On March 31st...

1596 Philosopher-scientist René Descartes was born.

1732 Composer Franz Joseph Haydn was born.

1809 Edward FitzGerald, English translator of the Rubáiyát, was born.

1814 Russian forces led by Tsar Alexander I captured Paris, France.

1842 U.S. Congressman Jeremiah "Sockless Jerry" Simpson was born.

1854 Commodore Matthew C. Perry made the first treaty between the United States and Japan.

1878 Boxer Jack Johnson was born.

1889 The Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris, France.

1913 Financier J.P. Morgan died.

1917 The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands by purchase from Denmark.
1917 Bacteriologist Emil Adolf von Behring died.

1918 Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States.

1927 Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers, was born.

1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps was created.

1949 Newfoundland became the 19th province of Canada.

1970 Explorer I, the first United States satellite, fell out of earth orbit.

1980 Jesse Owens, Olympic track star, died.

1991 Edwin Herbert Land, inventor of Polaroid film and the Polaroid Land camera, died.

1992 The USS Missouri, the battleship upon which the Allies received Japan's unconditional surrender at the end of World War II, was decommissioned; she was the last U.S. battleship to be removed from active service.

1998 Bella Abzug, U.S. Congresswoman, died.

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This page was last updated on 09/07/2010.