March 18

March 18 is the 77th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (78th in leap years). There are 288 days remaining.

Events

• 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula emperor.
• 1229 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor declares himself King of Jerusalem.
• 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany
• 1673 - Lord Berkeley[?] sells his part of New Jersey to the Quakers.
• 1766 - American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, which was very unpopular in the British colonies.
• 1850 - American Express[?] is founded by Henry Wells[?] & William Fargo[?].
• 1865 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time
• 1874 - Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.
• 1909 - Einar Dessau[?] uses a short-wave radio[?] transmitter becoming the first to broadcast as a ham radio operator.
• 1913 - George I of Greece is assassinated.
• 1915 - World War I: British attack on the Dardanelles fails.
• 1921 - The second Peace of Riga[?] expands Poland's territory.
• 1922 - In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.
• 1937 - A natural gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas kills 400 (most are children).
• 1938 - Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.
• 1940 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
• 1944 - World War II: Nazi forces occupy Hungary.
• 1945 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.
• 1953 - An earthquake hits western Turkey killing 250.
• 1959 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
• 1962 - France and Algeria sign an agreement ending the Algerian War.
• 1965 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov becomes the first person to walk in space from spacecraft Voskhod 2.
• 1968 - Gold standard: The United States Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
• 1970 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia
• 1971 - A landslide at Chungar[?], Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani[?] killing 200.
• 1974 - Oil embargo[?]: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
• 1980 - In Russia, a Vostok rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation killing 50.
• 1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of Cheops[?].
• 1990 - 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen by two thieves posing as police officers from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum[?] in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest art theft in US history and the paintings (as of 2003) have not been recovered.
• 1992 - Microsoft ships Windows 3.1
• 1997 - The tail of a Russian An-24[?] charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board and later the grounding of all An-24s.

Births

• 1782 - John Calhoun, Vice President of the United States (+ 1850)
• 1837 - Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (+ 1908)
• 1844 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composer (+ 1908)
• 1858 - Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the compression ignition engine[?] (+ 1913)
• 1869 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1940)
• 1877 - Edgar Cayce, psychic (+ 1945)
• 1886 - Edward Everett Horton, actor (+ 1970)
• 1903 - O. E. Plauen[?], illustrator and cartoonist (+ 1944)
• 1905 - Robert Donat, actor (+ 1958)
• 1905 - Thomas Townsend Brown, scientist (+ 1985)
• 1922 - Egon Bahr[?], politician
• 1926 - Peter Graves[?], actor
• 1927 - George Plimpton, writer
• 1932 - John Updike, author
• 1936 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, South African politician
• 1938 - Charley Pride[?], country musician
• 1941 - Wilson Pickett, singer
• 1950 - Brad Dourif[?], actor
• 1959 - Luc Besson, producer, writer, director
• 1963 - Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, Miss America
• 1964 - Irene Cara[?], actress, singer
• 1964 - Bonnie Blair[?], Olympic gold medalist in speed skating
• 1970 - Queen Latifah, singer, actress

Deaths

• 978 - King Edward the Martyr of England
• 1745 - Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain
• 1947 - William Durant[?], automobile pioneer, founder of General Motors
• 1965 - King Farouk I of Egypt
• 1977 - Marien Ngouabi, President of The Congo[?]
• 1978 - Leigh Brackett, science fiction author
• 2001 - John Phillips, musician ("The Mamas and the Papas")
• 2003 - Adam Osborne, computer pioneer.

Holidays and observances

• Ancient Latvia - Bindus Diena

• According to Donald Rumsfeld, the American war with Iraq began at 1:00 March 21, 2003, not today.

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