March 19

March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). There are 287 days remaining.

Events:

• 1687 - The men under explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle murder him while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River.
• 1831 - City Bank of New York is the site of the first bank robbery in United States history ($245,000 taken).
• 1861 - Maori War ends in New Zealand
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle on the 21st the Confederate forces had retreated from Greenville, North Carolina.
• 1915 - Pluto is photographed for the first time but was not recognized as a planet.
• 1916 - First United States air combat mission in history as eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa
• 1918 - The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
• 1920 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (first time was on November 19, 1919).
• 1932 - Sydney Harbour Bridge opens
• 1942 - The Thoroughbred Racing Association is establish in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1945 - World War II: Off the coast of Japan, kamikazes hit the aircraft carrier USS Franklin killing 800 of her crew.
• 1945 - World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.
• 1946 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France
• 1954 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
• 1972 - India and Bangladesh sing a friendship treaty.
• 1981 - Three workers are killed and five injured during a test of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
• 1982 - Falklands War: Argentines lands on South Georgia Island, precipitating war.
• 1987 - Following a scandal involving Jessica Hahn, televangelist Jim Bakker resigns from the PTL.
• 2002 - US Attack on Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities.

Births:

• 1813 - David Livingstone, missionary and explorer (+ 1873)
• 1848 - Wyatt Earp, policeman, gunfighter (+ 1929)
• 1849 - Alfred von Tirpitz, German soldier (+ 1930)
• 1864 - Charles Russell, artist (+ 1926)
• 1873 - Max Reger, composer (+1916)
• 1883 - Joseph Stilwell, American soldier (+ 1946)
• 1890 - Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam (+ 1969)
• 1891 - Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (+ 1974)
• 1894 - Joe Venuti, jazz musician and violinist (+ 1978)
• 1894 - Moms Mabley, comedienne (+ 1975)
• 1900 - Frédéric Joliot, physicist and winner of 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry (+ 1958)
• 1905 - Albert Speer, Nazi official (+ 1981)
• 1906 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (+ 1962)
• 1909 - Louis Hayward, actor (+ 1985)
• 1914 - Jay Berwanger, American football star, winner of the first Heisman Trophy (+ 2002)
• 1916 - Irving Wallace, novelist (+ 1990)
• 1928 - Hans Küng, theologian
• 1928 - Patrick McGoohan, actor
• 1930 - Ornette Coleman, musician
• 1933 - Philip Roth, author
• 1936 - Ursula Andress, actress
• 1939 - Joe Kapp, American football star
• 1944 - Sirhan Sirhan, assassin
• 1947 - Glenn Close, actress
• 1955 - Bruce Willis, actor

Deaths:

• 1286 - King Alexander III of Scotland
• 1945 - Friedrich Fromm, Nazi official
• 1950 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, author
• 1982 - Randy Rhoads, guitar player of Quiet Riot
• 1987 - Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist and winner 1929 of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• 1997 - Willem de Kooning, artist

Holidays and observances:

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. Joseph, putative father of Jesus.
• Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain
• The first day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.

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See Also: March 18 - March 20 - February 19 - April 19 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

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