 Eberhard Nestle, German biblical scholar, dies at 61
• 1918 [Benjamin] Franc[lin] Wedekind, German writer/press sec, dies at 53
• 1931 Ida B Wells-Barnett, African American civil rights activist, dies in Chicago at 78
• 1937 Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist, dies at 72
• 1947 Carrie Chapman Catt, American women's suffrage leader, dies at 88
• 1954 Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer (b. 1912)
• 1954 V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer, dies at 79
• 1955 Matthew A Henson, met Peary on 6/4/1909 at North Pole, dies at 88
• 1960 Jack Beattie, Northern Irish politician (b. 1886)
• 1962 Howard Engstrom, Boston, a designer of Univac computer, dies at 59
• 1963 Frederic G. Melcher, American publisher and editor who founded children's book week, dies at 83
• 1964 Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Prussian general and politician, dies at 93
• 1965 Kazys Boruta, writer, dies
• 1969 Riad, chief of staff (Egyptian army), dies
• 1974 Earl W Sutherland Jr, US pharmacologist (Nobel 1971), dies at 58
• 1975 Joseph Dunninger, NYC, mentalist (Amazing Dunninger), dies at 82
• 1975 Gleb W. Derujinsky, Russian-American sculptor, dies at 86
• 1981 Max Delbrück, German-American biologist and molecular geneticist (bacteriophage, Nobel Prize 1969), dies at 74
• 1982 Richard A Butler, England, min of Finance, dies at 79
• 1983 Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist famous for his work on neurotransmitters (Nobel 1970), dies at 78
• 1988 Kurt Georg Kiesinger, West German chancellor (1966-69), dies at 83
• 1989 Robert Mapplethorpe, US photographer, dies at 42
• 1992 Jack McEdward, asst dir (Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell), dies at 94
• 1992 James Brooks, US mural painter (Flight, La Guardia NY), dies at 85

• 1993 Max August Zorn, German mathematician (lemma of Zorn), dies at 86
• 1994 Charles Bukowski, author/poet, dies of leukemia at 73
• 1994 Lawrence E. Spivak, American news panelist (Meet the Press), dies at 93
• 1995 Ian Ballantine, publisher, dies of heart attack at 79
• 1996 Alan Hugh Iliffe, psychologist, dies at 77
• 1996 Elman Ali Ahmed, peace campaigner, dies at 42
• 1996 Peter Mansfield, British political journalist and author, dies at 67
• 1997 Terry Nation, writer (Dr Who, Blake 7) at 66
• 2003 Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
• 2004 Dr. Gerald Deskin, Ph.D., clinical child psychologist (b. 1929)
• 2005 Kurt Lotz, German business executive and second postwar CEO of Volkswagen, dies at 92
• 2005 Jeanette Schmid, Austrian transsexual professional whistler, dies at 80
• 2006 John Profumo, British cabinet minister (Profumo scandal), dies at 91
• 2006 Geir Ivarsøy, Norwegian programmer, co-founder of Opera Software ASA (b. 1957)
• 2007 Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, North Carolina politician (b. unknown)
• 2010 Doris Haddock, American political activist (b. 1910)
• 2011 David S. Broder, American journalist (Pulitzer 1973), dies at 81
• 2012 Selma Rubin, American environmental activist, dies at 96
• 2012 Lord Wedderton of Charlton, British academic and politician, dies at 84
• 2012 Bill Wedderburn, Baron Wedderburn of Charlton, British politician, dies at 84
• 2015 James Molyneaux [Baron Molyneaux of Killead], MP (Ulster unionist), dies at 94

• 2017 Howard Hodgkin, British abstract painter, dies at 84
• 2018 Joaquin Avila, American lawyer and civil rights champion who advocated against voter discrimination, dies from complications of colon and liver cancer at 69
• 2019 Bobbi Fiedler, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California), dies at 81

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