"There are three ways to get something done:
1. Do it yourself
2. Hire someone
3. Forbid your students to do it"

March Special Days: http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/mar.shtml

March is Youth Art Month. It has been celebrated each March since 1961 to promote art and quality art education.

March is National Craft Month

National Middle Level Education Month: http://www.principals.org/schoolimprove/middlelevel_home.cfm

March is Music in Our Schools Month:
http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-6647.html

March is Women's History Month
Women's Winning Ways of Leadership: http://www.geocities.com/leaders4tomorrow
create by 4 Gr 8/9 students
Women's History Month: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/feature/wom/ showcases historic properties listed in the National Register, National Register publications, & National Park units commemorating the events & people, the designs & achievements that help illustrate the contribution of women to our nation's history.
The AFT human rights and community relations department has online resources to help schools celebrate Women's History Month: http://www.aft.org/human/resource/womenhist/index.html. There are materials include lesson plans and suggested links.
In honor of Women's History Month in the United States: " 'Not for Ourselves Alone': The story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony," by Ken Burns and Paul Barnes, at http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony. The site includes a "Where Are We Now?" section; a Resources section, with links to Cady Stanton's and Anthony's writings and speeches, biographical
material, scholars' essays, and lesson plans for teachers; and a Kids section, geared to grades 3-6 http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/sa_kids/index.html.
The National Women's History Project links to over 100 Web sites that are related to women's accomplishments and this once-neglected part of history. The links are organized into categories, which include politics, peace and war, sports, math and science, and the arts.
National Museum of Women's History: http://www.nmwh.org/
A History of the American Suffragist Movement: http://www.suffragist.com/
A Geographic Guide to Uncovering Women's History in Archival Collections
http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Archives/links.htm
Women's Biographies: Distinguished Women of Past and Present: http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/
The American Federation of Teachers human rights and community relations department has materials and Web resources that educators and schools can use to calibrate Women's History Month. The AFT kit contains lesson plans and planning events and ideas for activities. To obtain a set of the materials, send a postcard or note with your mailing address to: Women's History Month Kit, AFT Human Rights and Community Relations Department, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001-2079.
National Women's History Month Project: http://www.nwhp.org/events/events.html
Official site for the National Women's History Month Project. Find information about events celebrating the achievements of women, and a Learning Activities Center. The Learning Activities center includes a Biographies section, a section on the Women's Rights Movement, quizzes, a
teacher's lounge, parent's center and student's lounge.
National Women's Hall of Fame: http://www.greatwomen.org/
Web site for National Women's Hall of Fame located in Seneca, New York. Find information about the museum, biographies of famous women, nominate women achievers to be recognized, and learn about the hall's annual poster, essay and Web contest for older children, the "21st Annual Poster, Essay, and Web Page Contest"
Women's History Month: http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/whm.htm
Great free online resource containing biographies, timeline, quiz and learning activities about women.
"...Within this site, teachers, parents and students can:
-- Read biographies of significant women throughout time
-- Take a quiz based on women and their achievements
-- Follow a timeline of events of significant dates in women's history
-- Enjoy activities taken directly from the Women's History Month Resource
Book and excerpts from Women's Rights on Trial"
The activities are theme and subject-based, and are mostly for middle and high school children-- although some are adapted for younger children as well.
Women of NASA: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/intro.html
Learn about women who work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), get information about technology, science and math careers and try some interesting learning activities (click on "Teaching Tips")
Introduction to the Women's Suffrage Movement: http://www.nmwh.org/exhibits/tour_1.html
This site is an in-depth guide and history of the Women's Suffrage Movement, and includes a tour, timeline, image gallery, a quiz and additional resources.
Florence Nightingale: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/longterm/LessonPlans/famous/Florence_Nightingale.html
Unit about the famous war nurse. (Ages 6-8)
Women's Voices: Quotations by Women: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/qu/blqulist.htm
Web page containing links to quotations from famous women around the world, past and present.
Women's History Month
March was designated “National Women’s History Month” by Congress in 1987.
Timeline of Women's History a quiz to see what you've learned at the site. http://familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,22-5181,00.html?ecu03093
National Women's Hall of Fame:  http://www.greatwomen.org/
The Women's Hall of Fame is a site to find biographies of notable women from Abigail Adams to Oprah Winfrey. Also visit the site's Learning Center for exercises, contests, and games about women's contributions throughout history.
MarcoPolo: http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/index.shtml provides many great resources to help you and your students discover the important contributions and achievements made by women throughout history. Since women continue to influence, lead and uphold traditions every day, these lessons can be used in the classroom all year round.  Here are some trivia questions to get you started! Scroll down for answers and links to help you bring these events into the classroom.
QUESTIONS:
1. The first Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. How long after this date were women granted the right to vote?
2. Prior to her death, this First Lady burned personal letters and documents to ensure her family’s privacy. Who was she?
3. Opera singer Marian Anderson (1897-1993) performed a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939. Why did this concert represent an important event in history?
4. Although Elizabeth Blackwell entered Geneva Medical School (N.Y.) in 1848, her admission to the all-male college was not based on qualifications or gender. Why was she accepted?
5. How many women have appeared on currency circulated in the United States?
ANSWERS:
1. Seventy-one years later, in 1919, the 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution and gave women the right to vote. Read original speeches and the Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments” in “Cultural Change” (Grades 10-12).  http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/partner/07neh_cultural.cfm
2. Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1731-1802) managed the President’s home with grace and dignity, but privately confided that she did not enjoy the public role of First Lady. After her husband’s death in 1799, she secured their privacy by burning the letters they had exchanged.  Discover the personal and public lives of First Ladies in "Women in the White House" (Grades 6-8).  http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/partner/07neh_firstladies.cfm
3. Denied by the Daughters of the Revolution to perform at Constitution Hall because of her race, Marian Anderson, at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt, gave a free concert at the Lincoln Memorial, drawing 75,000 people. Outraged over the DAR decision, Roosevelt resigned as DAR president. This incident brought nationwide attention to the issue of racism and put Anderson in the national spotlight.  Your students can learn how Marian Anderson's career helped to make music one of the first fields in which Black Americans' achievements were given fair and full recognition in “My Lord What a Morning: The Marian Anderson Story” (Grades 3-12).  http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/partner/07kc__mariananderson.cfm
4. When queried by the administration whether to admit a female student, the all-male student body approved Elizabeth Blackwell’s request for admission to Geneva Medical School because they thought her application was submitted as a practical joke by a rival school. Even though Blackwell graduated at the top of her class a year later, her name was never mentioned during the commencement exercises.  Discover how women changed the face of science and medicine with “Women in Medicine: Past & Future” (Grades 9-12).  http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/partner/07aas_women.cfm
5. Two; Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea are the only women to have appeared on U.S. currency. They each appeared on a one-dollar coin.  Learn the advantages of using coins over paper money and how the U.S. Treasury makes a profit by minting coins in “The Return of Sacagawea” (Grades 6-8).  http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/partner/07nce_sacagawea.cfm

March is National Peanut Month. Also called the goober, the name comes from a word from the African Congo name for peanuts called "nguba". Scientists think the peanut originally comes from Peru or Brazil.
Cyberhunt:
1. http://www.foodreference.com/html/fpeanutbutter.html
What was developed in 1890 by a St. Louis doctor for his patients with bad teeth? (peanut butter). Where was it promoted as a health food in 1904? (St. Louis Exposition)
2. http://www.pbloco.com/funky.html
About how many pounds of peanut butter do Americans eat in one year? (800 pounds)
Most children will eat how many peanut butter sandwiches before they graduate from high school? (1500)
3. http://www.erdnuss-info.de/Wirtschaft/generell_en.html
According to 2001-2002 statistics, approximately how many tons of peanuts are harvested each year(world wide)? (33 million tons)
Name the five leading peanut growing countries of the world. (China, India, United States, Nigeria and Indonesia)
4. http://www.originalnuthouse.com/kids/kids.htm
What is Arachibutyrophobia? (fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth)
5. http://www.originalnuthouse.com/kids/carver.htm
George Washington Carver discovered more than 300 uses for peanuts. Name five. (inks, dyes, soap, face cream and powder, wood stains, plastics, linoleum, metal polish and synthetic rubber)
6. http://www.coopsjokes.com/amz/amzpnut.htm
Both Thomas Jefferson and this president were famous peanut farmers. (Jimmy Carter)
About how many pounds of peanuts per person does the average American eat? (12 pounds)
7. http://www.nationalpeanutboard.com/document_250.asp
Which astronaut brought peanuts with him to the moon? (Astronaut Sheppard)
Where did Tom Miller push a peanut with his nose? (Pike's Peak, 14,100 feet)
How long did it take him to do this? (4 days 23 hours 47 minutes and 3 seconds)
8. http://www.aboutpeanuts.com/every.html
Peanuts, as do beans and peas, belong to the legume plant family. Legumes have edible seeds enclosed in pods. What's unusual about how a peanut grows? (its flowers grow above the ground, but fruits grow below the ground)
9. http://www.peanut-institute.org/PeanutFAQs.html
What is the main use for the 2.4 billion pounds of peanuts consumed each year in the USA? (peanut butter)
What are the growning peanut growing states? (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia)
Cool peanut facts
Of the 10 top American candy bars, 4 contain peanuts or peanut butter.
Think 225 football fields covered in peanut butter 1 foot thick...that's how much of the stuff Americans eat in one year. (Source: Ranger Rick 1/04)
The world's largest peanut is a monument found in Ashburn, Georgia. It's 20 ft. tall!
George Washington Carver, nicknamed "Columbus of the Soil" and the "Wizard of Tuskegee" once served an entire dinner that had peanuts in every dish!
Carver never took out a patient to protect any of his work believing that since God gave them to him, he had no right to claim them as his own.
Mr. Peanut, Planter's logo, was created by 13 year old Antonio Gentile in 1916.
Books:
1. Wizard of Tuskegee, The Life of George Washington Carver by David Manber
2. George Washington Carver by Sam and Beryl Epstein
3. George Washington Carver, The Man Who Overcame by Lawrence Elliotts
Other websites of interest:
Food Facts, Food information, and Tips! - Peanuts: http://www.hungrymonster.com/FoodFacts/Food_Facts.cfm?Phrase_vch=Peanuts&ttl=9
Food Facts and Trivia: Peanuts: http://www.foodreference.com/html/fpeanuts.html
Homemade Peanut Butter: http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/nuts/peanut/peanutbutter.htm
Peanut Butter Peanut Brittle: http://www.thenutfactory.com/kitchen/dessert/peanut-butter-brittle.html
from Gail Hennessey: http://www.gailhennessey.com/

A Beginner's Guide to Basketball: http://freezone.com/action/basketball/rulebook.html
In preparation for March Madness, learn everything you need to know about basketball. Whether you want to study the rules, the job of the point guard, the history or even the specs of the ball, basket, and court, you can find your answers here.

Seasonal items for March, including crafts and coloring pages:  http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/mar.htm 

March 2
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, as well as three Academy Awards, Theodor Geisel (best known as Dr. Seuss) authored and illustrated forty-four children's books. Since his first children's book in 1936, Dr. Seuss has introduced several generations of kids to the joy of reading. March 2 is his one-hundredth birthday. Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
Green Eggs and Ham: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/titles/greeneggs/
My Many Colored Days: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/titles/days/
Seussville Contests: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/contests/
Suessville Events: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/events/
Seussville Games: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/games/
The Sneetches: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAPhonogramsSneeches1.htm
Ask The Cat: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/askthecat/
Dr. Suess: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/dr__seuss.html
Dr. Seuss Seussisms: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/titles/seussisms/
Green Eggs And Ham Lesson Plan: http://tlc.ai.org/lessons/egghamlp.htm
Initial and Final Sounds With Dr. Seuss: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LASoundsWDrSuess1.htm
Meet Dr. Seuss: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/morefun/ted.html
Cat In the Hat: http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1571.html
Dr. Seuss Page: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/4277/dr.html
Dr. Seuss Web Page: http://www.seuss.org/seuss/seuss.home.html
Horton Hatches The Egg: http://www.nancypolette.com/LitGuidesText/horton.htm
Seuss Hamulator: http://www.kidsdomain.com/down/pc/seussham.html
Wacky Wednesday: http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ces/child/newsarticles/CCC713.html
Word Search: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/games/pdf/WordSearch.pdf
Lunch With Dr. Seuss: http://stuart.fcs.net.au/drseuss/lunch-with-dr-seuss.html
Bartholomew And The Oobleck: http://www.bway.net/~starlite/science.htm
Dr. Seuss:
http://www.hummingbirded.com/storytelling_books_seuss.html#suess
http://www.bond.leon.k12.fl.us/seuss.html
Dr. Seuss Characters and Creatures: http://www.primate.wisc.edu/people/hamel/seuss.html
Dr. Seuss Inspires Read To Kids' Day: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr059.shtml
Doorknob: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/games/pdf/Doorknob.pdf
Lessons From Dr. Seuss: http://www.auburn.wednet.edu/homepages/ilalko/Seuss.htm
Oh The Places We Went: http://www.weidt.com/Seusslp.html
Daizy-Head Mayzie Review: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/dhm.html 
Dr. Seuss Cross-Word Search: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/ws.html 
Dr. Seuss Wav files: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/wavs.html 
Grinch Quiz: http://www.inkweb.com/grinch/ 
Seuss Slots: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/seusslot.html 
Seusville Gift Tags: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/titles/grinch/tags.html 
Dr. Seuss Activities: http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/drseuss.shtml http://atozteacherstuff.com/themes/Seuss.shtml 
Dr. Seuss Books In Print: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/seussbip.html 
Dr. Seuss Collection: http://orpheus-1.ucsd.edu/speccoll/collects/seuss.html 
Dr. Seuss Day Page For Teachers: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/9893/thedrsuesspage.html 
Great Grinchy Ascii Art: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seusspics/grinch.html 
Hop On Pop: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LASoundsWDrSuess1.htm 
The Cat In the Hat Ascii Art: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/pics/cnhascii.html 
The Grinch Coloring Pages: http://www.outer-limit.net/coloring/grinchpages.shtml
Daizy-Head Mayzie Review: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/dhm.html
Dr. Seuss Cross-Word Search: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/ws.html
Dr. Seuss Wav files: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/wavs.html
Grinch Quiz: http://www.inkweb.com/grinch/
Seuss Slots: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/seusslot.html
Seusville Gift Tags: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/titles/grinch/tags.html
Dr. Seuss Activities:
http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/drseuss.shtml
http://atozteacherstuff.com/themes/Seuss.shtml
Dr. Seuss Books In Print: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seussfiles/seussbip.html
Dr. Seuss Collection: http://orpheus-1.ucsd.edu/speccoll/collects/seuss.html
Dr. Seuss Day Page For Teachers: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/9893/thedrsuesspage.html
Flip Book: http://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/games/pdf/Flipbook.pdf
Great Grinchy Ascii Art: http://www.afn.org/~afn15301/seusspics/grinch.html
Literature Math Crossover: I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today: http://www.halcyon.com/marcs/litmath.html
Dr. Seuss: Characters and Unusual Creatures: http://www.primate.wisc.edu/people/hamel/seuss.html
This is a valuable reference site. Visit to peruse a list of all of Seuss' books, followed by an alphabetic list of all his creatures (from Aaron, the alligator to Zummers.) Did you know the word "nerd" dates to 1950 when it first appeared in Dr. Seuss' "If I Ran the Zoo"? "I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo a Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"
Dr. Seuss National Memorial: http://www.catinthehat.org/
Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, which is now home to the Dr. Seuss National Memorial. The Geisel biography (All About Dr. Seuss), the tour of the sculpture garden (National Memorial), and Dr. Seuss Art Gallery can be found at this site. Although all the work at the gallery is for sale, you don't need to buy it to enjoy it. The Secret Art Gallery displays art not created for any of his books.
Infoplease: Dr. Seuss: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/seuss1.html
"His books were originally considered too outlandish to appeal to children. His first, 'And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street' (1937), was reputedly rejected by twenty-eight publishers before it finally found a home at Random House." Infoplease has a one page bio, and related articles from their encyclopedia. Grinchy Trivia compares the 2000 live action movie and the 1966 TV movie with the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" book.

March 3
-1878: The Russo-Turkish War ended with the signing of the Treaty of San Stefano, which called for a large independent Bulgaria.  Sponsored by Russia, the treaty proved intolerable to other European powers who saw Bulgaria as an outpost of Russian influence.   Consequently the treaty was revised and a much smaller Bulgarian principality was established.
More on Bulgaria's history: http://www.travel-bulgaria.com/explore/history.html
-1922: F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Beautiful and the Damned" was published to mixed reviews. Fitzgerald's bleakest work, this novel portrays the life of Anthony and Gloria Patch, a handsome young couple who loose their dignity in their obsession for wealth and happiness. Gloria Patch was modeled after Fitzgerald's real-life wife, Zelda.   Zelda was known as "Fitzgerald's crazy wife":: http://www.clark.net/pub/cosmic/zelda8.html

March 4
-1675 John Flamsteed was awarded the position of Astronomer Royal.
-1861 Abraham Lincoln took the US presidential oath of office.
-1933:During a period of economic recession and massive unemployment, Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the US presidency. Roosevelt helped Americans to regain confidence in their country by creating millions of jobs, establishing the social security system, and being the chief of the US armed forces during World War II.  Roosevelt was president during four consecutive terms: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/presidents/html/fr32.html
-1975 British comedian Charlie Chaplin was knighted at Buckingham Palace in London. One of the most celebrated actors of the 20th century, Chaplin entertained millions with his black-and-white silent films and his immortal character, the little tramp. He died in Switzerland in 1977.  Photographs of Charlie Chaplin: http://www.odysseygroup.com/acm597/chaplin.htm  
-1979 Voyager 1 spacecraft sent back a notable image of Jupiter.

March 5
-1770 The "Boston Massacre" took place.
-1856 London's Theatre Royal was destroyed in a fire. This venue was actually the second one to be built on Covent Garden; the first one was also destroyed in a fire in 1808. After the second Theatre Royal was destroyed, a third one renamed the Royal Opera House was founded in 1892, which is the one still in operation.  The Royal Opera House was remodeled to celebrate the new millenium:  http://www.royalopera.org/
-1922 F. W. Murnau's film "Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror" premiered in Berlin. The most important film by the German director, Nosferatu was based on the original legend of the vampire. The brilliantly eerie silent film revolutionized cinematic expression because in it Murnau used the camera to interpret the mood of the characters. Images from Nosferatu:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jakre/murnau/nosferat.htm
-1946 Winston Churchill spoke of an "iron curtain".
-1963 Country music performers Patsy Cline, "Cowboy" Copas, and "Hawkshaw" Hawkins were killed in a plane crash.

March 11
-1931 Rupert Murdoch, media mogul was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He is the founder of the Fox Entertainment Group and the News Corp. and owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He has acquired The Times and The Sunday Times, The New York Post, The New York Magazine Company, (New York Magazine, New West, The Village Voice). He also has major interests in other media especially television, films and publishing, on three continents. He became a US citizen in 1985. He was treated prostate cancer in 2000.

March 12
-1664 New Jersey became a British colony as King Charles II granted land to his brother James, the Duke of York.
-1831 Pioneer automaker Clement Studebaker
-1858 New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs
-1912 Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scouts of America troop in Savannah, Ga. 
-1921 Actor/singer Gordon MacRae
-1922 Novelist Jack Kerouac, Union leader Lane Kirkland
-1923 Astronaut Wally Schirra in 1923
-1925 Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen died
-1928 Playwright Edward Albee
-1930 Mahatma Gandhi began a campaign of civil disobedience against British rule in India. by beginning a 200-mile march to protest a British tax on salt.
-1932 Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young. 
-1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first of his Sunday evening "fireside chats" -- informal radio addresses from the White House -- to the American people  telling them what was being done to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
-1938 German troops entered Austria as part of the Anschluss, or union of the two countries.
-1939 Pope Pius XII was crowned in ceremonies at the Vatican.
-1940 Singer/songwriter Al Jarreau was born.  Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during World War II. (Fighting between the two countries flared again the following year.)
-1941 Actress Barbara Feldon
-1946 Liza Minnelli singer/dancer/actress was born to actress Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli.  She was less than 3 years old when she made her screen debut in the "Good Old Summertime" (1949). She became the youngest-ever actress to win a Tony Award  at age nineteen. Minnelli has been married three times:  to entertainer Peter Allen, producer Jack Haley, Jr. and to stage manager/sculptor Mark Gero. In 2000, she was hospitalized twice with viral encephalitis.
-1947 In a speech to Congress, President Truman outlined what became known as the Truman Doctrine, calling for U.S. aid to help Greece and Turkey resist communism. 
-1948 Singer/songwriter James Taylor
-1962 Baseball player Darryl Strawberry
-1963 The House of Representatives voted to grant former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill honorary U.S. citizenship. 
-1969 Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in London.
-1990 The Food and Drug Administration approved a nationwide test of a post-exposure AIDS vaccine developed by polio vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk. Exxon pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $100 million fine in a $1.1 billion settlement of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Also in 1990, Kuwait City reopened its port for the first time since the Persian Gulf War. In 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk introduced legislation to revise land tenure laws and end racial discrimination in land ownership. Vice President Quayle met in Santiago, Chile, with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who promised to peacefully relinquish power to Violeta Chamorro, the U.S.-backed candidate who had won Nicaragua's presidential election.
-1992 Jim and Tammy Bakker, who ran a multimillion-dollar television evangelism empire before he went to prison for fleecing his flock, announced they were divorcing. 
-1993 Defense Secretary Aspin recommended closing 31 more major military bases around the country. Also in 1993, more than 250 people were killed when a wave of bombings rocked Bombay, India, the country's business capital. 
-1994 the Church of England ordained its first women priests. 
-1995 World leaders wound up a week-long summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, committing themselves to fighting poverty, but differing on how to do so.
-1996 Republican president hopeful Bob Dole swept the Super Tuesday GOP primaries. 
-1999 the former Soviet allies -- the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland -- joined NATO. 
-2000 Pope John Pail II apologized for the errors of his church during the past 2,000 years.

March 13
1781 Astronomer William Herschel discovered the Georgian Planet.
1947 "Brigadoon" opened at the Ziegfeld in New York.
1988 Japan's underwater Seikan Tunnel was opened.
1881 (March 1st in the Julian calendar) Russian Czar Alexander II was killed in St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary group, "The National Will."  A liberal reformer, he embarked in a process of modernization
that included the abolition of serfdom. In terms of foreign policy, he refrained from imperialistic actions and sought to protect the Russian borders.  Alexander II was instrumental in decentralizing the Russian government:
http://www.sptimes.com/Treasures/TC.2.3.17.html
1925 The State of Tennessee prohibited the teaching of Evolution in public schools and universities. The new law mandated that schools could only teach the belief that humans were created by God and had not evolved from lower animals. The law was put to the test by the "Scopes Monkey Trial," in which John Scopes, a high school teacher, was convicted for teaching Evolution.  More on the Scopes Monkey Trial: http://www.msu.edu/course/mc/112/1920s/Scopes/

March 14
Pi Day: http://mam2000.mathforum.org/t2t/faq/faq.pi.html
Each year on March 14th many classrooms break from their usual routines to observe the festivities of "Pi Day" because the digits in this date correspond with the first three digits of (3.14). Activities may include investigations of the value of by approximating the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Some teachers choose to end their Pi Day celebration by eating pie!
The Story of Pi: http://www.projectmathematics.com/storypi.htm
Pi Day: http://www.winternet.com/~mchristi/piday.html
This site features special pi songs.
Making a Pi Necklace: http://mathforum.org/teachers/middle/activities/pi_day.html
Solving Problems: http://www.marcopolo-education.org/marcograms/Mar2004.html

March 15
Reading Guide to Julius Caesar: http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/caesar/
The ides of March are the only thing you'll have to fear with this reading guide to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Titled a "paraphrase," this Web site provides a summary of each act and its scenes, and then links (via the arrows on each summary page) to the corresponding original text.

March 16
-1926: Robert Goddard launched the first successful rocket using liquid fuel.  This and his other discoveries are the basis for today's space flights.

March 17
Awesome Clipart for Kids: St. Patrick's Day: http://www.awesomeclipartforkids.com/stpatricksday.html
The History of St. Patrick's Day: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/stpatricksday/main.html
Irish Culture and Customs: http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/
Irish recipes for St. Patrick's Day and other occasions:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/patrick/recipes.htm
Larry The Leprechaun Fill In Story:
http://abcteach.com/MonthtoMonth/March/LARRY%20THE%20LEPRECHAUN.pdf
Shamrock Shape Book: http://abcteach.com/shapebooks/Holidays/shamshape.htm
St. Patrick's Day: http://familyeducation.com/topic/front/0,1156,22-12773,00.html?ecu03095
St. Patrick's Day: http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/ethnic_relig/stpats.html
Find out more about the best-known March holiday.  This site provides an overview of the religious and secular history behind the traditions of St. Patrick's Day. Hyperlinks in the text lead to sources of additional information, including a glossary of commonly heard St. Patty's Day phrases.
Celebrate all things Irish with websites and activities about the history and culture of this fair country. Be sure to test your luck with quizzes, build your family tree, and have a wee bit o' fun with Irish screensavers!
St. Patrick's Day Coloring Page: http://www.coloring.ws/t/patrick/patrick6.htm
St. Patrick's Day Lesson Plans: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/StPatricksDay.htm
St. Patrick's Day Online Games: http://www.kidsdomain.com/games/patrick.html
St. Patrick's Day Trivia Hunt: http://arthur.k12.il.us/arthurgs/stpthunt.htm
St. Patrick's Fun at Kid's Domain: http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/patrick/

March 18
-1949: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was officially formed. It was intended to share defense responsibilities amongst all of its member nations. Despite defections and the many critics over the years, NATO has survived.
-1965: The first person to leave a spacecraft and take a walk in space was Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.  He stayed outside for 12 minutes.

March 19
-721 B.C.: According to the Roman historian Ptolemy, Babylonian astronomers noted history's first recorded eclipse: an eclipse of the moon. 
-1589: Plymouth Colony Gov. William Bradford was born
-1813: Scottish explorer of Africa David Livingstone was born
-1848: Marshal Wyatt Earp was born 
-1860: Jurist William Jennings Bryan was born 
-1891: Chief Justice Earl Warren was born 
-1904: "Watergate" Judge John Sirica was born 
-1918: Congress passed the Standard Time Act, which authorized the Interstate Commerce Commission to establish standard time zones in the United States.  In 1920, the Treaty of Versailles, establishing the League of Nations, was rejected by the U.S. Senate. 
-1928: Actor Patrick McGoohan was born
-1933: Author Philip Roth was born 
-1936: Actress Ursula Andress was born 
-1942: With World War II under way, all men in the United States between the ages of 45 and 64, about 13 million, were ordered to register with the draft boards for non-military duty. 
-1947: Actress Glenn Close was born 
-1955: Actor Bruce Willis was born
-1987: South Carolina televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as head of the PTL Club, saying he was blackmailed after a sexual encounter with former church secretary Jessica Hahn.
-1992: Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Andrew and his wife, the duchess of York, were separating. 
-1993: Justice Byron White, the only member of the U.S. Supreme Court appointed by a Democrat, announced he would retire, opening the way for President Clinton to make his first high judicial nomination.  
-1996: Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole won primaries in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. 
-1997: A federal judge in Phoenix, Az., began sentencing 10 members of a paramilitary group to prison after they pleaded guilty to various counts, including conspiracy to make and possess destructive devices. President Clinton nominated acting CIA director George Tenet to head the agency.

March 21
-1962 Rosie O' Donnell Comedienne, actress; born in Commack, NY; host of "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."  Her father designed cameras for spy satellites and her mother was a homemaker. When she was 10 her mother died of cancer, leaving Rosie and her four brothers and sisters to fend for themselves emotionally. She often sought the comfort of movies and TV, finding idols and role models in Lucille Ball, Barbra Streisand, Carol Burnett, and Bette Midler.  She plans to leave her talk show after her contract expires in 2002 in order to spend more time on her nonprofit organization, Rosie Adoptions, which helps facilitate the adoption between birth mothers and adoptive families.

March 22
World Water Day
World Water Day Theme Page: http://www.nps.gov/wica/Hydrology/PDF.htm
-1622 Settlers around Jamestown, Virginia were massacred by Algonquian Indians.
-1638 Religious dissident Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
-1765 Britain enacted the Stamp Act to raise money from the American colonies. (The Act was repealed the next year.)
-1791 Congress enacted legislation forbidding slave trading with foreign nations.
-1820 U.S. naval hero Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron near Washington D.C.
-1846: Illustrator Randolph Caldecott was born in Chester, England. The Caldecott Medal, awarded every year to an outstanding illustrator of children's literature, was named after Randolph Caldecott.
-1873 The Spanish Crown finally ended slavery in Puerto Rico.
-1882 Congress outlawed polygamy.
-1894 Hockey's first Stanley Cup championship was played. The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association defeated the Ottawa Capitals.
-1895 The brothers Louis and Auguste Lumiere made the first demonstration of a motion picture using celluloid film at a private session in Paris. This presentation was made possible thanks to the "cinematographe," a lightweight camera patented by Louis
that allowed for spontaneous filming.  The Lumiere's technical innovations radically changed the nascent motion film art: http://www.presscard.com/sprocketholes2.html
-1913 Karl Malden born
-1931 William Shatner Actor; born in Montreal, Canada; starred on the "Star Trek" TV series and films as Captain James T. Kirk.  Though he was always best known for his portrayal of Kirk, Shatner also found a good deal of success as the star of "T. J. Hooker," a TV drama about a veteran police officer (1982-86). From 1989 to 1995, he hosted "Rescue 911," a popular reality-based TV show.  He faced personal tragedy in August 1999 when his wife, Nerine, was found dead in the swimming pool of their home in Los Angeles.  Shatner married his fourth wife, horse trainer Elizabeth Martin, on February 13, 2001. (May he live long and prosper.)
-1933 During Prohibition, President Roosevelt signed a measure to legalize wine and beer containing up to 3.2% alcohol.
-1945 Seven countries formed the League of Arab States in Cairo. The League is a regional organization that seeks to promote closer ties among member-states and coordinate their economic, cultural, and security plans. The League is composed today by 22 members.   The headquarters of the League are located in Cairo.  
-1946 The first American-built rocket left the Earth's atmosphere.  The British mandate in Transjordan came to an end.
-1948 British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber born
-1952 Sportscaster Bob Costas born 
-1959 Actor Matthew Modine born
-1968 President Johnson recalled Gen. William Westmoreland as commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam and made him Army chief of staff. Gen. Creighton Abrams took over in Saigon.
-1972 Canadian skater Elvis Stojko was born,  The Senate passed and sent to the states for ratification the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, a measure popularly known as the Equal Rights Amendment. However, the required number of states -- 38 -- failed to ratify it before the deadline.  
-1976 Actress Reese Witherspoon born
-1978 Karl Wallenda, the 73-year-old patriarch of The Flying Wallendas high-wire act, fell to his death while attempting to walk a cable strung between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
-1987 Chad troops drove Libyan forces from a key airstrip in northern Chad, apparently ending Moammar Gadhafi's seven-year occupation. The Libyans abandoned $500 million worth of Soviet-made tanks and airplanes. 
-1990: A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found former tanker captain Joseph Hazelwood innocent of three major charges in connection with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but convicted him of a minor charge of negligent discharge of oil.
-1992 27 people were killed when a US Air plane bound for Cleveland skidded off a runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport during a snowstorm and landed in the bay. 
-1993 a U.S. nuclear submarine collided with a Russian nuclear sub in a Russian training area in the Barents Sea. There were no casualties. 
-1995 Brian "Kato" Kaelin, a houseguest at O-J Simpson's estate, testified at the former athlete's double murder trial in Los Angeles.  Shouting erupted in the U.S. House of Representatives as Democrats bitterly accused majority Republicans of trying to ram through a mean-spirited welfare overhaul bill.
-1997 Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to Earth -- about 122 million miles. 
-1999 Dr. Jack Kevorkian went on trial on murder charges, telling a jury in Pontiac, Mich., he was merely carrying out his professional duty in a videotaped assisted death. (Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder.)
-2000 Pope John Paul II visited a Palestinian refugee camp and declared the conditions there to be "degrading."

March 23
-1765 the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act for taxing the American colonies, an action that became a major grievance for rebellious colonials
-1775 in a speech supporting the arming of the Virginia militia, Patrick Henry declared, "Give me liberty or give me death" from Britain
-1806 Explorers Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific coast, began their journey back east
-1857 Culinary expert Fannie Farmer was born
-1900 Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm was born
-1908 Actress Joan Crawford was born
-1910 Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was born 
-1912 Rocket scientist Wernher von Braun was born
-1919 Benito Mussolini founded his Fascist political movement in Milan, Italy
-1929 Roger Bannister Athlete and neurologist; born in Harrow, England; he studied at Oxford, and completed his medical training at St. Mary's Hospital, London, in 1954. At an athletics meeting at Iffley Road, Oxford, on 6 May 1954, he became the first man to run the mile in under 4 minutes (3 min 59 sec). He was knighted in 1975, and appointed Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1985. 
-1933 German Reichstag adopted the Enabling Act, which effectively granted Adolf Hitler dictatorial legislative powers
-1938 Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson Jr. was born
-1942 Japanese-Americans were forcibly moved from their homes along the Pacific Coast to inland internment camps during World War II
-1950 At the Academy Awards, "All The King's Men" won best picture of 1949. Its star, Broderick Crawford, won best actor. Olivia de Havilland won best actress for "The Heiress."
-1953 Comedian Louie Anderson and singer Chaka Khan was born
-1956 Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth.
-1957 Actresses Amanda Plummer was born
-1965 America's first two-person space flight began as Gemini 3 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts Virgil Grissom and John Young aboard
-1966 Pope Paul VI met Britain's archbishop of Canterbury at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, the first meeting between the heads of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in 400 years
-1976 Keri Russell ("Felicity") was born
-1983 the world's first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, Barney Clark of Seattle, died in at the University of Utah Medical Center after 112 days with the device.
-1985 the United States completed the secret air evacuation of 800 Ethiopian Jews to Israel
-1990: Former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood was sentenced by a judge in Anchorage, Alaska, to help clean up Prince William Sound and paid $50,000 for his role in the oil spill
-1993 President Clinton held his first full-blown White House news conference on his 62nd day in office
-1994 The nominee of the ruling party in Mexico was shot to death just after delivering a campaign speech in Tijuana. A suspect believed to be the gunman was arrested immediately
-1995 Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev in Geneva. Afterward, Kozyrev said the U.S.-Russia "honeymoon has come to an end," referring to disagreements over Chechnya and nuclear sales to Iran.
-1996 Taiwan elected Lee Teng-hui in the island nation's first direct presidential election.  -1998 Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his entire cabinet. "Titanic" won 11 Academy Awards, tying the record total won by "Ben-Hur" in 1959. 
-1999 The vice president of Peru was assassinated.  NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana gave the formal go-ahead for air strikes against Serbian targets following the failure of Kosovo peace talks.

March 24
-1874 Harry Houdini Magician; born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary; The son of a rabbi, he emigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin, and borrowed the name of a French magician.  He specialized in escaping from padlocked chains, cells, straitjackets, and underwater boxes. His escapes in public locales were covered in the international press and in 1910 he started a company to film his feats. Founder of the Society of American Magicians, he campaigned against mind readers and mediums who claimed to possess supernatural powers, but he encouraged attempts to contact him through a medium after his death.

March 25
-1911: In a tragedy that galvanized America's labor movement, 146 immigrant workers were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York.
-1634: Maryland was founded by English colonists sent by the second Lord Baltimore.
-1865: During the Civil War, Confederate forces captured Fort Stedman in Virginia.
-1894: Jacob Coxey began leading an army of unemployed from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.
-1913: The home of Vaudeville, the Palace Theatre, opened in New York City.
-1918: French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.
-1947: A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., killed 111.
-1957: The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community.
-1965: Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.
-1975: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. The nephew was beheaded the following June.
-1982: Canada officially became an independent nation. Canada had been unofficially governing herself since 1867 but on March 25, 1982 Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain signed the Canada Act which ratified the Canadian Constitution and made the country officially independent. It took 115 years to achieve but Canada reached her independence without any bloodshed.
-1994: American troops completed their withdrawal from Somalia.
-1990: Eighty-seven people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City.
-1995: Mike Tyson was released from the Indiana Youth Center after serving three years for the 1992 rape of Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant.
-1999: NATO aircraft and missiles blasted targets in Yugoslavia for a second night, directing much of their fire on Kosovo, where fighting raged between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

March 28
-AD 193 After three months in power, Roman Emperor Publius Helvius Pertinax was murdered by the Praetorian Guard. An able manager, Pertinax sought to balance the finances of the Empire, which forced him to reduce the donative soldiers were to receive. Resentment from the guards led to the emperor's death.  Pertinax's murder was the beginning of a prolonged civil war:
http://www.salve.edu/~romanemp/pertinax.htm
-1910 The first seaplane took off from water and flew for 1,650 feet.
-1930 The Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora changed their names to Istanbul and Ankara, respectively.
-1939 The Nationalist forces of Gen. Francisco Franco occupied Madrid, virtually ending the Spanish Civil War and starting a fascist dictatorship in Spain. With Franco's triumph, the Republican forces lost any possibility of improving the standard of living of landless peasants and of separating the Church from the State.  Images from the Spanish Civil War:  http://burn.ucsd.edu/scw.htm
-1979 The most serious nuclear accident in the US occurred at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania.

March 29
-1945: Basketball legend Walt Frazier was born in Atlanta, Georgia. With his Rolls Royce car, flamboyant wardrobe that featured knee-length fur coats, and stylish fedora hats, Walt Frazier was the toast of New York City as a member of the Knicks from 1967 to 1977. On the court, Frazier was "super cool." His quick hands on defense combined with his calm, cool and collected demeanor on the court, earned him the nickname "Clyde." The cornerstone of Knick teams for a decade, Frazier first caught the attention of pro scouts while playing at Southern Illinois University. A Division II All-America in 1964 and 1965 and a Division I All-America in 1967, Frazier led the Salukis to the 1967 NIT championship and was named Tournament MVP. Frazier was the first-round choice of the Knicks in the 1967 NBA draft, and earned NBA All-Rookie honors. Frazier's smooth play electrified crowds at Madison Square Garden. His offensive repertoire was a blend of smooth drives to the bucket and mid-range jump shots that burned opponents for 15,581 points (18.9 ppg) during his career. Even with an All-Star cast, Frazier led the Knicks in scoring five times. An adept passer, Frazier dished out 5,040 assists during his career (6.1 apg) and led the Knicks in assists 10 straight years. Many of those passes were directed to fellow Hall of Famers Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, Jerry Lucas and Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. Frazier, Reed, Bradley and DeBusschere copped the 1970 NBA title, and with the addition of Lucas and Monroe, the Knicks repeated in 1973.

March 30
-1746: Spanish painter Francisco Jose de Goya was born
-1820: English author Anna Sewell ("Black Beauty") was born
-1822: Florida became a U.S. territory.
-1840: English social reformer Charles Booth was born
-1842: Dr. Crawford W. Long of Georgia first used ether as an anesthetic during a minor operation.
-1853: Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland  
-1867: U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, two cents and acre, a deal roundly ridiculed as "Seward's Folly" , convinced it was a waste of even that much money. But just 13 years later, gold was discovered in Juneau!  To see Alaska's treasures, take a virtual tour.
-1870: the 15th amendment to the Constitution, giving black men the right to vote, was declared in effect.
-1870: Texas was readmitted to the Union.
-1880: Irish dramatist Sean O'Casey was born 
-1909: the Queensboro Bridge, linking the New York boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, opened.
-1913: Former CIA Director Richard Helms and singer Frankie Laine were born 
-1923: the Cunard liner "Laconia" arrived in New York City, becoming the first passenger ship to circumnavigate the world, a cruise of 130 days. 
-1927: TV host Peter Marshall was born
-1929: Actor Richard Dysart was born
-1930: Actor John Astin was born
-1937: Actor Warren Beatty was born 
-1945: the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II. British blues/rock guitarist Eric Clapton was born. 
-1957: Actor Paul Reiser was born
-1963: Singer Hammer was born 
-1964: "Jeopardy!", the "thinking person's game show," premiered on television.  Singer Tracy Chapman was born. 
-1968: Singer Celine Dion was born.
-1975: the South Vietnamese city of Da Nang fell to North Vietnamese forces.
-1979: Airey Neave, a leading member of the British parliament, was killed by a bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army.
- 1981: President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.
-1989: "The Heidi Chronicles" by Wendy Wasserstein won the Pulitzer Prize for drama; in the journalism category, the Anchorage Daily News won the public service award for its reports on alcoholism and suicide among native Alaskans.
-1990: Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus vetoed a restrictive abortion bill, ending the anti-abortion forces' goal of giving Supreme Court a chance to overturn Roe vs. Wade. 
-1992: "The Silence of the Lambs" swept the 64th annual Academy Awards, including best picture, best director, best actor for Anthony Hopkins and best actress for Jodie Foster. 
-1993: a two-state custody battle over a 2-year-old girl took a dramatic turn when the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the child who'd been living with her custodial parents in Michigan since shortly after birth returned to her biological parents in Iowa. After 43 years, the unthinkable happened on the comic pages -- Charlie Brown was a hero when he hit a homerun and his baseball team won for the first time. 
-1994: Serbs and Croats signed a cease-fire to end their war in Croatia while Bosnian Muslims and Serbs continued to battle each other. The Clinton administration announced it was lifting virtually all export controls on non-military products to China and the former Soviet bloc.
-1995: the compromise "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the military under certain conditions was struck down by a federal judge in New York as unconstitutional. 
In 1997, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he warned Chinese leaders that the United States would intervene militarily if China attacked Taiwan. 
-1998: Rolls-Royce was purchased by German automaker BMW in a $570 million deal.  Armenian Premier Robert Kocharian was elected president in a run-off election in the former Soviet republic. The University of Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA basketball title for the second time in three years and the seventh time overall. 
-1999: a jury in Oregon awarded $81 million dollars in damages to the family of a smoker who had died from lung cancer. The plaintiff in the case, tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris, promised to appeal. A state judge later reduced the punitive portion of the judgment to $32 million.

March 31
-1492: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling those Jews unwilling to convert to Christianity.
-1889: French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.
-1917: the U.S. took possession of the Virgin Islands from Denmark.
-1923: the first U.S. dance marathon, held in New York City, ended with Alma Cummings setting a world record of 27 hours on her feet.
-1933: Congress authorized the Civilian Conservation Corps.
-1943: Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "Oklahoma!" opened on Broadway.
-1945: the Tennessee Williams play "The Glass Menagerie" opened on Broadway.
-1949: Newfoundland entered confederation as Canada's 10th province.
-1968: President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for another term of office.
-1976: the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that coma patient Karen Anne Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator.
-1986: 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.
-1989: The FBI announced it would conduct a criminal investigation into the massive oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
-1994: The PLO and Israel agreed to resume talks on Palestinian autonomy, more than a month after the Hebron mosque massacre.
-1995: Mexican-American singer Selena, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club.
-1998: For the first time in history, the Clinton administration released a detailed financial statement for the federal government showing its assets and liabilities. The U.N. Security Council imposed a new arms embargo on Yugoslavia to pressure the Serbs into concessions concerning ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug died at age 77.