Today is March 8. On this date in:
1618
German astronomer Johannes Kepler devised his third law of planetary motion.
1702
England’s Queen Anne acceded to the throne upon the death of King William III.
1854
U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese.
1876
The Mount Adams and Eden Park Inclined Plane Railway opened in Cincinnati.
1880
The Cincinnati Southern Railway, owned by the city of Cincinnati, completed its first passenger trip from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tennessee. (The railroad continues today under a long-term lease with Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway.)
1948
The Supreme Court struck down voluntary religious education classes in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
1965
The U.S. landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.
1971
Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali by decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1975
The first International Women’s Day was celebrated.
1979
Technology firm Philips demonstrated a prototype compact disc player during a press conference in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
1983
In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Florida, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”
1988
Seventeen soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided in mid-flight.
1999
Baseball Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio died in Hollywood, Florida, at age 84.
2008
President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
2014
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive search. (To date, the fate of the jetliner and its occupants has yet to be determined.)
Source link
