March 31
March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years). There are 275 days remaining.
Events:
- 1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
- 1878 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American to hold a boxing title.
- 1885 - The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
- 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated.
- 1903 - Richard Pearse is reputed to have flown a heavier than air machine in powered flight near Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, New Zealand.
- 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) is established to set rules for amateur sports in the United States. The IAAUS would later become the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910.
- 1909 - Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
- 1917 - The United States takes possession of the Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
- 1918 - Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
- 1930 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next forty years.
- 1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission to relieve rampant unemployment.
- 1949 - Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province.
- 1966 - The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first spaceprobe to enter orbit around the moon.
- 1970 - Explorer I re-enters the earth's atmosphere (after 12 years in orbit)
- 1990 - Thunder Meets Lightning: Julio Cesar Chavez defeats Meldrick Taylor to unify boxing's world junior welterweight title in very controversial fight.
- 1991 - The Warsaw Pact comes to an end.
- 1993 - Actor Brandon Lee is accidentally killed during the filming of The Crow.
- 1994 - The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).
Births:
- 1596 - René Descartes, mathematician (+ 1650)
- 1732 - Joseph Haydn, composer (+ 1809)
- 1809 - Nikolai Gogol, writer (+ 1852)
- 1878 - Jack Johnson, African-American boxer (+ 1946)
- 1885 - Pascin, the "Prince of Montparnasse" (+ 1930)
- 1900 - Richard Alexander Walter Windsor, Duke of Gloucester
- 1912 - Hermann Höcherl, politician (+ 1989)
- 1914 - Ocatvio Paz, author, Nobel Prize for Literature (+ 1998)
- 1922 - Richard Kiley, actor, singer (+ 1999)
- 1927 - Cesar Chavez, labor activist (+ 1993)
- 1927 - William Daniels, actor
- 1928 - Gordie Howe, ice hockey player
- 1928 - Lefty Frizzell, country music performer
- 1934 - Shirley Jones, singer, actress
- 1935 - Richard Chamberlain, actor
- 1935 - Herb Alpert, musician
- 1939 - Volker Schlöndorff, film director
- 1943 - Christopher Walken, actor
- 1948 - Al Gore, Vice President of the United States
- 1948 - Rhea Perlman, actress
- 1971 - Ewan McGregor, actor
- 1971 - Pavel Bure, ice hockey player
- 1976 - Colin Farrell, actor
Deaths:
- 1837 - John Constable, painter
- 1855 - Charlotte Bronte, author
- 1917 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901
- 1931 - Knute Rockne, American football coach
- 1978 - Charles Best, medical scientist
- 1980 - Jesse Owens, athlete
- 1993 - Brandon Lee, actor
- 1998 - Bella Abzug, American politician
Holidays and observances:
See Also:
March 30 - April 1 - February 28 - April 30 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December