March 9
U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan and drop 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history. The majority of the 100,000 who perished, died from carbon monoxide poisoning and the sudden lack of oxygen. As a result of the attack more than 250,000 buildings were destroyed. – 1945.
The first Barbie doll goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. The doll was created by Ruth Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. in 1945. – 1959.
March 10
The first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, “Mr. Watson, come here; I want you.” Bell had received a comprehensive telephone patent just three days earlier. – 1876.
A devastating mine disaster kills more than 1,000 workers in Courrieres, France. An underground fire sparked a massive explosion that virtually destroyed a vast maze of mines. – 1906.
Approximately 300,000 loyal Tibetans band together in revolt and surround the Summer palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces. By March 17, Chinese artillery was aimed at the palace, and the Dalai Lama was evacuated to neighboring India. March 21 the Chinese began shelling Norbulinka and slaughtered tens of thousands of men, women, and children still camped outside. – 1959.
March 11
One of the worst blizzards in American history strikes the Northeast, and kills more than 400 persons and dumps as much as 55 inches of snow in some areas. Wind gusts are recorded at 85 miles per hour in New York City which end with drifts that reach as high as the second story of some buildings. – 1888.
U.S. Army private Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reports to the hospital at Fort Riley, Kan., complaining of the cold-like symptoms of sore throat, fever, and headache. That was the first documented case from the historic influenza epidemic of 1918, dubbed the Spanish flu which killed approximately eight million in Spain and eventually kills 675,000 Americans and more than 20 million persons worldwide. – 1918.
March 12
In a dramatic speech to a joint session of Congress, U.S. president Harry S Truman asks for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. Some historians often have cited Truman’s address, which came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, as the official declaration of the Cold War. – 1947.
March 13
The German-born English astronomer William Hershel discovers Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. Herschel’s discovery of a new planet was the first in modern times, and the first by use of a telescope, which allowed Herschel to distinguish Uranus as a planet, not a star, as previous astronomers believed. – 1781.
For the first time in U.S. history, the impeachment trial of an American president gets under way in the U.S. Senate. President Andrew Johnson, reviled by the Republican-dominated Congress for his views on Reconstruction, stood accused of having violated the controversial Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress over his veto in 1867. -1868.
March 14
The Federal Bureau of Investigation institutes the “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list in an effort to publicize particularly dangerous fugitives. The creation of the program arose out of a wire service news story in 1949 about the toughest guys the FBI wanted to capture. The story drew so much public attention that the Ten Most Wanted list was given the okay by J. Edgar Hoover the following year. As of 2011, 465 of the criminals included on the list have been apprehended or found, 153 as a result of tips from the public. – 1950.
March 15
Julius Caesar, the dictator for life he called himself of the Roman Empire, is murdered by his own senators at a meeting in a hall next to Pompey’s Theatre during the Ides of March. The conspiracy against Caesar encompassed as many as 60 noblemen, including Caesar’s own protege, Marcus Brutus. – 44 B.C.E..
U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson addresses a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of legislation guaranteeing voting rights for all. Using the phrase “we shall overcome,” borrowed from African-American leaders struggling for equal rights, Johnson declared that “every American citizen must have an equal right to vote.” Johnson reminded the Nation that the Fifteenth Amendment, which was passed after the Civil War, gave all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. – 1965.