Today is Saturday, March 31, the 90th day of 2001. There are 275 days left in the year.

- On March 31, 1889: French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.

- In 1492: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except those who were willing to convert to Christianity.
- In 1917: The United States took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.
- In 1923: The first U.S. dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings setting a world record of 27 hours.
- In 1933: Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps.
- In 1949: Newfoundland became Canada's 10th province.
- In 1968: President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for re-election.
- In 1976: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained comatose, died in 1985.)
- In 1986: 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.
- In 1990: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev warned the defiant Baltic republic of Lithuania to annul its declaration of independence.
- In 1995: Latin singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club.
- In 1999: Four New York City police officers were charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets. (The officers were later acquitted.)


Happy Birthday
- Actor William Daniels is 74.
- Hockey Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe is 73.
- Actress Shirley Jones is 67.
- Country singer-songwriter John Loudermilk is 67.
- Actor Richard Chamberlain is 66.
- Musician Herb Alpert is 66.
- Actor Christopher Walken is 58.
- Comedian Gabe Kaplan is 56.
- Former Vice President Al Gore is 53.
- Actress Rhea Perlman is 53.
- Actor Ed Marinaro is 51.
- Actor Marc McClure is 44.
- Rock musician Angus Young (AC/DC) is 42.
- Actor William McNamara is 36.
- Actor Ewan McGregor is 30

Today is Friday, March 30, the 89th day of 2001. There are 276 days left in the year.

- On March 30, 1867: U.S. Secretary of State William Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal roundly ridiculed as Seward's Folly.

- In 1822: Florida became a United States territory.
- In 1842: Dr. Crawford Long of Jefferson, Ga., first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.
- In 1870: The 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.
- In 1870: Texas was readmitted to the Union.
- In 1945: The Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.
- In 1964: John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for U.S. Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.
- In 1973: Ellsworth Bunker resigned as U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, and was succeeded by Graham Martin.
- In 1981: President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington D.C. hotel by John Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.
- In 1990: Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoed a highly restrictive state abortion measure, saying the bill gave a woman and her family no flexibility in cases of rape and incest.
- In 1995: Pope John Paul II issued the 11th encyclical of his papacy in which he condemned abortion and euthanasia as crimes that no human laws could legitimize.
- In 1998: Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.
- In 1999: A jury in Portland, Ore., ordered Philip Morris to pay $81 million to the family of a man who died of lung cancer after smoking Marlboros for four decades.


Happy Birthday
- Singer Frankie Laine is 88.
- Former CIA Director Richard Helms is 88.
- Actor Richard Dysart is 72.
- Actor John Astin is 71.
- Game show host Peter Marshall is 71.
- Actor-director Warren Beatty is 64.
- Rock musician Graeme Edge (Moody Blues) is 60.
- Rock musician Eric Clapton is 56.
- Actor Robbie Coltrane is 51.
- Actor Paul Reiser is 44.
- Rap artist MC Hammer is 39.
- Actor Ian Ziering is 37.
- Singer Celine Dion is 33.
- Singer-musician Scott Moffatt (Moffatts) is 18.

Today is Thursday, March 29, the 88th day of 2001. There are 277 days left in the year.

- On March 29, 1943: During World War II, meat, butter and cheese rationing began.

- In 1638: Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware.
- In 1790: The 10th president of the United States, John Tyler, was born in Charles City County, Va.
- In 1847: Victorious forces led by General Winfield Scott occupied the city of Vera Cruz after Mexican defenders capitulated.
- In 1867: The British Parliament passed the North America Act to create the Dominion of Canada.
- In 1882: The Knights of Columbus was chartered in Connecticut.
- In 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
- In 1962: Jack Paar hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time.
- In 1971: Army Lt. William Calley Jr. was convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre.
- In 1971: A jury in Los Angeles recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers for the 1969 Tate-La Bianca murders.
- In 1974: Eight Ohio National Guardsmen were indicted on charges stemming from the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University.
- In 1990: President Bush, addressing the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS, declared his administration at war against the disease.
- In 1995: The House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment placing term limits on lawmakers.
- In 1999: The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time, at 10,006.78.


Happy Birthday
- Former U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy is 85.
- Actress Eileen Heckart is 82.
- Former British Prime Minister John Major is 58.
- Comedian Eric Idle is 58.
- Composer Vangelis is 58.
- Singer Bobby Kimball (Toto) is 54.
- Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas is 45.
- Actor Christopher Lambert is 44.
- Rock singer Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction) is 42.
- Model Elle MacPherson is 37.
- Rock singer-musician John Popper (Blues Traveler) is 34.
- Actress Lucy Lawless is 33.
- Country singer Regina Leigh (Regina Regina) is 33.
- Country singer Brady Seals is 32.
- Tennis player Jennifer Capriati is 25.

- Today is Wednesday, March 28, the 87th day of 2001. There are 278 days left in the year.

- On March 28, 1930: The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora were changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

- In 1834: The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States.
- In 1854: During the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.
- In 1898: The Supreme Court ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.
- In 1939: The Spanish Civil War ended as Madrid fell to the forces of Francisco Franco.
- In 1941: Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf died in Lewes, England.
- In 1942: During World War II, British naval forces raided the Nazi-occupied French port of St. Nazaire.
- In 1943: Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills.
- In 1969: The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington at age 78.
- In 1979: America's worst commercial nuclear accident occurred at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.
- In 1990: British customs officials announced they had foiled an attempt to supply Iraq with 40 American-made devices for triggering nuclear weapons.
- In 1995: In Japan, Mitsubishi Bank and the Bank of Tokyo agreed to a merger to create what was then the world's largest bank.
- In 1999: NATO broadened attacks on Yugoslavia to target Serb military forces in Kosovo in the fifth night of airstrikes, forcing thousands of refugees into Albania and Macedonia from Kosovo.


Happy Birthday
- Country musician Charlie McCoy is 60.
- Movie director Mike Newell is 59.
- Actress Conchata Ferrell is 58.
- Actor Ken Howard is 57.
- Actress Dianne Wiest is 53.
- R&B musician Milan Williams (Commodores) is 53.
- Country singer Reba McEntire is 46.
- Actor Max Perlich is 33.
- Rapper Salt (Salt-N-Pepa) is 32.
- Actor Vince Vaughn is 31.
- Actress Julia Stiles is 20

Today is Tuesday, March 27, the 86th day of 2001. There are 279 days left in the year.

- On March 27, 1794: President Washington and Congress authorized creation of the U.S. Navy.

- In 1512: Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted Florida.
- In 1625: Charles I ascended the English throne following the death of James I.
- In 1836: The first Mormon temple was dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio.
- In 1917: The Seattle Metropolitans became the first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Canadiens.
- In 1945: During World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken.
- In 1958: Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secretary of the Communist Party.
- In 1964: A powerful earthquake rocked Alaska, killing 114 people.
- In 1968: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth, died in a plane crash.
- In 1977: 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747 crashed into a Pan Am 747 during takeoff on the Canary Island of Tenerife.
- In 1990: Soviet soldiers began rounding up Lithuanians who had fled the Red Army after the republic's declaration of independence.
- In 1995: "Forrest Gump," starring Tom Hanks, won six Academy Awards, including best picture and a second Best Actor Oscar for Hanks. Jessica Lange won best actress for "Blue Sky."
- In 1998: The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Viagra, made by Pfizer, saying it helped about two-thirds of impotent men improve their sexual function.
- In 1999: NATO expanded its air assault on Yugoslavia in the fourth straight day of attacks.


Happy Birthday
- Blues musician Robert Lockwood is 86.
- Former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance is 84.
- Newspaper columnist Anthony Lewis is 74.
- Dance company director Arthur Mitchell is 67.
- Actor Julian Glover is 66.
- Actor Jerry Lacy is 65.
- Actor Austin Pendleton is 61.
- Actor Michael York is 59.
- Rock musician Tony Banks (Genesis) is 51.
- Actress Maria Schneider is 49.
- Rock musician Andrew Farriss (INXS) is 42.
- Movie director Quentin Tarantino is 38.
- Rock musician Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai) is 37.
- Actress Talisa Soto is 34.
- Actress Pauley Perrette is 32.
- Singer Mariah Carey is 31.
- Rock musician Brendan Hill (Blues Traveler) is 31.
- Actress Emily Ann Lloyd is 18.

Today is Monday, March 26, the 85th day of 2001. There are 280 days left in the year.

- On March 26, 1982: Groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

- In 1804: The Louisiana Purchase was divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana.
- In 1827: Composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna.
- In 1875: Poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco.
- In 1892: Poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J.
- In 1911: Playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss.
- In 1958: The U.S. Army launched America's third successful satellite, Explorer III.
- In 1971: East Pakistan proclaimed its independence, taking the name Bangladesh.
- In 1979: The Camp David peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
- In 1990: "Driving Miss Daisy" won best picture at the Oscars and captured the best actress prize for Jessica Tandy. Daniel Day-Lewis, who starred in "My Left Foot," was named best actor.
- In 1995: The National Labor Relations Board, in an extraordinary Sunday session, voted 3-2 to seek an injunction against baseball owners as a seven-and-a-half-month-old strike by players continued.
- In 1997: The bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate religious cult who had committed suicide were found inside a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
- In 1999: A computer virus named Melissa began infecting computers across the country.


Happy Birthday
- Retired Army Gen. William Westmoreland is 87.
- Singer Rufus Thomas is 84.
- Conductor-composer Pierre Boulez is 76.
- Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is 71.
- Actor-director Leonard Nimoy is 70.
- Actor Alan Arkin is 67.
- Actor James Caan is 61.
- Author Erica Jong is 59.
- Journalist Bob Woodward is 58.
- Singer Diana Ross is 57.
- Actor Johnny Crawford is 55.
- Rock singer Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) is 53.
- TV personality Vicki Lawrence is 52.
- Singer Teddy Pendergrass is 51.
- Comedian Martin Short is 51.
- Country singer Ronnie McDowell is 51.
- Country singer Dean Dillon is 46.
- Country singer Charly McClain is 45.
- TV personality Leeza Gibbons is 44.
- Actress Jennifer Grey is 41.
- Basketball player John Stockton is 39.
- Rock musician James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) is 33.
- Country singer Kenny Chesney is 33

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